1. Lecturer: Dr. Elisabeth v. Münch e.vonmunch@unesco-ihe.org
Course 2 Unit 4 Introduction to anaerobic treatment technologies [Part C only ] Part C – Examples and case studies (in this file)
Lecturer: Dr. Elisabeth v. Münch

2. Part C: Examples and case studies
Course 2 Unit 4
Course 2 Unit 4
Part C: Examples and case studies

3. List of examples for Part C
Example 1: India public toilets (Navsarjan Trust, GTZ pilot project)
Example 2: China household and agricultural waste digesters (CAAE (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering)
Example 3: Lesotho household biogas plants (NGO TED, now supported by BORDA, Germany)
Example 4: Durban household biogas plant, South Africa (pilot project)
Example 5: Rwanda prisons
Example 6: Germany, Waldmichelbacher Hof (restaurant and farm
Example 7: Lübeck, Germany (residential area)
Example 8: Blackwater treatment in Sneek, the Netherlands
There are many, many more examples, world-wide!
You may be able to send me project descriptions, files, powerpoint presentations from your own experiences?

4. Example 1: India public toilets
The following slides were provided by Christine Werner (GTZ), who gave a presentation about ecosan in India at the Advanced Sanitation Conference in Aachen, Germany (12-13 March 2007)
Her complete presentation is provided under Assigned Reading (pdf file of the paper) and Extra Materials (powerpoint presentation in two parts)

5. Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot project – Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK)
location:
Nani Devti, Ahmedabad District, Gujarat State, India
implementation period:
2005/2006
source: Martin Wafler
vocational training institute Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK)

6. proposed system for the DSK Campus
Course 2 Unit 4
Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot project
proposed system for the DSK Campus
source separating toilet
greywater (pre-treated)
dung
Biogas plant
ornamental garden
urine storage
vegetable garden
compost
sludge drying beds
biogas

7. Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot project - DSK
source: esf
source: esf
source: esf
toilet block with biogas plant
UDD as „emergency toilets“
ladies urinal

8. Sketch map of the night-soil based biogas plant
22 toilet cabins arranged in 2 semi-circles supplie a biogas reactor locatet in the center
2: inlet chamber toilet water
1: mixing chamber for buffalo dung
3: outlet chamber
(source:
„pour-flush“ squatting pan with „P“-trap 2
infiltration/evapotranspiration of wash-water in flowerbed
towards greywater garden for reuse of water
biogas plant 1 3 2
towards sludge drying beds
towards greywater garden for reuse of water

9. Construction of the night-soil based biogas plant
source: esf
source: seecon
inletchamber for
toilet water
beginnig of construction
source: esf
biogasreactor in the center
of the building
source: esf
almost finished toilet center Feb. 2007

10. Example 2: China household and agricultural waste digesters
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 2: China household and agricultural waste digesters
The slides for this example were provided by Heinz-Peter Mang (he is with CAAE (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering))
I got them from him at the UNESCO-IHE Refresher Course in Nanjing, China (October 2005) – I have asked him for an update, but have not received an answer yet

11. China: Northern “Four-in-One” Comprehensive utilization
Course 2 Unit 4
China: Northern “Four-in-One” Comprehensive utilization
kitchen
Pig-pen, toilet
Green house
food
manure
biogas
fertilizer

12. China: Southern “Pig-Biogas-Fruit” Comprehensive utilization
Pig manure and toilet waste
Liquid
sludge
Biogas digester

13. China: Northwest “Five-Matches” Comprehensive utilization
Course 2 Unit 4
China: Northwest “Five-Matches” Comprehensive utilization
Water heater
cooking
lighting
Warm house
orchard
Sand
sedimentation
Water storage
Biogas digester

14. Household biogas digester plants in China during 1973 – 2005 (total number, in 10,000)
16,000,000
16 million biogas plants
1973
1985
1999
2005
Year
How many are there in your country?

15. Example 3: Lesotho household biogas plants
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 3: Lesotho household biogas plants
I got these slides from Mantopi Lebofa who works for the NGO TED, which is now also supported by BORDA, Germany
A more detailed presentation for this example is provided under Extra Materials

16. Biogas system
Feeding material.
Irrigation by gravity
Gas taken to the house
Methane producing organisms produce gas
Storage for irrigation water – H20 could be pumped or irrigate gravitationally
Root Treatment System
Water flowing into the expansion canal
Sketch of biodigester replacing a septic tank. Wastewater as well as kitchen and garden waste enter the digester and are broken down to biogas and fertile water.
The advantages: No more emptying of septic tank. Reuse of all water in the garden. Less cost on cooking energy.

17. Design details Fixed Dome Bio Digester, Size: z m3
Gas storage capacity: xy m3
All measurements in cm
Not to scale
Ventilation Pipe
Principle of dry toilet connection and additional inlet
Note: digester outlet at the bottom
Gas Outlet
Overflow
Manhole
Radius
pipes of 1m length

18. Example 4: Durban household biogas plant, South Africa (pilot project)
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 4: Durban household biogas plant, South Africa (pilot project)
I took the photos on the following slide during the field trip organised as part of an international ecosan conference in Durban, South Africa (May 2005)
This installation was just a single pilot installed provided by an NGO (I can’t remember the name of the NGO)

19. Household biogas plant in rural Durban, South Africa Digester receives toilet water, greywater and collected manure from 2-3 cows
Toilet & shower
Kitchen
Left: Toilet (flush), connected to digester
Middle: Digester with floating dome (biogas collection)
Right: biogas pipe to house
Storage and drying for digestate (used as fertiliser)

20. Example 5: Rwanda prisons
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 5: Rwanda prisons
The information in the following slides was taken from the paper by Butare and Kimaro (2002) – this paper is also provided under Extra Materials

