Sistema.bio targets 1m biogas units by 2030
Time is money, but in the biogas business, cow dung is money.
Mexico-based bio-digester manufacturer Sistema.bio has grand plans to leverage the government's green focus and set up 1m small biogas units in rural India by 2030.
Atul Mittal, commercial director for the company's Indian arm, says it has installed more than 80,000 bio-digestors in 22 states since 2017 when it began working in India. Mittal adds that the Indian market for small and medium biogas units is around 10,000 units/month.
"We currently install about 4000 units/month, giving us 40% market share," he says. Sistema's most popular biogas plant is Sistema 6, yielding 2-cm/d biogas or 60-kg/month, equivalent to 22-kg of LPG, from the dung of three to four cows.
"Each Sistema 6 unit costs around Rs38,000 ($475), including installation and farmer training," adds Mittal. "This unit is customised for small-scale dairy farmers."
One Sistema 6 unit provides cooking gas for three to four hours daily for a family of up to six people in addition to more than 100 litres of bio-fertiliser for farming. "Our bio-digester technology is approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) under the National Biogas Programme," continues Mittal.
"Each customer is eligible for financial assistance of a minimum of Rs14,000 ($175)/biogas unit." A Sistema 6 bio-digester needs 45 to 50-kg/day of cattle, pig or poultry waste.
Sistema 200, the medium-size model, uses 2 t/d of cattle dung. "Our smallest model, Sistema 6, pays for itself within 12 to 14 months," stresses Mittal.
"With government financial assistance, the pay-off period reduces by five to six months, making farmers more self-sufficient." He explains that the level of government financial assistance increases in line with the capacity of the bio-digester installed.
In a Sistema.bio unit, animal dung and water are mixed in set proportions in the feeding tank and fed to the bio-digester through gravitational pull.
In the bio-digester, this mixture undergoes anaerobic digestion, generating biogas which gets stored in the upper half of the reactor. When needed, it travels from the reactor to the kitchen through a series of valves and filters for use as cooking gas.
Sistema.bio was set up in Mexico in 2010.