A report describing the Biodigestor, using the anaerobic digestion method of fermentation for cooking fuel both for single homes, and at a much larger scale for municipal AD plants serving whole towns. The renewable energy advantages and the ability to produce a fertilizer are also described.

1. AN INTRODUCTION TO BIODIGESTORS
RENEWABLE BIOGAS FROM DIY SCALE TO MUNICIPAL GIANTS
STEVE LAST
Environmental Engineer
IPPTS Associates
steve@anaerobic-digestion
www.anaerobic-digestion.com

2. AN INTRODUCTION TO
BIODIGESTORS
implied, in regard to the merchantability,
An Introduction to accuracy, or acceptability of the
information.
the Biodigestor
Introduction
The Biodigestor: Producing
biogas and fertilizer in sizes Inside this report, you will learn:
varying from a renewable
#1. What is a Biodigestor? A
energy system for the biodigestor is a digester used for
human waste/food waste of organic waste otherwise known as a
bio-digester. We describe it to you in its
a single dwelling, to simplest form.
massive municipal waste
Anaerobic Digestion plants #2 Produce Your Own Biogas - A
serving a whole town Way to Neutralize Waste and Produce
Useful Energy: Many people who live in
the suburbs mow their lawns once a
Biodigestors are available across a
week and produce a lot of cut grass.
very wide range of scales, but they
Some people grow their own food
all have in common the same natural
(vegetables) in their gardens, need
reaction at their heart - which is that
fertilizer and produce some waste
of “fermentation” or Anaerobic
biomass. Some have septic tanks and
Digestion. In this report we will
leech fields to neutralize wastewater.
introduce you to the biodigestor, and
Find out how you might have one simple
its many advantages.
solution to utilizing all our biodegradable
waste and make something useful of it?
DISCLAIMER: This information is
provided "as is". The author, publishers
and marketers of this information #3. The Advantages of
disclaim any loss or liability, either Biofertilizers Produced from
directly or indirectly as a consequence Biodigestors: Find out how
of applying the information presented bio-based industries, and the bio
herein, or in regard to the use and technologies associated with them, are
application of said information. No increasing at a greater pace around the
guarantee is given, either expressed or world. In India, this addresses global
2

3. warming. Other factors include the #5. Home Made Biogas - The
quest for energy alternatives, concerns Next Big Thing in Energy Cost
about health and food safety, and the
Saving: With so many people who are
necessity to extend non-petroleum
keen to save money and are handy at
based methods to grow both new and
DIY, homemade biogas is the next most
existing crops.
obvious way after insulation and solar
panels to save on gas bills. Making
#4. Low Cost Biogas Digesters biogas at home entails the use of a long
Bring Big Advantages to forgotten technology (forgotten in the
Farmers: Biogas digesters are often west at least) known as anaerobic
considered to be something new by digestion, or AD. The secret of digesting
those in the developed nations, organic waste materials in the absence
however, they have been widely used of oxygen and simply piping the
for many years in developing countries, methane biogas produced to a cooking
especially India and China, as firewood stove. Learn more about home biogas
for cooking becomes scarce. Learn production…
more about such bio-digestion methods
here. Articles:
# 1 What is a
Biodigestor?
A biodigestor is a digester used for
organic waste otherwise known as a
bio-digester. In its simplest form it
comprises a closed container, airtight
and waterproof (called the reactor), in
which organic material is deposited to
ferment (animal and human excrement,
plant waste, may be included). During
fermentation gas is produced (methane)
and a fertilizer rich in organic nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium is the
remaining material (known as
digestate), and also cutting the polluting
potential of the waste.
3

