S Muralidhara Rao, former BARC and NASA scientist, who also worked for the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica , Taipei, Taiwan is on a visit to Assam on the invitation of the Assam government to work on a project which creates cooking gas without producing the resultant carbon.
The green fuel can also be used for transportation and in producing electricity. The scientist delivered a talk recently at the College of Veterinary Science, AAU, Guwahati on “Carbon negative approach- major solution for global warming”.
The talk was organized jointly by the Assam Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (Veterinary Faculty) and Training and Placement Cell of College of Veterinary Science.
Rao has also visited Dibrugarh district to demonstrate the simple technology of smokeless wood stove for rural areas which he has developed.
“Humanity is facing a serious problem of increasing global temperatures which are affecting the earth’s ecosystem adversely and in some cases irreversibly. Carbon negative approach will help in removing the greenhouse gases from the atmosphere over a period of time,” Rao said.
Mineswar Hazarika, professor and head of the department of Livestock Production Technology, College of Veterinary Science explaining the technology which Rao has developed said that the major greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, carbon mono oxide, methane, etc. were reduced to a great extent.
“In this method, the agricultural biomass, dry leaves, husk of paddy, wheat husks, etc., through a method of burning known as pyrolyses in which oxygen is not used, produces a clean biogas,” he said. The residue is in the form of bio charcoal.
This gas can be stored in cylinders or directly used for cooking, transportation and electricity generation and the residue can be used as bio-charcoal which has got several industrial uses.
“It is argued that this is a major solution that needs immediate attention which will surely provide a sustainable living for humanity,” Hazarika said.