Concept Paper

on

ESTABLISHMENT OF
BIOGAS ENERGY PLANTS
(PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP)

Economic Growth Section

PDMA/PaRRSA

June, 2010

PROJECT CONCEPT PAPER

Name of the
project
Project Area /
Scope of the
project
Partner
Organizations
Timeframe
Approximate Cost
Objectives

Establishment of Biogas Energy Plants (public private partnership )

Selected villages of Malakand

PaRRSA, Line Departments & Local Communities /

AHITI
6 Months
PKR 14 Million
The broad objective of the project is development of renewable energy at
household level using the available indigenous resources of cow dung.
The specific objectives are:
i. To develop small and medium biogas plants at household level in the
selected villages of Malakand Division, KPP.
ii. To increase income of rural communities and promote organic farming
using decomposed manure.
iii. To relieve the women folk from the additional burden of fuel-wood
collection and cow dung cakes making for cooking purposes.
iv. To improve health and hygiene and reduce tuberculoses incidences by
safe handling of cow dung and replacing cow dung and fuel-wood as
source of energy with biogas.
v. To protect forestry resources from cutting for fuel-wood, make
available organic manure for soil fertility and reduce green house gases
(GHG) emission from cow dung landfills.
vi. Processing industry and the retail markets in the urban areas.

Description and
Justification of
the Project

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of

organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas is the product of food
chain in which the sun energy is trapped by green plants which are eaten
by livestock as fodder to produce energy, fates, carbohydrate and protein
that animal body uses. The waste products that are disposed out do
contain a lot of carbohydrate and other food and fibers, which are the
major source of methane (CH4) produced during the process of dung
fermentation by an aerobic bacterial process.
Biogas originates from biogenic material and is a type of bio-fuel, which
primarily comprises of methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas can be used
as a low-cost fuel for heating cooking and power generation. Biogas can
also be compressed, much like natural gas, and used to power motor
vehicles. Being a renewable source of energy, biogas qualifies for
renewable energy subsidies in some parts of the world. Biogas comprises
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of the following gases:

Methane (CH4) = 50-75%
Carbon dioxide = 25-50%
Nitrogen (N2) = 0-10%
Hydrogen (H2) = 0-1%
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S)=0-3%
Oxygen (O2) = 0-2%

Bio-gas offers highly cost effective and decentralized energy production

option at community and household level. Pakistan did tried biogas
production in Seventies but it could not succeed due to lack of technology
and awareness among the communities.
Recent technological advancements in biogas digesters has greatly helped
in developing a highly efficient, economically viable, environment and
user friendly biogas plant, which is successfully being developed and
used. This Chinese model of doom shaped concrete biogas plant is
successfully being used in China, Thailand, Vietnam, India and recently
in Pakistan for biogas production using cow dung. In rural China,
anaerobic digesters are used to produce biogas energy for households as
well as producing organic fertilizer. Other benefits of the systems include
improved sanitation and conservation of environment. There are
approximately 5,000,000 households using anaerobic digesters in China.
Small and Medium scale domestic biogas plant cost not more than 70-90
thousand rupees to construct even in the courtyard of rural houses. It can
generate 10-20 cubic meter of natural biogas; which possesses 50-75%
methane, a major source of energy that burn instantly and produce heat.
The biogas could also be used to produce electricity using common patrol
generators with little alteration. This clean source of domestic energy can
replace the use of fuel-wood and cow dung cakes normally used as source
of domestic energy in rural areas. As a result not only forests will be
saved from fuel-wood pressure but cow dung use in the biogas digester
will produce organic manure; a rich source of soil fertility.
Justification:
Urban area in general and rural areas in particular of the whole country is
currently facing the worst ever energy crises in history as the energy
demand and supply exhibit a great deal of gap. Therefore, Government of
Pakistan follows load management of electricity and natural gas supply.
Consequently, the domestic and commercial consumers suffer badly. This
situation has lead to stoppage of various small and medium industries,
which is not only the back bone of the national economy but also
employee large proportion of work force in Pakistan.
Energy crises have also affected the domestic, industrial and employment
opportunities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. To overcome the
problem in short run is as challenging in terms of its cost and technical
parameter as the long term solutions even for the Federal Government.
The Government of KPP with its weak economy coupled with the law
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and order situation especially in Malakand Division can only afford cost
effective solutions to the energy crises in the short, medium and long
term. After series of deliberations coupled with observations and
exchange of ideas with various stakeholders, the Bio-Energy Technology
Application Pakistan has figured out a highly innovative and cost
effective solution to the energy crises in the short run. The basic idea that
has already been tested in KPP and other parts of Pakistan is developing
biogas from cow dung waste. After thorough consultations, with relevant
stakeholders, the proposed project was formulated to solve the domestic
energy problems in rural areas of KPP on sustainable basis using
indigenous material and demonstrate the technology to a variety of
stakeholders for replication.
Biogas energy supply has successfully been demonstrated and adopted at
large scale in the rural areas of Punjab, KPP and AJK. Hundreds of
Chinese dome shaped concrete biogas plants of 8-20 cubic meter capacity
are excellently working for the past two to three years and supplying
biogas for the domestic energy needs. As most of these plants are limited
to the province of Punjab, the proposed project aims to replicate these
plants in KPP at large scale. Domestic energy uses/demand primarily
includes the cooking and heating needs of rural households in KPP. Thus,
the proposed project will develop offers solutions by developing domestic
biogas plants in selected villages of Malakand Division in KPP to meet
the energy needs in rural parts of KPP and not only protect forests from
cutting but also use decomposed manure for increased agricultural
productivity.

Results

The proposed project will generate direct employment opportunities for

unskilled labourers, in the region. The skilled employment will include
mesons, plumbers, engineers, finance and account personnels. Estimated
two-five men months employment opportunities will directly be created
through the proposed project.
Indirect employment generation will include increase in household
income through replacement of fuel-wood, LPG and other sources of
domestic energy. Use of organic fertilizers use in agriculture will increase
yield and thus require more labour force, boot in cement, biogas
equipments and pipelines manufacturing industries are other indicators of
employment generation.
Other results can be summarized as follows;
i.

ii.
iii.

Controlling emission of Green House Gases (GHG) through

fermentation of cow dung and collection of gases that are used as
source of domestic and commercial energy.
The project qualifies for Carbon Credits as it serve as sink for
GHG emission.
Organic manure produced after fermentation is a rich source of
fertilizer, which can replace the chemical fertilizers in agriculture
and implement the UN Convention on Persistent Organic
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iv.

Proposed
Interventions and
indicative cost

Pollutants (POPs) that Pakistan has ratified.

Cow dung is normally dumped in open in the court yard of rural
households, which is a source of various diseases and harbour
insects and pests. Biogas plant consumes all the cow dung on
daily basis and the court yard present clean and neat look as there
is neither smell nor any heap of cow dung.

The establishment cost for 100 bio-gas plants is PKR 14 Million.

The details will be furnished up on request.

Project
Management

Livestock and Dairy Department/ Local livestock farming

communities with support from PaRRSA