MADURAI, Oct 1: Those bitten by Ramar Pillai's `herbal petrol' bug may want to shy away from believing that sewage water could produce cooking gas. But the propounder of this theory claims that he uses no secret chemical ingredients or complicated procedures, save common sense.According to 35-year-old V R Rajendran, 100 litres of sewage water can produce enough gas for 24 hours of non-stop use in three households. In fact, some residents in the area where Rajendran has set up his plant have been making use of this gas service for the past two years without any hitch. At present, 900 litres of sewage water is being treated to serve five households. The steady passage of gas is established by a flow-meter.The procedure is quite simple: Allow a steady flow of filtered sewage water through two huge, underground air-tight containers one after the other with only a narrow outlet from each container for the pipe connection. The odour emanating from the sewage water in the containers gets transformed into combustible gas and is supplied to households through the pipes.According to Rajendran, the odour of sewage water indicates a heavy content of combustible substances including methane. Based on this observation, he tried to examine the method on the lines of gobar gas production. During the course of conducting a preliminary test at an open drain in Sellur here, he found that by collecting the foam on the sides of the drain and converting it into gas in a container with an outlet, he could obtain a blue flame.Rajendran, a native of Villavoor village in Kanyakumari district, is not a scientist and his educational qualification of SSLC may seem too slight for such an innovative finding. This, however, did not dissuade Rajendran from continuing his project.The underground sewage work undertaken by the Madurai Municipal Corporation at a cost of Rs 60 lakh at Sadasiva Nagar and Tahsildar Nagar areas was a blessing in disguise for Rajendran as there was no dearth for sewage water. The only effort required was in establishing the plant and channelising the sewage water through it with a huge pipeline.A slum colony near Sadasiva Nagar was selected as his experiment site because it was here that the sewage water emptied into river Vaigai. The residents, who willingly cooperated with Rajendran in his endeavour, were provided with free gas connections.
