Case Study - Business model, Design of Portable Biogas Trucks
Skills:
Leadership, Social Work, Literature review, Business model development and Pitching on a global platform
As a captain, I led a team of 4 people on this project. We got selected and pitched this idea in Hult Prize, Australia. We were appreciated for best presentation.
My Role:
Inspiration:
During my association with an NGO, we noticed that the small villages in India still don't have access to cleaner fuel. They cook on wood fires, kerosene or coal causing air pollution. Nearly 1.3 million people die in India every year because of air pollution caused due to lack of cleaner fuel.
Research:
1. We researched and talked with nearly 60 households of a village, Jaspur, near Ahmedabad, India. It accounted for a total population of ~500 people. A 36-year-old housewife was our main point of contact throughout the survey.
2. To know about the severity of this issue on a global scale, we researched and collected data from various government websites and other trusted sources about the number of people without access to clean fuel.
3. Our unanimous opinion was to build a design with the least outsourcing required. Thus Biogas was the best option we could think of for the concept of From the village - To the village
Input: cow dung and agricultural waste from villages
Output: Compressed Bio-Gas cylinders + slurry as by product
4. Our main challenge was space constraint for setting biogas plants. On our site visits to different biogas plants and during our research, we came up across a paper published in Europe about the Innovative Biogas Multi-Stage Approach. Using this concept, we designed each stage on individual trucks hence the birth of Portable Biogas Trucks - "Revival".
Solution:
These small villages produce 511041.39 Kilo Tons of agro/cow dung/house waste per year in India. We use this waste to produce biogas and convert it into cleaner cooking gas (Compressed Bio-Gas Cylinders). The catch here is to have a portable biogas design rather than setup a biogas plant so that it is more affordable and accessible to many villages.
We, the change-makers will be owning Biogas Trucks. Waste collection and cylinder and slurry distribution will be done as cooperative work. The gas cylinders cost ½ the present value thus reducing affordability issues. The CBG cylinders can be used in place of CNG and so it is a disruptive concept. This can be further scaled in other countries and also urban areas where space is a constraint for setting biogas plant
Full Pitch:
For more information about the full business model, I have attached my Hult Prize pitch ppt herewith. Click on the adjacent button.
