Inside India’s Bio-CNG Supply Chain: From Waste to Wheels

In 2025, India stands at the cusp of a historic transformation — turning its waste problem into an energy opportunity. Every tonne of garbage, crop residue, and animal waste that once choked landfills or polluted air now fuels the engines of India’s clean mobility dream.

This is the story of Bio-CNG, or Compressed Biogas (CBG) — a fuel that doesn’t just burn clean, but begins clean.

♻️ The Birth of a New Fuel: How Bio-CNG Is Made

The process starts not in refineries, but in rural sheds, municipal plants, and dairy farms across India.

1️⃣ Feedstock Collection

India produces nearly 750 million tonnes of organic waste annually — from agricultural stubble to municipal wet waste. (MoPNG, SATAT Report 2025) This waste is collected and transported to local Bio-CNG (CBG) plants authorised under the SATAT initiative.

2️⃣ Anaerobic Digestion

The waste is fed into large oxygen-free tanks (digesters) where microbes break it down into biogas, a mixture of methane (CH₄), CO₂, and trace gases. This natural process, called anaerobic digestion, mimics how organic matter decomposes in nature — only faster and controlled.

3️⃣ Biogas Purification

Raw biogas contains around 55–60% methane. It’s purified using advanced membranes or scrubbers to remove CO₂, hydrogen sulphide, and moisture — raising purity to over 95% methane, making it chemically identical to fossil CNG.

4️⃣ Compression and Storage

The cleaned biogas is then compressed at high pressure (200–250 bar) and stored in cylinders — creating Bio-CNG. It’s now ready for use in any standard CNG vehicle, bus, or industrial burner — no engine modifications needed.

5️⃣ Byproduct Utilisation

The leftover slurry from digestion is processed into organic fertiliser, creating a secondary income stream for farmers and ensuring zero waste.

This complete “waste-to-wheel” cycle embodies the circular economy — where pollution becomes productivity.

🚛 The Journey from Plant to Pump

Once compressed, Bio-CNG travels through one of two routes:

Direct Pipeline Injection: Many plants feed CBG directly into city gas distribution (CGD) networks managed by companies like Adani Total Gas, Mahanagar Gas, and Indraprastha Gas.

Cascade Cylinder Transport: Smaller plants use cascades — high-pressure modular cylinders mounted on trucks — to deliver gas to local stations within 50–100 km radius.

According to PNGRB, India had over 200 operational CBG plants by mid-2025, with another 300 under construction. By 2030, the number is expected to exceed 5,000 plants nationwide, producing nearly 25 million tonnes of CBG per year. (PNGRB 2025 Report)

This decentralised distribution model ensures even smaller cities and towns will soon have locally produced green fuel — cutting transport emissions at both ends.

💰 The Economics: Fuel, Jobs, and Local Growth

A mid-sized Bio-CNG plant processes about 30 tonnes of organic waste daily, generating 1,500–2,000 kg of Bio-CNG per day. That’s enough to power 80 taxis or 40 buses every 24 hours — while creating:

60–80 local jobs per plant

₹20–25 lakh annual income for farmers supplying feedstock

Additional savings for municipalities by reducing landfill pressure

Bio-CNG isn’t just an energy product — it’s a rural economic engine wrapped in sustainability.

🌱 Cleaner Than EVs, Smarter Than Diesel

Lifecycle studies by NITI Aayog and IEA show Bio-CNG has a net carbon reduction of 85–90% compared to diesel. In many cases, it even achieves negative emissions, as it captures methane that would have escaped from waste dumps — a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO₂.

Unlike EVs, which still rely on India’s coal-heavy grid (65% fossil power), Bio-CNG is produced and consumed locally — no batteries, no imports, no rare-earth metals.

This makes it India’s most immediate and scalable decarbonisation tool for transport.

🔮 2030 Outlook: India’s Green Gas Grid

By 2030, India’s Bio-CNG supply chain will be one of the largest in the world, seamlessly integrated with CNG networks. The SATAT roadmap envisions:

5,000 operational plants

15,000+ CNG/Bio-CNG stations

25% blending of CBG in total gas mix

Over 60 million tonnes of CO₂ avoided every year

This “green gas grid” will make CNG vehicles not just economical, but environmentally elite — carbon-light and proudly Indian.

Bio-CNG proves that clean energy doesn’t have to be imported, complicated, or futuristic — it can come from your city’s waste, your farm’s residue, your community’s byproducts.

From waste to wheels, India is writing a new sustainability story — one that feeds the economy, fuels the future, and clears the air.

In the global race for green mobility, India’s advantage is simple: our waste has value.

Disclaimer: All facts and projections are based on verified data from PNGRB, MoPNG, PPAC, and IEA reports as of 2025. Figures are subject to change depending on infrastructure expansion and policy updates.