4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Biodigester Technology is now being intelligently implemented for social benefit. This technology is not just eco-friendly but is also cost effective. DRDO in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has undertaken the initiative to provide biotoilets to the rural and tribal population of the country based on its indigenously developed ‘Biodigester’ Technology’.
The biodigester technology was initially demonstrated in high altitude low temperature areas of Siachen, Leh and Kargil regions. Later on, the technology was modified and adapted to suit the requirements of Indian Railways and demonstrated in Barauni Express (running between Gwalior and Barauni) and Bundelkhand Express (running between Gwalior and Varanasi) before large scale implementation in different trains. The technology of biodigester has been transferred to 45 industries of national and international repute for high altitude low temperature biodegradation, biodegradation in plain/ coastal areas and for mobile systems like Indian Railways. Several of these firms have produced and supplied biodigesters to Indian armed forces, other governmental agencies like Union Territory of Lakshadweep, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), to public and to other private companies.
FICCI in association with the Ministry of Defence and DRDO organised a ‘MoU Exchange programme between DRDO and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for Implementation of Biodigester based Eco-friendly Toilets in all Gram Panchayats in the country’. The MoU envisages a plan for setting up of Biodigester based toilets in saturation mode across the identified Gram Panchayats. Simultaneously, MoUs have also been signed with Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) under Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Ganga Action Parivar (GAP). Awareness is created by state/ central governments through conferences and workshops. Forty five industries located all over India are in contact with local authorities/ public and are busy in execution of biotoilets work in different states. Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh are planning for Pilot Programme through Asian Development Bank (ADB). LAHDC has plan of going for 750 biotoilets for civil use, of which 300 are already installed and another 500 are proposed for Army use.
DRDO demonstrated the technology in Dhamra, Odisha, Paramarth Niketan, Rishikesh, Vivekananda Needam, Gwalior, etc. It is a technology that was developed in laboratory but was gradually demonstrated and established in a capacity building mode for different capacities starting from single family to colonies and the technology was made familiar through advertisement by conducting workshops and conferences, and through industry but under strict monitoring of DRDO for quality assurance.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The stakeholders for this technology are diverse group of people beginning from Scientists, academicians, industries, ministries, state and central government, FICCI, Indian railways and the industry partners who are now spreading the technology. The initial technology was developed by a group of Scientists through their whole hearted devotion for this work. As and when required, advice, suggestion and support from academicians and engineers were taken into consideration. Once the technology was matured enough, it was demonstrated at different levels and on getting wide acceptance, it was further made popular through the help of state government and finally for popularization at country level, support of different ministries of central and state governments was gratefully accepted. Moreover, many industries contributed in the technology demonstration thorough their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) activities. In the mean time the technology was well accepted by Indian Railways for installing in trains in a huge numbers and by Ministry of Rural Development for spreading the technology to every nook and corner of the country to stop open defecation. FICCI in association with the Ministry of Defence and DRDO organised a ‘MoU Exchange programme between DRDO and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for implementation of Biodigester based Eco-friendly Toilets in all Gram Panchayats in the country’. The MoU envisages a plan for setting up of Biodigester based toilets across the identified Gram Panchayats.
The technology of biodigester has been transferred to 45 reputed firms for high altitude low temperature biodegradation, for in plain/ coastal areas and for mobile systems like Indian Railways and another 100 firms have applied for getting the Biodigester Technology. Several of these firms have produced and supplied biodigesters to Indian armed forces, other governmental agencies like UT of Lakshadweep and to other private companies.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Since its beginning, funding for development of this technology was provided by Defence Research and Development Organisation, Govt. of India. Initially, the funding was only for basic R&D as there were no prior technologies and the technical manpower involved were Scientists and Technologists from DRDO. It was a phase wise developmental process with financial commitments as per necessity for new technology upgradation, addition and modification for better use. The complete technology development was covered under Research Project from DRDO and whenever there was a project gap, the continuation of research work was carried out under Build up and maintenance fund of DRDO. After basic R&D was completed, there was new fund allocation for Prototype Demonstration under Technology Demonstration Project. And finally, the complete Biodigester based technology/product came into existence that was successfully demonstrated in different terrains and was well accepted throughout the country as the most efficient Human waste Management Technology. Important to mention here that before the Biodigester Technology Project was conceived, a small project was undertaken on Biogas Technology demonstration at Arunachal Pradesh. The project was funded by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Govt. of India. The experience of that project, made Biodigester Techology for Human Waste Management project at ease.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The breakthrough success of the innovative Biodigester Technology meeting the demand of armed forces attracted the attention of civil populace from various parts of the country and the demand was fulfilled by modifying the Biodigesters for specific applications.
The most successful out puts are as follows:
Biodigester for Railways: Indian Railways has been facing the problem of human waste nuisance as the waste of millions of passengers is discharged on the tracks and the workers who are involved in maintenance of tracks and trains are exposed to untreated human excreta. Stainless steel Biodigesters of 350L volume have been developed and so far more than 11000 have been fitted in the coaches and working satisfactorily. IR manufactures approximately 4000 new coaches every year besides 50,000 coaches in operation and has decided to equip all of its coaches with Biodigesters by year 2022.
