Bhopal: he Union Carbide gas leak

An environmental disaster is a disaster that is due to human activity and should not be confused with natural disasters. In this case, the impact of humans' alteration of the ecosystem has led to widespread and/or long-lasting consequences. It can include the deaths of animals (including humans) and plant systems, or severe disruption of human life, possibly requiring migration.

December 3, 1984 has become a memorable day for the city of Bhopal in Madya Pradesh county, India. Shortly after midnight, a poisonous gas cloud escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide factory. The cloud contained 15 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC), covering an area of more than 30 square miles. The gas leak killed at least 4.000 local residents instantly and caused health problems such as oedema for at least 50.000 to perhaps 500.000 people. These health problems killed around 15.000 more victims in the years that followed. Approximately 100.000 people still suffer from chronic disease consequential to gas exposure, today. Research conducted by the BBC in 2004 pointed out that this pollution still causes people to fall ill, and ten more die every year. This event is now known as the worst industrial environmental disaster to ever have occurred.

The cause of the accident has been researched after the disaster. Apparently water ended up in MIC storage tanks, causing an exothermal reaction that released an amount of poisonous gas large enough to open the safety valves. Normally scrubbers would intercept escaping gas, but these were temporarily out of order for repair.
Research showed that factory personnel neglected a number of safety procedures. There were no valves to prevent water from entering the storage tanks. The cooling installation of the tanks and the flaring installation that might have flared the gas that was released were out of order.Safety was very low in this factory of Union Carbide, compared to its other locations. The safety procedures were neglected because of budget cuts.

Gobar Gas

It's been a wild, exciting ride . . . but our blindly wasteful squandering of the planet's fossil fuels will soon be a thing of the past. In the United States alone (the worst example, perhaps, but not really unusual among "modern" nations), every man, woman and child consumes an average of three gallons of oil each day. That's well over two hundred billion gallons a year.
If we continue burning off petroleum at only this rate—which isn't very likely since population is climbing and the big oil companies remain chained to "sell-more-tomorrow" economics—-experts predict the world will run out of refineable oil within (are you ready for this?) 30 years.
So where does that leave us? Well, number one, we obviously must get serious about populatio n control and per-capita consumption of power and, number two, if we don't want to see brownouts and rationing of the power we do use . . . we'd better start looking around for ecologically-sound alternative sources of energy.
And there are alternatives. One potent reservoir that's hardly been tapped is methane gas.
Hundreds of millions of cubic feet of methane—sometimes called "swamp" or bio-gas—are generated every year by the decomposition of organic material. It's a near-twin of the natural gas that big utility companies pump out of the ground and which so many of us use for heating our homes and for cooking. Instead of being harnessed like natural gas, however, methane has traditionally been considered as merely a dangerous nuisance that should be gotten rid of as fast as possible. Only recently have a few thoughtful men begun to regard methane as a potentially revolutionary source of controllable energy.

Facts about Gobar Gas

In Hindi GOBAR means Cow dung.
Cow dung gas is 55-65% methane, 30-35% carbon dioxide, with some hydrogen, nitrogen and other traces. Its heat value is about 600 B.T.U.'s per cubic foot.
A sample analyzed by the Gas Council Laboratory at Watson House in England contained 68% methane, 31% carbon dioxide and 1% nitrogen. It tested at 678 B.T.U.
This compares with natural gas's 80% methane, which yields a B.T.U. value of about 1,000.
Gobar gas may be improved by filtering it through limewater (to remove carbon dioxide), iron filings (to absorb corrosive hydrogen sulphide) and calcium chloride (to extract water vapor).
Cow dung slurry is composed of 1.8-2.4% nitrogen (N), 1.01.2% phosphorus (P 2 0 5 ), 0.6-0.8% potassium (K 2 0) and from 50-75% organic humus.
About one cubic foot of gas may be generated from one pound of cow manure at 75° F. This is enough gas to cook a day's meals for 4-6 people.
About 225 cubic feet of gas equals one gallon of gasoline. The manure produced by one cow in one year can be converted to methane which is the equivalent of over 50 gallons of gasoline.
Gas engines require 18 cubic feet of methane per horsepower per hour.

This ancient resource of energy basically from india can be used globally as an alternative fuel.

That will make no harm to your work and also your environmnet.

The biogas plant consists of two components: a digester (or fermentation tank) and a gas holder. The digester is a cube-shaped or cylindrical waterproof container with an inlet into which the fermentable mixture is introduced in the form of a liquid slurry. The gas holder is normally an airproof steel container that, by floating like a ball on the fermentation mix, cuts off air to the digester (anaerobiosis) and collects the gas generated. In one of the most widely used designs , the gas holder is equipped with a gas outlet, while the digester is provided with an overflow pipe to lead the sludge out into a drainage pit.

Biogas - from your kitchen, in your backyard

Think twice before you dump that banana peel or spinach stem into the bin. That and more waste from your kitchen can be converted into biogas to supplement your energy needs -- that too in your own backyard.
i will tell you how.
All one needs for the kit is two 1,000 cubic litres of plastic tanks (equivalent to the common syntax tanks seen in most households) and a daily supply of kitchen waste. And homemade biogas, essentially a combination of methane and carbon dioxide, is ready to be used as fuel.
It took almost three years to develop the compact biogas plant system and convince Indian scientists that kitchen waste was a more efficient source of methane than cow dung, the traditional source of biogas.
One kg of kitchen waste in 24 hours can produce the same amount of biogas as 40 kg of cow dung in 40 days. That means more than 400 times efficiency can be achieved by using kitchen waste as compared to cow dung.
Methane-producing bacteria belonged to a group called archebacteria or ancient bacteria, which evolved on earth when there was no oxygen. The only places where the bacteria can be found are in the intestines of animals and the bottom of the sea.
The bacteria eats what we eat and is thrown out along with the faecal matter. That is why I started using waste food as a source of biogas. The kit has two air-sealed tanks, one on top of the other. The archebacteria that breaks down the waste will only work if it is completely airtight.
It is a myth that cow dung is the only source of biogas. In fact, dung does not have methanogenic bacteria - some bacteria have to be added to the dung to produce biogas.
The systemis to be installed either on the terrace or in the backyard where there is ample sunshine, because the bacteria perform better when the temperature is higher. It is ideal for restaurants and hostels where there is a large amount kitchen waste and also offers an efficient garbage disposal mechanism.
The costs are minimal and the kit can be installed within a budget of Rs.6, 000.
Many hostels and restaurants in india have started using the system, thus considerably bringing down the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
According to a report, 800 tonnes of agri-waste is generated in India annually; this can easily be converted into high-grade energy. Methane can also be used to drive vehicles. Just like green revolution made us food sufficient, using agri waste to produce methane can make us energy sufficient. This bio-fuel can be the green revolution to the world of modern technology which wants new things benefitting to the mankind with subject to the environment.