4. decreasing the chemical oxygen
demand COD and biological oxygen
demand BOD up to 90% (depending on
design conditions and operation).
Certain conditions must be controlled,
such as: pH, pressure and temperature
so as to obtain optimum performance.
The simple home biodigestor is a simple
to implement with inexpensive materials
and is being introduced in isolated rural
This system may also include a loading communities and developing countries
chamber and a means of storing of the to get the double benefit of providing
waste (water or solid materials) prior to energy to the poor and solving
the reactor, a device for capturing and environmental problems such as the
storing, biogas pressurizing and deforestation of large areas for use for
post-treatment chambers (filter and firewood for cooking, and to make for
stones, algae, drying, etc.) at the reactor proper sanitary (healthy) management
outlet. of both human and animal waste.
The phenomenon occurs because when
biodigestion occurs a group of bacterial
#2. Produce Your Own
organisms known as “anaerobic” are Biogas - A Way to
present in the material, acting on the
organic waste from vegetable to animal,
Neutralize Waste and
producing a gas mixture rich in methane Produce Useful Energy
(CH4), called biogas, which is used as
fuel . Many people who live in the suburbs
mow their lawns once a week and
As a result of this process the reactor produce a lot of cut grass. Some people
will generate a waste with a high grow their own food (vegetables) in their
concentration of nutrients and organic gardens, need fertilizer and produce
matter (ideal as fertilizer) that can be some waste biomass. Some have septic
applied fresh, and a big advantage is tanks and leech fields to neutralize
that the anaerobic treatment largely wastewater.
eliminates odors and the proliferation of
flies.
One of the most important
characteristics of the bio-digestion is to
reduce the pollution potential of animal
droppings and human detritus,
4

5. Small underground biodigesters (called
biogas pits) are used commonly in
China. Over 5 millions biodigesters are
continuously operated there, and the
biogas produced is used mainly for
cooking, but also to produce electric
power in gensets and lighting! Yes, gas
lamps are used even now as you read
this article, while in Europe and United
States gas lamps are not used for about
100 years.
If you think that biogas production is
Wouldn't it be great if we could have
rocket science, you're mistaken. Simple
one simple solution to utilizing all our
biodigester can be made of steel drum
biodegradable waste and make
and large rubber inner tube. The only
something useful of it?
common thing with such biodigester and
rockets is the shape of the steel drum.
Well, actually we do, and we have for
Total cost of such a plant could be
several years... The solution is called a
below $100, as you only need one steel
biodigester.
drum, one or more inner tubes, one or
two hydraulic valves, and some pipes
It is the one system that allows us to
with fittings.
neutralize waste and produce two
valuable products
You can also build a larger,
underground biodigester, that would be
digestate (fertilizer) and able to work all-year-round. [Note: In
cold climates effectiveness may be low.]
biogas (natural gas substitute).
Biodigestion requires higher
Biogas consists of methane and carbon temperatures and because of that the
dioxide. The methane is the valuable biogas plant needs to be insulated.
part of biogas as it is easily combustible Because of that the steel-drum-type
and highly caloric. The methane is also would work only in the summer and
the main component of the natural gas, probably in the spring and fall.
and because of that the biogas is
somewhat of a natural gas substitute. Building your own biogas plant is simple
and affordable. Take a look at this
In some cases it is used to produce so article and make your own DIY
called Substitute Natural Gas, by adding biodigester, produce biogas and save
directly to the pipeline or by adding only money.
the methane part after purification.
Krzysztof Lis is a MSc in mechanical
5

6. engineering. The food business is market-obsessed,
producing new yield to reply to trade
Article Source: interest. In urban nations, and more
securely-paced lifestyles, take a hike
down any grocery gangway and you will
#3. The Advantages of see new crop that involve
Biofertilizers Produced multi-functional "super foods," foods
marketed to the aging population,
from Biodigestors organic foods, and organized-to-eat
crop.
Bio-based industries, and the bio
technologies associated with them, are
Fuel has been the focal meaning for bio
increasing at a greater pace around the
industry cyst and the focus of much of
world. In India, this addresses global
the discussions regarding the best fuels
warming. Other factors include the
and the best technologies for producing
quest for energy alternatives, concerns
them. Bio fuels may be dense fuels,
about vigor and food safety, and the
liquid fuels, or gaseous fuels. Wood and
necessary to extend non-petroleum
agricultural pellets, compressed kindling
based pathways to new and existing
and bio-burn are all fixed bio fuels.
crop.
Liquid bio fuels are fashioned from
One would be hard-pushed to spot a
many different technologies. Bio diesel
market that exists without the help of a
is shaped from oil seeds through
bio product. They are used in
transesterification or book
agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting,
petrochemical technologies. Ethanol is
the manufacturing of food and
fashioned through fermentation
chemicals, transportation and squander
technologies with starch grains. Ethanol
management, and remediation. In
is also created with biomass or public
Saskatchewan, we can look at bio
durable litter through gasification and
products by idea about F5: food, supply,
catalysis technologies.
fiber, fuel and fertilizer.
The fertilizer industry has conventionally
been based on mining and
petrochemical technologies. It would be
interesting to find a way to recycle
fertilizers back to where they are
consumed. Bio fertilizers may simplify
this. Bio fertilizers may be formed from
byproducts resulting from the bio
digestion of compost. Bio fertilizers may
also be created through the pyrolysis of
chicken compost.
6

