Raviprasad Kamila/The Hindu

• Pollution control board has given technical approval for it

Mangalore, Feb 29: In an attempt to reduce the accumulation of biodegradable solid waste in Mangalore city, including animal solid waste produced at the Kudroli slaughterhouse, the Mangalore City Corporation is all set to build a bio-gas plant at Kudroli to produce bio-manure and bio-energy by processing organic solid wastes.

It has awarded a Rs. 37-lakh tender to Mailhem Engineering Private Limited, Pune, to construct the plant. This company will operate and maintain the plant for one year.

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has given technical approval for the plant.

M. Maheshwar Rao, who was administrator of the corporation till February 21, had approved its construction, Manjunath R. Shetty, corporation Environment Engineer, told The Hindu.

The plant will be constructed using mild stainless steel.

It is to facilitate shifting of the plant to any place. “Civil works (cement works) will be minimum,” the official said. The plant with a capacity to process two tonnes of biodegradable wastes per day can generate 60 tonnes of bio-manure per year. In addition, it can produce 175 cubic metres of bio-gas per month or 9,000 KWH of energy per month. The energy is also equal to 2,360 kg of liquefied petroleum gas produced in a month, Mr. Shetty said.

According to him, the city corporation is the first urban local body in the State to construct such a plant through a tender. A few other bodies have built them through negotiation with companies.

He said that animal wastes produced at the Kudroli slaughterhouse were being buried at the corporation’s landfill site at Vamanjoor. Such wastes can be processed at the plant to produce energy.

Mr. Shetty said that once the plant is operationalised dumping of organic solid wastes at the Vamanjoor site will be reduced. The bio-manure produced at the plant will be rich in nitrogen content. There is good demand for manure in the market. The corporation can decide on marketing the manure. The bio-energy will be used to heat water to maintain sanitation at the slaughterhouse.

The official said that the corporation can avail itself of carbon credit under the Kyoto Protocol for reducing pollution by operating such a plant. If it did so, the corporation can recover the project cost in one-and-half years.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement, negotiated in December 1997, by which industrialised nations have committed to making substantial reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases by 2012. More than 160 countries, including India, have committed to the agreement.

These gases, including methane and cardon dioxide, are considered at least partly responsible for global warming.

Decomposed materials can produce methane and other greenhouse gases, he said.