The CSIR Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, has joined hands with the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) to deploy the pine needles-based fuel-making technology in the state's Champawat district. This comes after the two entities signed an MoU on March 5 under the directions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
As part of this agreement, the CSIR Indian Institute of Petroleum will implement two major technologies in the district at the grassroots level.
“The selected technologies include a briquetting unit with a capacity of 50 kg per hour based on pine needles and 500 units of improved cookstoves for rural households. An extended field trial study will be conducted regarding energy conservation and its environmental impact,” the Ministry of Science & Technology said.
The unit will be established in Champawat's Energy Park, and the briquettes produced here will be used as fuel in homes and local industries, the ministry said.
The management and use of pine needles are necessary to reduce the instances of forest fires, Dr Harendra Singh Bisht, Director of the CSIR - Indian Institute of Petroleum, said. The pine needle briquettes and pellets can replace coal and protect the environment, he added.
The briquettes can be used for domestic cooking and as direct or co-firing fuel in brick kilns and thermal power plants.
In September 2020, the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the state's first project for generating power via pine needles with 25KW capacity made at a cost of ₹25 lakh in Uttarkashi's Dunda.
Pine needle to bio-briquettes
In Jammu and Kashmir, subtropical pine forests account for 16.4% of the total forest cover and are predominately distributed over the Shivalik Range of the Himalayas.
The administration has formulated a 'Pine needle to bio-briquettes' project to utilising the forest bio-residue available as fallen Chir pine needles for providing a means of livelihood to the local people through the use of low-cost technology.
'Compressed BioGas' from pine needles
In May last year, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government was contemplating producing Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) from pine needles -- available in large numbers in the hill state.
Noting that CBG can be used as green automotive fuel as it has properties similar to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Sukhu stated that CBG has the potential to replace CNG in commercial and industrial sectors.
In this regard, a MoU was signed with Oil India Limited (OIL), a statement earlier said.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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