Institute of Chemical Technology expands DBT-ICT Center for Energy Biosciences

The Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) in Mumbai has expanded its DBT-ICT Center for Energy Biosciences (CEB), which focuses on application of biotechnology in renewable energy research. Dr Harsh Vardhan, minister for science and technology and earth sciences, inaugurated the extension wing of the DBT-ICT Center for Energy Biosciences on June 23, 2015.
 
Dr Harsh Vardhan said chemical toilets, solar-power fuelled flushing systems and conversion of municipal and even kitchen waste into biofuels are some of the thrust areas adopted in institutions under the Ministry.
 
The Centre, funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and established in December 2008 at total initial cost of about equivalent of $ 5 million, primarily focusses on developing biotechnologies for deriving energy from renewable resources for reducing India’s rising dependence on petroleum fuels and cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The DBT-ICT Center of Biosciences is now in its second five-year phase. The Minister said that it is now diversifying into second and third generation biofuels and biochemical solutions. “These areas are based on handling the diverse kinds of waste available all over India and adding value to the bio-constituents of those wastes with a view to develop them into fuels.”
 
In the early days of conversion of municipal waste to fuel, there were problems faced with wet garbage which constitutes the most part of public dumps in India. But now, research to resolve this problem have begun to yield dividends.
 
Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Swacch Bharat has been taken up as a serious research area in the country’s laboratories keeping in mind the reality that biotechnology offers immense scope to leapfrog several levels towards the objective of public hygiene and health.
 
DBT-ICT Centre of Biosciences is not the only institution under the Ministry which is actively pursuing the Swacch Bharat agenda. As an example, he pointed to the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).
 
“They are developing a technology which will make biofuels like biogas by treating solid waste at the community, village and small town levels. This is remarkable because not only will it lead to the decentralisation of solid waste disposal but has the potential to develop a direct interface between rural people and cutting edge science,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan.