When I first started at AIDG, only true appropriate technology/renewable energy wonks seemed to know much about biogas or biodigesters. So you can imagine my surprise (and delight) after seeing GE’s Dragon ad during this summer’s Olympics coverage on NBC. The ad itself is a bit cheesy, featuring Chinese peasants who march en masse up a hillside to feed their local renewable energy source, a rather large dragon. The ad ends with this: “Turning organic waste like grass and plants into energy is no longer the stuff of legends. Today biogas technology from GE is helping make the world a little brighter.”

Here are other video examples of biogas systems large and small from around the world.

Large Scale Industrial Biogas Plants

How does a biogas plant work? [YouTube]
This animation shows 1) maize sillage being mixed with manure and heated food industry waste 2) fermentation at 35-55 degrees C for 60 days (30 days in one fermenter and an additional days in a 2nd) 3) scrubbing/purification of biogas by removal of water vapor and hydrogen sulfide 4) gas compression and 5) electricity generation.

UC Davis Biogas Project

Le Biogas [French]
The piece is in French, but it contains some great archival footage of biogas systems in rural China during the 1960’s.

Update: Unfortunately this video has been removed from Daily Motion’s site. I’ll try to find another version. Thanks for the headsup, Maarten.

Large Scale Biogas Plants

KIST, Rwanda, Large-scale biogas plants

BSP Biogas Sector Partnership, Nepal, Domestic biogas

A simple mixer built in to where the manure/water mixture is added.

SKG Sangha, India, Biogas and fertiliser from slurry

In this vid, biodigester slurry is mixed into a vermicomposting unit to create not only a very rich compost, but a great micro-enterprise opportunity.

Home-size biogas plants

ARTI, India, Biogas from food waste [and not manure]

The Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) in Pune has developed a biogas plant which uses food waste rather than manure as feedstock and supplies biogas for cooking. The plant is sufficiently compact to be used by urban households, and over 700 are currently in use.

Related Posts:
Biodigesters Against Global Warming
Reporting from Haiti: On the Road to Developing a Wicked Biodigester
Link of the Day 061208: Old School Municipal Biogas Plant in Birmingham, England
The Many Uses of Poop

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