BIOGAS: WHEN THE COOKED BECOMES THE ‘COOKER’

Energy, Environment

BIOGAS: WHEN THE COOKED BECOMES THE ‘COOKER’

Biogas is simply natural gas derived from rotting organic waste.

These include kitchen waste, fresh livestock manure, human faeces among others.

Biogas production heavily depends on very minute players in this great energetic gallery.

BACTERIA

Bacteria used to convert organic waste into biogas are mainly derived from runinants.

Their guts have the right mix of biology that breaks down complex stuff like cellulose into simpler substances like methane – natural gas.

But why can’t biogas production revolutionise most homesteads in Africa

Several reasons.

CIVIC EDUCATION

Pass by any town in Kenya and you won’t miss a mound of rubbish somewhere.

And it’s a pity because such waste could generate wealth in more ways than we can imagine starting with biogas.

What if communities set up waste collection points where waste segregation could take place and the organics be used to generate biogas?

Imagine the employment opportunities this initiative could create.

A little sensitisation about such potential from waste could change people’s perceptions on it.

But this isn’t the only challlenge.

SLURRY MANAGEMENT

After organic matter has been ‘squeezed’, the remaining mass of wet rotting stuff is called slurry.

A number of biogas practitioners advocate for use of slurry as an organic fertiliizer.

But is it possible to dewater this slurry, compost it, and make it more valuable for the soil?

But beyond this, there’s the aspect of the efficiency of conversion of waste to biogas.

EFFICIENCY

Whereas bacteria from ruminants’ guts do a good job, probably more research needs to be done on other bacteria than could do a better job.

Possibly isolating gut bacteria from other ruminants or even mixing them while checking the efficiency of conversion could do.

However, other conditions such as over production of acetic acid in the mixture could slow down bacterial action.

Probably finding ways of reducing acidity could help in improving efficiency as the process goes on.

Better still, isolating microorganisms that are resistant to acidity could also help a lot.

There’s no need of engineering other bacteria for this purpose, nature provides us with many options including bacteria that survive in strong acids around mining and volcanic zones.

But lastly, why can’t biogas be produced by most of us?

KITCHEN WASTE

Most kitchen dustbins contain organic waste most of which can be converted into biogas.

So far, very few start ups in Kenya are focussing on using kitchen waste to produce biogas domestically.

But many possibilities exist in this regard.

Picture a biogas package including a bucket to collect kitchen waste fitted with a pulverizer to reduce size of waste matter.

The package could also contain an inflatable bag that swells with the production of biogas, a starting amount of gut bacteria, and a valve that lets out gas when needed for cooking or heating.

All these materials are readily available and could be assembled and tested within days.

But what makes this approach attractive is the possible market that exists out there.

All of us produce some form of kitchen waste daily. Also, all of us need energy.

So how about selling kits that help any household generate their own biogas from their own kitchen waste?

That’s what startups like HomeBiogas are doing, and their success shows us that there’s a need for more players in this front because the market is huge.

But the market just doesn’t respond to a product.

They do so when they see the value in it.

If efficiency of biogas production could be improved, this will certainly be some good news.

At the end, the cooked (kitchen waste) becomes the ‘cooker’ (producer of biogas).