With the shortage of fuel affecting the world adversely, Sweden has come up with an interesting invention – a train that runs on biogas. The train runs at a speed of 130km per hour and is the first-ever biogas powered train in the world.
Sivaram Pandian, a researcher at Linkoping University in Sweden, feels that given India’s huge generation of sewage sludge, there is immense potential for replicating such a project in India. Hence, a pilot study on the subject is already undertaken by Swedish Gas Association, Tamil Nadu Energy Development and Chennai Metro Water Supply & Sewerage Board (CWSSB). The possibilities to run the MTC buses on biogas are being looked into.
After upgradation, Chennai’s existing sewage plants would be able to generate enough methane to replace 30,000 litres of diesel to run approximately 450 buses. The buses will need minor modification to be able to run on both on biogas and diesel, as biogas generation is generally hampered during rains.
