New Delhi: India’s compressed biogas (CBG) sector is facing a growing challenge in marketing organic manure produced alongside biogas, with a lack of assured buyers adding to operating costs and threatening the financial viability of projects, The Economic Times reported.
While the government has established an offtake framework for CBG, plant operators lack a similar mechanism to sell the solid and liquid manure generated during production. The growing accumulation of unsold manure is forcing some plants to operate below capacity or suspend operations.
Sunil KM, director of KIS Group, told The Economic Times that the government had focused on securing a market for biogas but had not adequately addressed the disposal and sale of the resulting slurry.
According to the Indian Biogas Association, 217 of the 1,908 registered CBG plants have been commissioned, while another 339 are under construction. The expanding project pipeline is expected to increase the volume of organic manure requiring processing, storage and marketing.
A plant processing 100 tonnes of feedstock daily can produce around 4 tonnes of CBG, along with 35-40 tonnes of solid fermented organic manure and up to 50,000 litres of liquid manure. Sunil said limited storage capacity meant plants could hold manure for only a few days, making assured offtake arrangements essential for sustained operations.
Farmers also have limited incentives to shift to organic manure from chemical fertilisers, which receive substantial government subsidies.
Sunil warned that plants operating at low capacity or remaining idle could also miss out on government capital assistance because they would not be able to meet operational requirements.
The government had earlier provided market development assistance of ₹1,500 per tonne of manure sold, but the scheme has since been withdrawn.
Gaurav Kedia, chairman of the Indian Biogas Association, said the fertiliser component of CBG projects needed policy and market support comparable to that provided to the gas segment to ensure their technical, financial and social viability. The Economic Times said that the oil ministry did not respond to their queries until press time.
