Bhabha Atomic Research Center would be setting up 50 non-conventional bio-methanation plants based on urban garbage in various districts of Tamil Nadu to generate power and manure from the garbage. While big plants can process up to 50MT of garbage daily, the smaller ones have the capacity to handle up to five metric tonnes of disposed waste.
These plants would also process food waste, kitchen waste, vegetable peels, abattoir waste, flower & fruit waste and agro waste. The methane gas produced by these plants can be used for cooking and generating electricity for lighting-up streetlights.
While Tamil Nadu generates nearly 100,000 tonnes of garbage every day, Chennai accounts for about 5,000 tonnes. Nearly 60% of this garbage is bio-degradable materials that ideally suit for the generation of methane gas.