Feasibility, health and economic impact of generating biogas from human excreta for the state of Tamil Nadu, India

India, the second largest populated country in the world, has more than 68% rural population. They lack proper sanitation, fuel for cooking and electricity. Due to the availability of large quantities of agricultural residues, biogas can be a viable fuel for the future. But the southern part of India does not have any perennial rivers and depend on monsoon leading to a high risk of crop failures. By using Human Excreta to produce biogas, both the problems of fuel and sanitation can be tackled simultaneously. People consider the human excreta to be dirty and are reluctant in using any fuel produced from it. This can be overcome if such projects are undertaken by the State Government and the profit obtained is used for improving the local infrastructure. Thus, the result will be better sanitation, cleaner electricity and cooking fuel, improved health and reduced emissions.