IOT Infra to manufacture bio-CNG in Tamil Nadu

IOT Infrastructure and Energy Services, a joint venture of state run-Indian Oil Corporation and Oiltanking GmbH of Germany, is tweaking its biogas plant to manufacture bio-CNG for vehicles and has plans to set up more greenfield projects for the clean auto fuel. Vivek Venkatachalam, MD, IOT, told Indian media: “We have been running a power plant on biogas and realised that if we managed to increase its methane concentration, we could convert it into bio-CNG for automobiles. This would directly help in reducing India's dependence on liquid fuel.” IOT, a 50:50 joint venture, has been generating power from biogas at its plant at Namakkal. Now, with an investment of $3.5 million (Rs 25 crore), and implementation of a technology developed by IOC's research and development team, the plant will be converted to a bio-CNG unit with a daily output of 12,000 kg. Venkatachalam said: “Our Namakkal unit would start selling bio-CNG from July. Besides this plant, we are looking to set up another five greenfield projects in the next 2-3 years, for which we are in talks with companies which have agri waste that can be our feedstock,” The cost of each of these units would be $7-9 million (Rs 50-65 crore), he said. “We are also talking to oil marketing companies to sell the bio-CNG. The idea is to set up the manufacturing units in clusters where feedstock is available and then sell the product in areas close to it”