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agricultural research and technology

A project for electricity generation from cattle dung is currently being run at the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana.
The University has been encouraging farmers to use cattle dung for both bio gas generation and electricity production.
As a demo model the University set up a plant with a capacity of 4,500 kg (daily) cattle dung in its campus for farmers to see for themselves.
Present generation
As of now the plant generates 240 KW hours of energy daily and with this a 40 KW bio gas operated generator is being run for six hours daily to produce electricity.
The electricity is being used for chaffing green fodder, machine milking, operating the fans, coolers and foggers installed inside the animal sheds.
The waste slurry obtained from the bio gas plant is used as manure for crops. The slurry is a better fertilizer than the farm yard manure for crops.
A tractor operated vacuum tank of 8,000 litre capacity removes the slurry from the unit and spreads it on the fields. This results in more green fodder yield and reduced dependence on chemical fertilizers for growing the crops.
The University’s next focus is to separate the methane and carbon dioxide gas emitted from the plant, bottle it and use it for industrial purposes
“Management of dairy farm waste for production of bio-gas/electricity and adding value to it are not only critical to maintaining hygiene but also improve dairy farm economics,” says Dr. V.K. Taneja, Vice Chancellor of the university.
Future plan
“Our next focus is to separate methane and carbon dioxide and bottle carbon dioxide for industrial use while using methane for generating electricity. Experiments are carried out on dry slurry using a solar energy system so that it can be stored and used when required,” he says.
The Ministry of renewable energy is giving a subsidy of Rs 8 lakhs for such projects and the Punjab Dairy Development Board is also giving a subsidy of Rs. 3.5 lakhs for farmers interested in setting up such units.
(Dr. Ravinder Singh Grewal is Associate Professor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, email: ravigrewal71@yahoo.co.in, Mobile:93169-04933.)