Fuels from domestic waste

here's a couple of links:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative-Energy/1981-05-01/Sichuans-Home-Scale-Biogas-Digesters.aspx

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1980-03-01/The-Genius-of-Jean-Pain.aspx (scroll down to the header "brush gas"

http://www.biogas.ca/component/option,com_bookmarks/Itemid,31/mode,0/catid,1/navstart,0/search,*/lang,/

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MENintvus/singhintvu.html

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm (click on Methane Link)

Milo

The army just developed one. You can probably google it up.

A guy in England has been driving his car for many years on methane which he makes by mixing straw with chicken & pig poo- he heaps it up for a week or so then puts it into his reactor, where the methane generated is compressed into portable gas bottles using a aqua lung type compressor- the normal car engine is fed thru his own converter- it costs him about 3c/litre- the engine lasts far longer than using conventional liquid fuels, & the spark plugs/exhaust etc stay clean- the report I read said he was selling kits to enable anyone to do the same. this would probably suit some people, but it is much easier to just go to your local extortionist(oops, I meant fuel seller!).

Converting spent vegetable oil to biodiesel for personal use is practised, and quite legal too - provided one pays the Excise Duty on the fuel that is consumed on public roads. Everyone does that, don't they?

Do you have a link on any articles about this unit?

Found it under Water for fuel, or water powered cars.

Thanks Milo,

I have visited those sites and I have found some useful tips, though I need to contact the individual companies for support. Do feel free to send more links.

My concern is for third world countries having energy problem. Do you think we can get a training partner for these countries and NGOs/ Individuals to do the financing?

Thanks for the feedback Chris.

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

If you had a small scale demonstration project, you could use it to try to get support and financing for a ramp up. Microcredit would be a good fit here, we're not talking about millions of dollars per installation. Peace Corps and Habitat for Humanity are likely to partner with a proven organization to implement these sorts of projects. I am certain that there are other non US groups as well, I'm just not privy to their identity.

My advice would be to start small, prove the concept, take some photos, make a film clip, get it on You Tube and then use those successes to approach NGO's and agencies/ foundations for support. A video of folks cooking a meal or boiling water to sterilize it using your locally produced biogas using just plant and animal wastes would be compelling proiof of concept, execution, and utility of the work.

My further advice would be to try to do it with locally available rather than imported equipment where possible, to kickstart the local economies as well. This is the kind of thing that the foundations look for- synergy between their 'investment' and multiple beneficial outputs to change positively the target community.

Waiting for an investor to subsidize this could result in no project.

Last piece of advice- contact the magazine s and organizations in my links to tell them what you are up to and see what their interest is.

PS, Meaning no disrespect, but there are thousands of email scams over here purporting to be from Nigerian 'officials.' So if you are to be successful, you will need to do everything that you can to establish credibility up front- such as traceable address and phone and references that can be verified. People are sceptical anyhow, but anything out of Nigeria is percieved as 'fraud' until proven otherwise. Just a fact.

Good luck.

milo

here's a link to the army's version:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18183/

three technologies in one: a bioreactor that uses enzymes and micro-organisms to turn food waste into ethanol; a gasification unit that turns plastics, paper, and other residual waste into methane and low-grade propane; and a modified diesel engine that can burn gas, ethanol, and diesel fuel in variable proportions. The engine powers a generator that produces electricity on site.

That's not much bigger than my worm box for composting the kitchen scraps!

The claims of efficiency improvements would seem to reflect the higher calorie fuel, not so much the digester itself.

Great link and appropriate to this thread. Thanks for contributing.

milo

Thanks. I think their primary changes are in the realm of the outflow. They got some fat prize from and organization in the UK for what they've done. I don't entirely understand the shape of the upper portion of their vessel, it would seem to me to lend itself to wasting a portion of the rising gas.

You are right about the higher calorie fuel being key. But it is very impressive – 30-40 days to get 10% of the original mass converted to methane and the balance heavy sludge with the conventional dung based system vs. 24-36 hours to get 25% of the original mass converted to methane and the balance primarily free flowing liquid fertilizer for the garden with this system!

I plan to stop in on these guys if I get the chance next time I visit. I'm curious about the smell of it all.

Take photos and keep me in the loop.

milo

Will do.

I plan to buy the disk of information they offer too. I'll get that delivered to our Mumbai office in advance of my going in case it doesn't work out to go. It isn't far from the office - maybe 60 miles, but I've been told it's a difficult trip.