WASTE TO ENERGY
Solar might be the fastest growing alternative energy source right now, but biogas has always been there in the renewables mix. And it could be back in the limelight again if Bengaluru-based GPS Renewables can scale up fast. Set up in 2012, it is a waste-toenergy company that has pioneered clean and low-cost technology for biowaste management, and produces biogas and the higher-methane-containing bioCNG (compressed natural gas) in the process, which can be used for cooking and power generation. The company not only instals its equipment across urban establishments but also does maintenance, ensures odour management and monitors all operations remotely via Internet of Things ( IOT) to make sure there is minimum downtime. “We have patented remote monitoring and operations are carried out smoothly, be it in Baroda or Bangladesh,” say co-founders Sreekrishna Sankar and Mainak Chakraborty, alumni of IIM- Bengaluru.
All these sound a bit futuristic, but the company’s USP lies elsewhere. Setting up a traditional biogas plant requires a lot of civil engineering work and may take up a lot of space – up to several hundred square metres if it is an industry-grade unit. In contrast, all GPS units, christened BioUrja, are compact, pre-fabricated ones, requiring very little installation work; they can be set up even in a parking lot. The total waste-handling capacity of GPS today is between 30 and 50 tonnes a day, across all its 40 installations, preventing thousands of tonnes of CO2- equivalent greenhouse gas emissions and producing valuable fuel.
BioUrja is the outcome of finely synced innovations across engineering disciplines. The team continued to fine-tune the prototype till it made the first installation in February 2013 at Akshaya Patra, a Bengaluru-based non-profit body. Today, the company remotely monitors 40 installations across 27 clients, including Infosys ( all its campuses have installed BioUrja), ITC Hotels, Taj Hotels and Art of Living (Bengaluru centre), among others. One of its large- scale, retrofit projects is in Bangladesh, where it is working for Kazi Farms and managing poultry litter waste.
Commenting on its uniqueness, CEO Sankar says, “When most companies recycle waste, it is usually plastic or paper, and organic is mostly used for composting. But we work like a full-fledged recycling firm and convert organic waste to output that has financial value.”
The goal is to complete 50 installations in the current financial year and reach an annual average of 200-300 units within the next five years. That, according to Sankar, will be possible if the company targets bulk organic waste generators in every city.