The impact and challenges of sustainable biogas implementation: moving towards a bio-based economy

Abstract

Background: Engineers face increasing pressure to manage and utilize waste (whether of animal, human or municipal origin) in a sustainable way. We suggest that a solution to the problem of organic waste in rural communities lies in their being able to convert it to biogas technology. This would offer smallholders and farmers a long-term, cheap and sustainable energy source that is independent of the national electricity grid. However, although the technology involved in making biogas from waste has already been fully developed, there are obstacles impeding its adoption. First, there is a general ignorance about this source of energy among the very people who can most benefit from using it. Second, at present, South Africa has no regulatory framework to support the installation of biodigesters. Methods: The research focused on the current gap between knowledge and need. The two objectives were raising general awareness of the many and varied benefits that biodigestion can offer, especially to rural communities, and demonstrating how it works. Using science events as a platform, the team introduced the concept of biodigestion, its functioning and uses, to their audiences, and then invited informal responses, which were recorded. The second stage, the case study, entailed the setting up of a small-scale (10 m 3) household biodigester in the Muldersdrift community in Gauteng, South Africa. It was put into operation, using fresh cow dung as the feed. Members of the community were invited to watch every step of the process and afterwards were asked to participate in a more formal survey, which sought their opinions on whether biodigestion offers a power source the individual farmer could (and would) use. Results: The results presented in this paper were derived from a comparison of the 'before-and-after-installation' responses of the persons interviewed. We found that the members of the Muldersdrift community who had been involved in both phases of the case study (explanation followed by experience of a hands-on educational example) had become more willing to adopt the technology. Conclusions: The results justified our contention that, to ensure a greater adoption of biogas technology in South Africa, it is necessary to provide targeted communities with educational programmes and exposure to pilot plants.

Life Cycle Costing of Alternative Value Chains of Biomass Energy for Cooking in Kenya and Tanzania

“…This is because in a zero-grazing system, it is possible that the cattle shed is directly connected to the VACVINA biodigester and therefore during cleaning the feedstock is already channelled into the biodigester, thus allocating all the labour to the feedstock collection phase. Although the cost of installing a single biogas digester is high, posing a major challenge to adoption of biogas technology [36], the unit of digester per meal reduces when its lifespan, estimated at 15 years for the VACVINA biodigester, is considered.…”

Comparative Analysis of Bacterial and Archaeal Population Structure by Illumina Sequencing of 16S rRNA Genes in Three Municipal Anaerobic Sludge Digesters

“…But there are clear challenges in translating the technology for simple commercial applications and general use [7]. One of the reasons is the complexity of the microbial community involved in the process, making it di cult to understand the speci c roles played by different bacteria and their maintenance as consortia [8,9]. Therefore, it is essential to understand the roles played by various microorganisms in the process of anaerobic digestion.…”

Energy efficiency in an integrated agro-ecosystem within an acidic soil area of the Mekong delta, Vietnam

“…Biogas, as a renewable energy source, can be a supplement for other fossil fuels popular in rural areas [8][9][10]. A study of Yang and Chen [11] shows the experiences of energy analysis linking agricultural and biogas systems.…”