ANUROOP: MAKING WATER HYACINTH-BASED BIOGAS PLANTS
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Anuroop.G, 8129100968 |
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It was with
an explosion of memory that the choice of his social enterprise was
revealed to Anuroop.G., a
corporate employee in a Bangalore-based consumer company, who
wanted to start an enterprise to benefit the society.
He was
staying back in Kerala after the unprecedented flood of 2018 and was
contemplating
on possibilities when an experiment he had conducted in Class 9 came
back to
him. He and some classmates had tried to
produce biogas in a glass bottle using water hyacinth.
The bottle broke and the water and hyacinth
fell on the startled students. The
invasive
growth and power of water hyacinth was revealed to him that day.
Once this
suitable
direction of quest was revealed by memory, he further researched on the
topic. He thus realized that water
hyacinth, cut into small pieces and added to kitchen waste, can be a
good raw
material for biogas production.
He then
approached Centre for Research on Aquatic Resources (CRAR) for research
assistance. With their help Anuroop
launched his ‘payal jwala’ (aquatic weed flame) in Chertala, where
water
hyacinth is ubiquitous.
It was well
received locally. It further received a
big push when two YouTubers covered it on social media.
It generated a flood of enquiries, which they
couldn’t handle directly. So, they
relied on local agencies for carrying out these works in far off areas. These enquiries covered not only
water-hyacinth plants, but kitchen-waste based biogas plants as well.
So far,
they have implemented 250 units across four South Indian states.
With
frequent hikes in LPG prices, homemakers are turning to the use of
water
hyacinth-based plants. One homemaker
from Alappuzha says she had been earlier using one LPG cylinder per
month, but
requires only one in 3 months now.
According
to Anuroop, a basic unit of the biogas plant would cost around 10000 to
15000 to
be set up. Based on size and capacity,
the price would go up.
