Sustainable rural waste management using biogas technology: An analytical hierarchy process decision framework

Biomass is present in ample amounts in rural areas, mainly in agriculture residue and animal wastes. Biogas can be produced from rural solid waste, providing affordable clean energy for rural households and a prominent solution to solid waste management. Despite having several benefits of using biogas, the contribution of biogas in rural areas is not as much as expected. Several technical and non-technical barriers are accountable for the slow rate of biogas technology adoption in rural households. Nineteen barriers to household biogas plant adoption in four dimensions of technical, economic, market, and awareness are identified and ranked with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in the perspective of rural India. The outcome of the barrier dimension reveals that the economic dimension gets the highest weight of (0.350), followed by the market with a weight of (0.322). At the same time, high installation cost with a weight of (0.141) dominates in the category of barriers, followed by competition from freely available fuel with a weight of 0.105). The gap in capital cost and capital subsidy, lack of paying capacity, and lack of easy credit have positioned respectively third, fourth, and fifth in the overall ranking of barriers with weights of (0.094), (0.084), and (0.08). This paper may contribute significantly to creating greater awareness, evaluating numerous barriers, and adopting biogas technology in India more effectively and efficiently.