1. Greening Africa Together
Source: Forêt internationale
Biogas in Kouram
Greening Africa Together
Starting Conditions
Planning Phase
Implementation Phase
Results
Outlook
GATO-Biogas in Kouram- 20/04/2017

2. Starting Conditions One Biogas plant of 18m³ in the school of Kouram
Build another digester of 14m³ in the north of Kouram
Biogas plant is financed
Location is set
Material is organized
Mason is instructed
Plant design should be basically the same (single-step dome)
Finance should only consider subsidies by PNB
Substrate should be the same (cow dung/human feces)
Usage of Biogas for cooking
Framework

3. Starting Conditions
Locals reporting about problems with the existing biogas plant
low gas pressure
takes too much time to cook
Workload
the kitchen is too dark and hot
stoves are too small for their pots
badly located (hard to reach)
-> Information gained from several questionnaire’s that we send to the villagers

4. Performance of the old biogas plant
Potential Causes:
Easy
Unstable feeding
Insufficient loading or organic overloading
Gas bubble
Hydraulic overload
Accidental usage of detergents
Complicated
Stirring
Foam formation
Temperature changes
Ammonia inhibition
Blockage of Gas pipes/outlet
Critical
Design flaw
Substrate mixture
Gas leckage
-> Impossible to diagnose remotely

5. Toilets connected with the biodigester
ADVANTAGES
Less pollution of ground
water
Assures a continuous feed-in
stream of substrate
reduced effort in collecting
cow dung
Biodigester reduces pathogenes
and hazardous bacteria
BUT! pathogenes are NOT eliminated;
any human contact can cause diseases e.g. spread flews
 Optimization Task: What to do with the sludge?
Source:

6. Planning Phase Analyze & Optimize the digester
Gas pressure and quality of gas
Usage of the outlet as fertilizer
“on-Site” optimizations
Collect data for us and future
groups
Create a basis to work with
collect measurable, comparable data
Handover of the project
Coordinate the construction
of a new Biogas digester
Located in the north of Kouram
Part of last years financing
Knowledge Transfer
Holding Workshops/Training Sessions to
Share our knowledge with the villagers

7. Methodology: Performance of the old biogas plant
pH-Value (on-Site)
Temperature (on-Site)
Pressure (on-Site)
Biogas Production and Gas Composition (on-Site)
Quantitiy and Composition of Feedstock (on-Site)
Total solids/dry matter (Lab)
Ammonium nitrogen (Lab)
Etc.
Performance Parameters
Simple test with detergent and water (on-Site)
Gas Leakage Test
Create Database for Biogas plants from PNB to compare performance
Operating Log
Monitoring

8. Methodology: What to do with the sludge
Current situation
people in Kouram store the sludge
Project Phase
Investigate on effluent condition
Test 4 samples for E.coli, …, CO2, NH3
Provide results and advices in a report
Further project phases
Further investigation
Implementation of treatment procedure
Goal
Reduce pathogenes and hazardous bacteria to a secure level
use sludge as fertilizer on the fields and replace nut shells that can be used in pellet production

9. Implementation Phase

10. Implementation Phase

11. Implementation Phase

12. Implementation Phase

13. Implementation Phase

14. Implementation Phase

15. Implementation Phase

16. Implementation Phase

17. Communication in the planning phase Lack of information
Conclusion:
Results:
- No Feeding
- Change of Jet leaded to bigger flame
- New biogas plant has been build
- Ideas to solve organizational problems
Problems:
Communication in the planning phase
Lack of information

18. Thank you for your
attention!