Institutes/Agencies

Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy,
Kapurthala-144601 (Punjab)

(An Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Govt. of India, New Delhi)  

Training program at SSS-NIRE

Main campus of the Institute

VISION:

• To establish SSS-NIRE as an apex R&D Institute to carry out state-of-the-art research and developmental activities in the area of renewable energy in general and bio-energy in particular.

MISSION:

• To be knowledge based R&D Institution of high quality.
• Providing services and seeks to find optimum solutions for the major stakeholders across the entire spectrum of the bio-energy sector.
• To educate the stakeholders/ rural masses in the area of Renewable Energy Technologies through various training programs and demonstrations.

OBJECTIVES:

• To carry out and facilitate research, design, development, testing, standardization and technology demonstration eventually leading to commercialization of RD&D output with a focus on:

1. Bioenergy, biofuels and synthetic fuels in solid, liquid and gaseous forms for transportation, portable and stationary applications; and
2. Development of hybrid/integrated energy systems

• To undertake and facilitate human resource development and training including post-doctoral research in the area of bioenergy.
• To create and strengthen laboratory and workshop facilities.

FUNCTIONS:

The Institute proposes to work on the following areas as per the directions from the Governing Council chaired by Secretary, MNRE:

• Solid fuel laboratory: Biomass characterization, combustion, pyrolysis and Testing of Chulha
• Liquid fuel laboratory: Biodiesel, Bio-ethanol and Hydro-cracking of vegetable oil
• Gaseous fuel laboratory: Producer gas, Biogas and Bio-hydrogen

R&D PLAN FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS (2011-2016)

Establishment of state-of-the-art research laboratory facilities:

In accordance with the recommendations of the R&D committee, the scientists are preparing the status papers on different Renewable Energy Technologies. On the basis of the status papers, the research gaps in different areas will be identified and the specific research activities will be decided accordingly. However, some of the research activities to be undertaken are as under:

• Biodiesel production technology, catalysis and resources (non-edible oilseed, algae etc)
• Hydro-cracking of waste plant/vegetable oil to obtain bio-crude and subsequent distilled products.
• Hydrogen generation from producer gas generated from biomass
• Cleaning, bottling and piping of biogas
• Hydrogen generation from bio-gas generated from crop residues.
• Use of hydrogen generated from biogas and producer gas as a feed stock in fuel-cells for electricity generation
• Use of producer gas for bio-ethanol generation via biological conversion route.
• Pyrolysis of biomass and its integration with the biological conversion techniques to produce ethanol.

Apart from these the Institute may be identified as a test centre for various biomass conversion systems such as Chula, gasifier, bio-gas plant etc.

Regarding Integrated Technology aiming at meeting 100 % captive energy needs of the Institute, the following initiatives have been considered in this direction:

• A 10 kW capacity system may be installed, including a gasifier, engine-generator. The engine should be dedicated engine for producer gas. The testing of the gasifier may be carried out using locally available biomass and also on biomass (pine needle) available from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh etc.
• An engine (5kW capacity), dedicated for Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) may be installed for testing and long term data collection. The system may contain a mechanical oil expelling unit also. The residual cake may be used as a feed stock in bio-gas plant.
• After rice crop harvesting above 15 million tons of rice straw is burnt loose in the fields by the farmers of the Punjab State every year, for clearing their fields for the next crop. During this operation useful source of renewable energy is lost coupled with serious air pollution. Technology may be developed for the use of rice straw as a feed stock in a bio-gas plant. Keeping in view the current resources at the Institute, a 5 kW capacity biogas plant may be installed on the campus. The plant may be operated on cattle dung in the initial stages and at later stage other biomass materials such as rice straw, de-oiled jatropha cake etc. may also be tried.
• Installation of 140 Nos of 36 W capacity stand alone solar photo voltaic(SPV) systems for street lighting inside the campus.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Ongoing Projects:

• A research project entitled “Integrated technology development for biodiesel production using heterogeneous catalyst” has been sanctioned by MNRE and in progress.

Energy Plantation:

• 10,000 jatropha plants are being planted over 3 hectares of land for structural studies
• 200 Bamboo plants are being planted along in the Institute as energy plants
• 3,000 forestry and oil bearing plants have been planted along with the boundary wall of the Institute

Jatropha Plantation                                                      

Campus development:

• The development activities in the campus are in progress including civil construction activities of CPWD.   

Laboratory Development:

Laboratory facilities available at the Institute CHNS Analyzer TG-DTA Bomb Calorimeter Automatic Density Meter Automatic Flashpoint Apparatus Viscometer bath Rotavapour Soxhlet extraction unit Biodiesel Preparation Unit Gasifier Microscope Microbiology Lab Equipments All other facilities for biofuel testing

Workshop facilities available at the Institute:

Lathe machine Tractor with necessary implements Arc welding set Gas welding set Power hawkshaw Bench grinder Bench drill All necessary tools

The working staff at SSS-NIRE and their contact details is as listed under:

CONTACT US

Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy
12 K.M. Stone, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road,
Wadala Kalan, Kapurthala (Punjab)-144 601.

Ph:   01822-255543/45
Telefax: 01822-255544
e-mail: sss[dot]nire[at]gmail[dot]com
website address: http://www.nire.res.in