Biodigester for Lakshadweep Islands: Lakshadweep Islands have special problem of high water table (1-2m) which gets contaminated by human excreta and the existing septic tanks don’t generate the effluent of desired quality. Govt. has decided to install custom designed Biodigesters, which can work in water logged areas also, for all of the families (12000) inhabiting the islands. The work is in progress and more than 2000 Biodigesters have been installed.
Mobile toilets: There has been demand for mobile toilets wherein the waste can be treated onsite for places having floating populations and short term events (e.g., Exhibitions, mela, etc.). Mobile Toilets with Biodigesters have been developed having ten toilet seats and successfully demonstrated in Allahabad Kumbh Mela and other places.
Biodigesters for high altitude civil areas: Ladakh autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh has plan of going for 750 biotoilets for civil use in Leh town, of which 300 are already installed. Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, (SASB) has also put up biotoilets for pilgrims visiting the Holy Cave. In addition, 500 biodigesters have been procured by army for hygienic disposal of human waste.
Biodigesters for plain areas: A large number of biodigesters of FRP and cement/ brick (Biotank) have been installed in different states with capacity ranges from single family to multi-storeyed buildings to public toilets and colonies. DRDO in association with FICCI has also installed biodigesters at several public places in Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, etc.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Heart of the Biodigester Technology is bacteria which do the successful decomposition of human waste. The bacterial consortium was developed in laboratory. For successful, efficient performance, the design was developed by scientists with the help of local industry engaged in fabrication of biodigesters. After laboratory level demonstration, field demonstration of this technology was done by the scientists locally and then in high altitude and other plain areas. Moreover, many industries helped in this technology demonstration thorough their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) activities under strict monitoring of DRDO scientists.
Once the technology was matured enough, it was demonstrated at different levels and on getting wide acceptance, it was further made popular through the help of state government and finally for popularization at country level, support of different ministries and central government was gratefully accepted. The technology of biodigester has been transferred to 45 reputed firms for high altitude low temperature biodegradation, biodegradation in plain/ coastal areas and for mobile systems like Indian Railways and another 100 firms has applied for getting the technology. Several of the industry partners have produced and supplied biodigesters to Indian armed forces, other governmental agencies like UT of Lakshadweep, LAHDC and to other private companies. But in every steps the quality control for evaluating successful performance was monitored by DRDO scientists. The bacteria generation facility is with DRDO and now technology for bacterial inoculum generation is transferred to the industry partners/. However, all the quality control and quality assurance (QA/QC) aspects rest with DRDO. In every quarter of the year, inspection of the inoculum generation plant is carried out and the plant is certitied after performing laboratory tests for the quality of the bacterial inoculum.
In the mean time the technology has been well accepted by Indian Railways for installing in trains in a very huge numbers and by Ministry of Rural Development for spreading the technology to every nook and corner of the country to stop open defecation. FICCI in association with the Ministry of Defence and DRDO organised a ‘MoU Exchange programme between DRDO and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for Implementation of Biodigester based Eco-friendly Toilets in all Gram Panchayats in the country’. The MoU envisages a plan for setting up of Biodigester based toilets across the identified Gram Panchayats.
Forty five Indian companies are busy in DRDO biodigester capacity building throughout the country under quality control of DRDO scientists.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The development of this technology actually faced many obstacles till this matured technology came into existence.
A few obstacles and their solutions are mentioned below:
1. In initial phase at High altitude at sub-zero temperature it appeared that the single Biodigester connected for 4/5 latrines wasn’t working as the human waste in the connecting pipe from the latrines to the Biodigester and the connecting chamber got frozen and as a result the waste wasn’t able to reach the underground biodigester for biodegradation. This problem was solved by placing biodigester directly under the latrines. Moreover, P-trap used for stopping off odour was removed from the latrine and water seal was provided inside the biodigester and freezing of outlet pipe at low temperature was resolved by placing heating tape on it.
2. Another problem at glaciers was transportation of equipment in absence of roads. Bio-digesters were made modular so as to be transported by porters/helicopters.
3. Use of cleaning agents proved to be harsh on the heart of the Biodigester, the bacteria, as bacteria couldn’t tolerate the chemical cleaning agents. This resulted in decreased efficiency of Biodigester. This problem was solved by immobilization of bacteria in biodigester. The benefit of this added technology was that only surface bacteria in the matrix cavity were exposed to cleaning agents whenever exposed to. Inner layers of bacteria on the immobilized matrix remained unexposed which in due course of time covered the loss of the surface bacteria and maintained biodigester efficiency.
4. One installation problem was faced while running biodigester in the trains. There was problem of public littering of non biodegradable plastic bottles etc. that blocked the biodigester path. This was solved by modification of biodigester design that didn’t allow passage of plastic bottles and at the same time sorts biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials separately.
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