7. Saskatchewan has a fantastic chemicals and gas, liquid, and sturdy
opportunity to strengthen its bio fuels; and developing an integrated
products and bio energy industries. A cattle function that produces horses,
wide variety of biomass feedstocks; ethanol and bio gas.
including re-forested hardwood and
softwood, agricultural food, feed grains Finding conduct to tap into the
and feed - are grown in the area, and advantages within Saskatchewan is only
there's a similarly thick breadth of imperfect by our creativity. Keep
biomass residues that may be used. looking, as these advantages will
become more prevalent in the
impending.
Sikko Sprayers Pvt. Ltd. has been functioning
since 1996 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State. Within
a span of ten years, the company has
successfully achieved its target in Bio Pesticides
and became number one unit in the Country.
Article Source:
#4. Low Cost Biogas
Digesters Bring Big
Biomass residues produced from the
production of feedstocks compose Advantages to Farmers
forestry residues such as slash piles,
sawdust, bark, copse chips and liquid Biogas digesters are often considered to
unused from pulp mills, and agricultural be something new by those in the
residues such as straw, husks, and developed nations, however, they have
meal. Agricultural and forestry residues been widely used for many years in
may supply fiber, fuel, and fertilizer developing countries, especially India
products. and China, as firewood for cooking
becomes scarce. Other countries from
The diversity found in Saskatchewan Honduran farmers to the tiny South
opens possibilities for the strategic Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, are able
growth of bio refineries. Bio refineries to harness the methane gas created
look at businesses that are profitable naturally from decomposing manure and
and make them even more so by other organic materials.
deriving value from what would be
considered barren, or residues.
Examples embrace with chicken muck
to create fueling and fertilizers; using
timber powder, pulp mill, cattle and
agricultural residues to deliver
7

8. and more farmers around the world are
beginning to install a biogas digester.
Biogas digesters are usually built
underground to protect them from
temperature variations and also to
prevent accidental damage. They not
only perform the necessary actions
required to keep the bacteria happy and
creating the biogas, but designs suitable
for farms and communities have been
devised for the developing nations
Besides producing the fuel gas, these which are able to be replicated using
biogas digesters (using the process of items that are cheap, easy to source,
anaerobic digestion) have the added and easy to assemble.
potential benefit of producing a high
nutrient slurry fertilizer and providing The typical developing nation biogas
better sanitation on farms. digester is constructed in a pit which is
excavated by a trained laborer with
The win-win process goes even further assistance from one or more members
though because the emission of of the household or community. A very
pollution from the digester is very much common design for biogas digesters
lower than without the digester, as well, has a volume of 8m3, some are larger
so they can help to reduce river and at 10-15m3, and provide enough gas for
groundwater pollution at the same time. a two-ring stove and a light.
A functional biogas digester system
applies the science of microbiology and
involves the development of renewable
energy.
With biogas technology, the farm or
community/human waste (called slurry)
is stored in specially constructed
containers while being digested. Biogas
digester systems can accommodate
manure handled as a liquid, slurry, or
semisolid depending on the type of
reactor design used. Biogas digesters
take the biodegradable feedstock, and A biogas digester can function well on
convert it into two useful products: gas human and animal waste. We know of
and digestate (solid and liquid). Both of one Anaerobic Digester which is based
these are useful, and this is certain to upon pig farming, and is built below the
be one of the main reasons why more pigsty. The pigsty is insulated, and the
8

