Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Bamboo flowering and eventual death of the species in the seasons  make available large scale bamboo residues. This has to be utilized continuously and on large scale so that the residues are consumed quickly after generation and there will be no storing leading to other menaces like rat infestation.

 National Mission on Bamboo Applications (NMBA) along with IISc(Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore addressed  the issue of value addition of these residues. Their findings,

• Gasification of bamboo/ bamboo waste for electricity/ thermal applications produced clean, cheap and renewable source of energy.
• The energy Stabilised to 1 Mwe level for off-grid, remote area, captive – & flowering areas.
• 15% charcoal was generated as by-product to meet rural fuel needs.
•  Also, Quality, species, maturity of bamboo was not an issue. 

The two pilot projects, set up at an estimated cost of Rs.100 million, were designed and developed by scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Both the plants are nearing completion at two paper mills in Jagiroad and Silchar towns in Assam.