What if your food waste could power something? At Osmania University, the biogas plant stands as a

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:05]Osmania University, a landmark of Hyderabad, is the third oldest university in southern India. It is spread over 1,600 acres with more than 3 lakh students enrolled and 16 residential hostels. This is the kitchen of the girls hostel on the campus.

[00:00:25]It stands out as compared to the other hostel kitchens because here the food is cooked using food waste.

[00:00:33]Surprised?

[00:00:34]Here's the full story.

[00:00:56]Since quite a long time, uh I've been thinking about how best we can uh manage our green waste, manage our food waste that is uh being generated in our >> [music] >> hostels and kitchens. One of the challenges that we have with all such kind of things because my university is a very huge university uh is with respect to generating fund to set up these kind of centers or these kind of, you know, uh interventions. So, Saahas' emphasis on uh decentralized waste waste management um so, for wet waste management decentrally, we targeted for Osmania University. Since cooked food waste is ideal input for biogas processing, Saahas, under the CSR project RESET, funded by KPMG India, >> [music] >> teamed up with Ahuja Engineering Services Hyderabad and Osmania University to set up a 2-ton biogas plant near the ladies hostel.

[00:01:55]>> [music] >> The location that we have selected for uh up this biogas plant was within the [music] ladies hostel complex because we felt that the complex is a secure place where we can at least convert one kitchen into [music] totally biogas based kitchen.

[00:02:14]And that's how we have put up The process begins uh at this place where we start with the food waste addition. Uh the food waste is crushed, added to underground tank from where it is pumped into this big digester where is where the magic happens. The biogas gets produced, that is cleaned, so so to speak, from hydrogen sulfide moisture. Then we measure how much biogas is produced and gets filled up in these balloons where uh uh they stored temporarily and from there the gas is pressurized and sent to the kitchen. So, the kitchen experience is the most important. The pressurized gas ensures that the cooks are able to cook at the same in the same time that would that they would otherwise cook in LPG. So, that is main thing of our technology. And whatever slurry we are getting, we are converting that slurry or using the slurry into our landscape garden. So, this plant started in 2024 October. So, in initial stage, we collected only 200 kg and in just 4 months the waste collection has been increased to 1,300 kg, which is a good jump. The project in my experience is one of the fastest project that I have seen, not boasting what we have done, but I would say that, you know, there was a wonderful coordination between Osmania University, Saahas, the funding agency, uh that is KPMG, and as well as my executive training company that is Ahuja Engineering [music] Services.

[00:04:14]My kitchen staff are very happy with this conversion.

[00:04:18]Actually, so carbon emission I put in I tell you that so my name is biogas to Casey Thank you.

[00:04:48]With that, the health of a staff will maintain good. And the food is as tasty as at the gas. The ladies hostel kitchen alone, we have already achieved 60% reduction in LPG usage, directly addressing the challenges posed by the LPG crisis. So, [music] our U Mahalakshmi biogas plant has been selected as one [music] of the examples of circular economy. Most importantly, this is transforming how our students think.

[00:05:25]They now see circular economy in action every day at Osmania University campus.

[00:05:31]Their own food waste cooking their meals.

[00:05:35]This is the most powerful kind of learning. It embeds sustainability, resourcefulness, and systems thinking into their minds, shaping them into responsible future citizens.

[00:05:49]Thanks to KPMG for this continuous collaboration with us. And also I'm very thankful to Osmania University for their continuous support for this initiative.

[00:05:59]I extend my sincere thanks to our funding and technical partners KPMG India, Saahas NGO, and Ahuja Engineering Services for their invaluable support. A special word of appreciation goes to Professor Srinivasulu for his tireless dedication in ensuring that this plant runs smoothly and successfully 24/7, 365 days a year.

[00:06:27]If our food waste can be used to make gas to cook our food and the slurry waste of this process be used to nourish the soil, where more food can be grown, we can conclude that nothing is waste.