Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation Initiative

Why is in news? A renewable energy revolution, rooted in agriculture

Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) is an initiative aimed at setting up of Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and make it available in the market for use in automotive fuels by inviting Expression of Interest from potential entrepreneurs.

The initiative was launched in October 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in association with Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) viz. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Bio-gas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.

After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has pure methane content of over 95%. Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential.

The potential for Compressed Bio-Gas production from various sources in India is estimated at about 62 million tonnes per annum.

Benefits of the programme: There are multiple benefits from converting agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into CBG on a commercial scale:

Responsible waste management, reduction in carbon emissions and pollution

Additional revenue source for farmers

Boost to entrepreneurship, rural economy and employment

Support to national commitments in achieving climate change goals

Reduction in import of natural gas and crude oil

Buffer against crude oil/gas price fluctuations

Implementation: Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs would be able to separately market the other by-products from these plants, including bio-manure, carbon-dioxide, etc., to enhance returns on investment.