Udaipur City witnessed the inauguration of its first biomethanation facility to process biodegradable waste generated in the city. The 2 TPD bi-phasic biomethanation facility was built under the CapaCITIES project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and supported by the Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC). Mr. Gulabchand Kataria, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Udaipur (Urban) and Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, inaugurated the 2 TPD waste-to-energy biomethanation plant on 2nd of October, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the fifth anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Udaipur Rural MLA Mr. Phool Singh Meena, Hon’ble Mayor Mr. Chandra Singh Kothari, Nirman Samiti Chairman Mr Paras Singhvi, and Councillor, Ward 31, Mrs Pramila Chaudhary; the plant was inaugurated in the presence of 200 city residents.

Mr. Kataria expressed his appreciation for SDC and ICLEI South Asia for setting up the plant in Udaipur, the first of its kind in the city. He appealed to the people of Udaipur to keep the city clean and to practice waste segregation and its disposal via the UMC’s garbage collection vehicle. He said that scientific disposal of waste would help to reduce emission of harmful greenhouse gases.

Mr. Kothari said the UMC, ably supported by ICLEI South Asia, was taking effective action to create a clean and environment-responsive city. He emphasised that people’s participation in waste segregation was essential for the smooth and continuous operation of any waste disposal plant.

The SUNYA (Towards Zero Waste) project that was implemented in Udaipur under the CapaCITIES project is also resulting in enhanced segregation of waste at the doorstep in residential areas.

The biomethanation plant is located within the premises of Madri fire station (ward 31), and can produce about 200 units of electricity and 250 to 300 kg of compost per day by processing approximately 2 tons of wet/ organic waste. Currently, the feed of wet/ organic waste is sourced from hotels. The plant operation is based on anaerobic digestion process, and therefore needs to be fed systematically to reach its optimal level.

The electricity being produced at the plant is currently being used by the fire station for its daily operations, such as for pumping water, lighting and by people living in the residential quarters. As the current electricity consumption is only 50 units per day, the plan is to feed the surplus electricity into the grid after due process for use in UMC-owned sewerage pumping stations.

Based on expert advice from Dr. N B Mazumdar, senior expert in this field, TERI constructed the biomethanation facility, based on the TEAM (TERI’s Enhanced Acidification and Methanation) process.

The biomethanation plant has the potential to reduce 1,437.4 tCO2e GHG emissions from the solid waste sector (1.5% of the total GHG emissions from the solid waste management sector in Udaipur). Based on initial discussions on the benefits and utility of the plant in increasing adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability due to waste-related issues caused by increase in rainfall and temperature – such as vector-borne diseases and other health issues – the UMC is already in the process of adopting this technology at the municipal level.

In a related development, a tender has been issued for the construction and installation of a 20 TPD biomethanation plant as a centralised waste disposal facility under the Smart Cities Mission.