Nagpur: Nagpur took another important step toward improving its waste management system on Sunday as the upcoming compressed biogas (CBG) plant at the Bhandewadi dumping yard began cold commissioning. This phase marks the start of the plant’s dry fermentation process and moves the project nearer to becoming a national example for scientific waste treatment, reports The Times of India.
During the visit, officials activated the fermentation tank and presented a full model of the plant. This begins a 45–60 day process required to develop a stable group of helpful bacteria needed for biogas production. These bacteria will be monitored regularly, with temperature control maintained to ensure they grow properly before the plant moves to full-scale operations. At the same time, biogas tunnels are being prepared for loading waste so that the dry fermentation process can start smoothly once the bacterial culture matures.
Municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari, additional municipal commissioner Vasumana Pant, superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee, Netherlands-based researcher Vrinda Thakur, finance and business development director Vinod Tandon, and vice-president Vijay Chiplunkar inspected the facility, which is expected to become India’s biggest municipal solid waste-to-CBG plant using dry fermentation technology.
The plant is being built on 30 acres of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) land and is on track to meet its revised commissioning deadline of March 2026. The civic body had earlier granted a four-month extension due to a long monsoon season. Developed by LOC Nagpur Pvt Ltd, supported by the Keva Group and Netherlands-based Waste Treatment Technologies (WTT), the project has now moved from construction work to early testing. Hot commissioning will take place later in three phases.
Even though NMC had asked for a plant that could handle 1,000 tonnes of unsegregated waste per day, the company has built a facility with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day to meet the city’s growing needs. This makes it one of the largest plants of its kind in the world.
The project gained further confidence after a pilot plant was set up at the site in December 2024. The pilot test proved that the dry fermentation method widely used in Europe can also work effectively with Indian waste, which usually contains more moisture and impurities.
Once fully operational, the plant will convert 550–600 tonnes of organic waste per day into CBG through 30 fermentation tunnels. It will also produce 400 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and send less than 10% of leftover waste to a scientifically managed landfill. Built as a zero-tipping-fee and zero-discharge facility, it will not only run without cost to NMC but will also generate royalty income for the civic body.
