Can you use CNG for cooking?

Yes, it can. Biogas is one of the most economical way to cook or light a home in rural areas of the world where other power sources are unavailable. It is like turning nothing into light and fuel fire.

However, this is not always possible in a number of circumstances because of the following constraints: * Insufficient amount of waste to run it; unless there are at least four cows/ cattle the plant cannot be operated.

* Insufficient water and/or space required for the plant also make for very important constraints for setting up a biogas plant; if there is no sufficient community land and water the plant cannot remain functional; the correct ratio of cow dung and water would be 1:1 ideally but it could still work with a ration or 4:5; hence you would require higher input where water is less. * Water scarcity or loading capacity would also be a very important and critical constraint. * The biogas plant needs a certain of technology savvy handling which is not always possible in very marginalized communities. * As with water, insufficient production of dung also may highly inhibit the production of the methane gas from the plant. * You may have faulty construction when the biogas plant is not constructed by skilled workers. * Subsidization of fossil fuel in rural areas actually act detrimentally towards the installation of biogas. * Since the gas is coming from waste products, women do not prefer to roast their food on the fire. Biogas is still the best alternative to fuel we have got today. Inspite of all the above constraints, if the biogas is promoted in an organized manner, rural communities stand to gain a lot, since this is a method which can be sustainable in the long run at the least cost. It is extremely beneficial in terms that it can bring light (illumination) to the households as well as a safe and smoke-free cooking medium for the millions of rural women thereby freeing them of the burden of collecting and carrying loads and loads of wood every day for cooking. Ofoourse YES it can be used for cooking, whereever i have installed biogas plants in India, i make sure that the plant is user centric and its always advisable for smaller plants to use the gas directly for combustion. Biogas can be used for various applications, such as for cooking, lighting, electricity production etc. The required gas quality depends on the corresponding application. Dewatering of biogas is recommended for all applications, whereas desulfurization is mainly done before usage in an engine. Hydrogen sulfide is a very aggressive gas responsible for fast corrosion. Biogas used for electricity production in a block heat and power plant has therefore to be treated by desulfurization. Independently from biogas application the gas storage is preferable protected against corrosion. SRINIVAS KASULLA srinivaskasulla@gmail.com