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Pune: 20 PMPML buses to run on bio-CNG from mid-October
Twenty buses of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) will run on fuel made from food waste collected from different hotels from October 20.
Called bio-CNG or CBG (compressed bio-gas), Indian Oil will supply it to the transport body, PMPML chairman- cum-managing director Rajendra Jagtap told TOI, adding that the trials have been completed.
“There is a refuelling station in Talegaon, and buses from the Bhosari depot of the PMPML moving towards Talegaon area will be running on this fuel. Another fuelling station at Nigdi will be ready within three months. More than 50 buses in the PMPML fleet will run on bio-CNG. We are keen on use of alternative and eco-friendly fuel,”Jagtap said.
In 2014, the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation got into an agreement with Noble Exchange Environment Solutions Private Limited to collect hotel food waste and convert it into bio-fuel.
“The PMPML buses have undergone trials twice. We want more than 100 buses to use this alternative fuel by next January. The buses, instead of the normal CNG, have been fuelled by bio-CNG. Permissions and approvals have been obtained from Central Institute of Road Transport and Automotive Research Association of India,” the CMD added.
There are more than 1,500 CNG run buses in the fleet.“The costs for CNG and bio-CNG are almost the same. Work on construction of the fuel station at the Nigdi depot is going on. It has been approved by the board of directors,” a PMPML official said .
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