9. digester produces some heat as well, It has been reported that in India a
which helps to keep both the pigs and domestic biogas digester unit capable of
the biogas digester in the warm producing energy for an entire family's
conditions both need during cold winter cooking needs can be installed for
weather. between R5 000 and R8 000, that is
less than 200 US Dollars. Facilities best
A biogas digester consists of one or suited for biogas digester systems
more airtight reservoirs into which a typically have stable year-round manure
suitable feedstock such as cow dung, production, and collect and feed the
human waste, or even abattoir waste, is digester with manure daily.
placed, either in batches or by
continuous feed. It is mixed and the
solid and liquid digestate is removed on
#5. Home Made Biogas -
a regular basis. The methane bubbles to The Next Big Thing in
the surface, and in the simplest
systems, it is stored as a big bubble
Energy Cost Saving
above the liquid. In more sophisticated
With so many people who are keen to
systems the methane is stored in
save money and are handy at DIY,
separate tanks, for use when needed.
homemade biogas is the next most
obvious way after insulation and solar
There is an enormous potential for
panels:
benefit from the increased use of
anaerobic digestion in Africa. An
AGAMA Energy fact sheet estimates Save money on cooking fuel
that in South Africa there are 400,000
households with two or more cows and Follow a green and sustainable
no electricity that could make use of lifestyle
biogas digesters. An article dating back
to30 November 2005, in the Rwandan Do it all without sacrificing the
newspaper The New Times states that convenience and comfort of modern
the Institute for Scientific Research and living.
Technology in Kigali plans to install
some 1,500 biogas digesters by 2009 in
the Imidugudu settlements. These are
villages where rural Rwandans were
relocated after the genocidal wars of the
mid-1990s.
Worldwide, about 16 million households
use small-scale biogas digesters,
according to Renewables 2005: Global
Status Report, a study by the
Worldwatch Institute. Making biogas at home entails the use
9

10. of a long forgotten technology (in the fibrous materials which are the material
west at least) known as anaerobic left over after digestion are wonderful as
digestion, or AD. The secret of digesting fertilizer and soil improvement media for
organic waste materials in the absence gardeners and fruit and vegetable
of oxygen and simply piping the growers.
methane biogas produced to a cooking
stove, has long been in use in India and
China. Such plants have been run using
community solid and liquid waste feed
materials, and have been around for
more than 200 years.
However, the DIY method catching on
right now, is now much more advanced
than those plants. Furthermore, its use
by those that are developing these the
most successful home biogas plants
has allowed it to be refined into a highly
efficient and modern two stage
thermophilic biogas production
technique, similar to those used in large
scale commercial biogas digestor
plants. This DIY system utilizes wastes
such as food waste and other high
calorific biomass wastes available to Once you have successfully trialed DIY
householders. home made biogas for cooking, there is
also a natural progression available for
These new home biogas systems are you in the future to go further and
much quicker to produce biogas and introduce electricity production from this
more efficient in the quantity they biogas source. Quite naturally the
produce per kilogram of organic industry (given a chance to get on with
feedstock produced, when compared management and administration duties)
with the traditional systems of the east. will develop more sophisticated and
efficient uses for the renewable (some
They are also cheap to build using would say "alternative") energy
mass-produced "off the shelf" plastic produced by AD.
tanks. A two stage digester capable of
being maintained at the required very Those who start now and gain the
warm (thermophilic) temperatures necessary AD Plant operational skills,
should cost no more than $200 for by building and operating homemade
materials. biogas plants, will soon find themselves
very much in demand to design and
What is more, the remaining liquid and build more plants for their friends and
10

