Compressed Bio-Gas: Fuel From Waste

Cattle dung and crop waste don’t sound like fuel. Compressed, purified, and refined the right way, they can run a car engine.

CBG

Purified, compressed biogas, chemically close to CNG; full name spelled out in the title above.

SATAT

The 2018 scheme that first pushed CBG into city fuel networks.

GOBARdhan

The 2026 national scheme that funds CBG plants and sets a stable producer price.

What CBG Is

• CBG stands for Compressed Bio-Gas. It’s a purified, compressed form of biogas, chemically close to CNG.
• CBG is made mostly of methane. It comes from organic waste, broken down through a process called anaerobic digestion.
• That waste can be cattle dung, crop residue, or food waste.
• Raw biogas is only about 55-65% methane. After purification, CBG reaches about 92-98% methane.
• This matters because purified CBG can run a car engine. It turns farm and city waste into a genuinely useful fuel.

How CBG Is Made

• Making CBG follows a set sequence of steps.
• First, bacteria break down organic waste inside an oxygen-free tank. This step, called digestion, releases raw biogas.
• Next, the gas gets cleaned. This cleaning step removes carbon dioxide and other unwanted gases.
• Then, the cleaned gas gets compressed. This lets it be stored and used just like CNG.
• The end result is a clean fuel. It burns with less pollution than diesel.
• So CBG turns a waste problem into an energy solution, in one connected process.

SATAT and GOBARdhan

• The SATAT scheme launched on 1 October 2018. Its goal was to promote CBG as a transport fuel.
• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas runs SATAT. It pushes CBG into city gas distribution networks.
• SATAT was India’s first big push to use CBG in vehicles.
• In August 2026, the Cabinet approved a newer scheme, GOBARdhan. Its full name is the National Circular Bioenergy Scheme.
• GOBARdhan funds CBG plant expansion across the country. It also sets an administered CBG price, to give producers a stable income.
• GOBARdhan plans to blend CBG into CNG and PNG supply over time.
• A stable price and a blending target together make CBG a more attractive business to invest in.

The Delhi-Yamuna Push

• In July 2026, Delhi’s municipal body signed an MoU with the NDDB. The goal was to build CBG plants across the city.
• The aim behind this push is to stop cow dung and sewage from entering the Yamuna River.
• Livestock farmers get paid ₹1 per kilogram of cow dung they supply to these plants.
• The stated target is zero dirty water entering the river, by December 2028.
• This matters because the same waste that pollutes a river can become clean fuel, and farmer income, instead.

CBG vs Raw Biogas

• Don’t treat CBG and raw biogas as the same product. Exams often test exactly this difference.
• Raw biogas is only about 55-65% methane. That’s fine for local cooking, but not for engines.
• CBG is purified and compressed to 92-98% methane, close to CNG. That extra purity is what lets CBG fuel vehicles.
• Purity is the deciding factor for whether the gas can replace CNG in an engine. Calling raw biogas “CBG” is a common mistake to avoid.
• A related, wider push targets Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF, for planes rather than road vehicles.
• SAF draws on more waste streams than CBG does, including crop residues, corn grain, wastewater sludge, and wood waste. Its goal is cutting aviation’s own carbon footprint.
• Waste-to-fuel is a growing global theme in clean energy, and CBG is India’s own leading example of it.

Revised CBG Pricing

• The government clarified a revised CBG price under GOBARdhan. The new price is set at ₹2,110 per MMBtu. (Source: PIB)
• The earlier producer price was linked to 85% of the CNG retail price. That worked out to about ₹1,478 per MMBtu. (Source: PIB)
• The government also gives affordability support of ₹10 per kg of CBG. This keeps consumers from bearing the full cost themselves. (Source: PIB)
• The higher producer price is meant to encourage more CBG supply. At the same time, it avoids unfairly raising CNG or PNG bills for ordinary consumers. (Source: PIB)