11. acquaintances. foresight and ingenuity man can, and
will, be able to develop cheap
We would also point out that as renewable energy to replace fossil
governments move forward over the fuels.
next twenty or so years anaerobic
digestion will become commonplace at Furthermore, we can develop our own
all levels, and a huge amount of organic biogas plants, and have our own
waste (now completely unused) will be renewable energy - forever.
utilized every day, for home made
biogas production. FINALLY REVEALED: (in the
words of Farook who has
Are you thinking more about building a
digester to produce home biogas created his own home biogas
methane? Then make sure you read on system)
to the end.
"Here's How You Can
Wrapping up...
Generate Your Own
In this report, we've shown you:
FREE, Clean, Power
What a Biodigestor is. Gas in Your Own
How it is possible to produce your Backyard From Food
own biogas to neutralize waste and
produce useful energy.
Wastes!"
You now appreciate the advantages
of the biofertilizers produced by
biodigestors.
How a digester can help farmers.
You have a grasp on home-made
biogas and the energy cost savings it
can provide.
However, this is just the beginning.
You have learned how renewable
energy can be made from a huge
variety of organic materials and in this
report we will show you that with
11

12. technology has been around for a very long
time now. And it's still being used by countries
such as China, India and Vietnam, but many
such systems are not practical to build
and use anywhere.
And what's the reason you may ask!
But, the good news is that I have a
solution for you!
How About A Portable Biogas
Generator That Could
Completely Eliminate Your
Gas Bill And Use Food Waste
Instead ?
I've finally succeeded in creating a small size
portable Biogas generator for average
home users in mind. The generator you will
learn to build is very portable and it requires
only a small amount of space. You can easily
buy these parts at your local hardware store
or buy them online and construct your own.
Now you too can learn to utilize this
Farook (the creator of his own home technology and build it anywhere at your
house and use only your food waste to
biogas system), says that “If you are sick produce cleaner fuels for your cooking
and tired of high gas bills and thinking about needs!.
what you can do... besides scream at your
"friendly" local gas company!”
For more information about
Then you will be glad to know that...you can the
make your very own power gas Generator
for powering your heaters and cooking
your food and kiss your power gas
Firedigester Home Biogas
company goodbye!! System, CLICK HERE!
“Yes, You Can Make Your Also, if you'd like to know more
about how mankind can find and use
Own Biogas for Power!!”
previously unimagined sources of
Some of you might already know that this
organic materials and other ways to
12

13. wean mankind off fossil fuel "Very few people are aware of the
dependency, then you may find the revolution which has taken place in the
following special report useful: waste management industry over the
last 10 years or less. There are many
“so called" new technologies which are
SPECIAL REPORT: being implemented which not only divert
waste away from landfills very
Is it Possible to be Green successfully, but also produce energy
and by recycling an ever increasing
and to Produce range of materials, and provide raw
Renewable Energy materials, which reduces the need for
destroying our landscapes to mine and
Profitably from Biomass quarry fresh raw materials.”
in the Industrialized
Nations? Did you know that the waste
management industry can be a great
career opportunity especially as the
According to Steve Last, author of The
industry is continuing to grow when
and also owner of the popular website,
many others are stagnating?
the answer is yes!
"There are waste management jobs now
"So many people support recycling and
in just about every discipline, and if you
following a “green” lifestyle out of a
are not aware of these opportunities you
sense of duty, without understanding
may be missing a great career
the very large potential benefits when
opportunity”; Steve Last tells us.
sustainable business practices are
followed through", Steve Last tells us.
Steve points out that the waste industry
is definitely still “hiring”, so if you know
Why most people struggle to
anyone who is unemployed and knows
appreciate the importance of energy
little of the scope for work in the
from waste and how “zero waste”
industry, we suggest that you pass this
isn’t just a worthy goal – it makes
report on to them.
sense
According to Steve Last, there's a Did You Know That
reason why so many people struggle
with the idea of waste facilities which You Can Find Out
produce energy in their district and
object to almost all proposals which the
About the Other
waste industry puts forward to recycle Methods through
and treat their waste, is a lack of
knowledge, and vision... which Energy and
Recycled Materials
13

14. Incineration to MBTs, MRFs,
are Created from Anaerobic Digestion and
Waste, without the Composting,
Danger of Raising the then you are bound to find our ebook
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If you found this report interesting, or
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Waste Technologies, from
14

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