21. Biogas plant at Cyangugu Prison in Rwanda
Biogas plant treats toilet waste from prisoners by using fixed-dome anaerobic digesters
Generation of biogas was achieved to generate energy for cooking - savings in kitchen fuel is around 80%
Sustainable solution for the treatment of waste from 6,000 prisoners
Source: Butare and Kimaro (2002)

22. Design details
Bioreactor is fed through two toilet-waste flows: one comes from 4,500 prisoners and the other from 1,500.
1 digester of V=150 m3 (divided in 2 shells to improve performance); a storage capacity of 28 m3; 2 holding tanks to further stabilize sludge.
Production of 75,000 CH4 L/day
30 m of gas line which feeds 4 stoves of 1200 L.
Plant life time 30 years
Effluent from biogas plant is reused as fertilizer in crops inside prison (2 ha): bananas, coffee, soy, tomato, etc.
Bioreactor split into 2 shells

23. Example 6: Germany, Waldmichelbacher Hof (restaurant and farm)
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 6: Germany, Waldmichelbacher Hof (restaurant and farm)
The following slides are from a presentation I gave at the Durban ecosan conference (May 2005)
More information:
Separate presentation and paper under Extra Reading
GTZ project datasheet:

24. Course 2 Unit 4
Biogas plant with electricity generation at farm and restaurant in Germany
Description:
Farm of 200 ha, with grazing land and fodder crops
280 hornless cattle
Restaurant with 250 seats (“Waldmichelbacher Hof”)
Slaughterhouse processing one cattle per week
Four families live and work on/from the farm & restaurant
System components:
Low flush toilets for all buildings
Manure collection, and mixing channel under the cattle shed
Heated, insulated and fully mixed anaerobic digester with 280 m3 volume (40-44°C)
Anaerobic storage digester with 1500 m3
Two combined heat and power generator sets with 37 kW (electricity) and 74 kW (thermal energy / heat) each
This is an example to show that conventional flush toilets (non-UD) can also be used in an ecosan project!

25. Key results Annual savings in operating costs in 2004:
20,000 €/year for not needing to purchase fertiliser
23,400 €/year due to electricity produced on-site (more than 50% of the electricity demand covered)
Heat for all residential houses and restaurant, and hot water
5,300 €/year is the income from selling excess electricity to the grid*
Valuable liquid fertiliser (digested manure) produced
Sanitisation of sewage by mesophilic digestion and long retention times
Gas bladder of anaerobic digester no. 2 (not heated, not mixed; floating cover)
* New German legislation forces energy companies to buy back such green energy from decentralised production for a fair price

26. Concept schematic of this closed-loop system
H: heat, E: electricity, F: fodder, DM: digested manure, BG: biogas, W: waste(water)

27. Design drawing Digester Floating cover Gas withdrawal
Stable/ cattle shed
Digested manure
Storage vessel
Combined heat and power plant
Heat to house
electricity

28. Example 7: Lübeck, Germany (residential area)
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 7: Lübeck, Germany (residential area)
The information on the following slides was taken from the GTZ project datasheet on this project:

29. Housing estate with biogas plant in Lübeck-Flintenbreite (slide 1 of 2)
Integrated sanitation system using vacuum toilets and biogas plant = production of energy + saving of water
Foreseen for a community of 350 inhabitants
Area of 3.5 ha which was not connected to central sewerage
Separate treatment of grey, black and storm water
Digested anaerobic sludge is reused in agriculture
Biogas plant

30. Process schematic (slide 2 of 2)
Course 2 Unit 4
Process schematic (slide 2 of 2)
vacuum toilet
Kitchen, shower
Storm water
Greywater
(56 L/cap/d)
Blackwater
(4.8 L/cap/d)
Kitchen residue
wetlands
Biogas plant
Effluent
infiltration
Biogas
Effluent

31. Example 8: Blackwater treatment in Sneek, The Netherlands
Course 2 Unit 4
Example 8: Blackwater treatment in Sneek, The Netherlands
The next slide is from myself and the remaining slides for this examples are from Brendo Meulman, Landustrie, the project leader (provided in Sept 2007)

32. Neighbourhood “UASB-septic tank” for blackwater in Sneek, The Netherlands
The “UASB-septic tank” is located in this garage, together with storage tanks and other experimental process units
It treats the blackwater from 80 persons (400 – 500 L/d; 5.6 L/cap/d; 1 L per flush)
Digester is heated to 20 or 30°C with hot water generated with biogas

33. General view of the housing area

34. How to get a concentrated organic fraction?
Vacuum toilets are used, they flush with 1L water and 100L of air. Reduction of 36 L/cap/d water, is 25% of total water consumption
Vacuum toilet
Vacuum station (pump)

35. References * Also under Extra Materials on the I-LE
Course 2 Unit 4
References
Butare, A and Kimaro, A (2002) Anaerobic technology for toilet wastes management: the case study of the Cyangugu pilot project, World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, Vol.1, No.1. *
Heeb, J., Jenssen, P., Gnanakan, K. & K. Conradin (2007): ecosan curriculum 2.0. In cooperation with: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, ACTS Bangalore, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, German Agency for Technical Cooperation and the International Ecological Engineering Society. Partially available from and
Tchobanoglous, G., Burton, F.L., Stensel, H.D. (2003) Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Reuse, Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., McGraw-Hill, 4th edition. This is a good book on conventional wastewater treatment
Zhang Wudi et al. (2001): Comprehensive utilization of human and animal wastes. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Ecological Sanitation in Nanning 2001,EcoSanRes, China
* Also under Extra Materials on the I-LE

36. Other organisations and websites for biogas plants
BORDA (Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association): - extensive experience with decentralised anaerobic wastewater treatment (mostly without source separation), e.g. Household biogas plants all over the world. See also their website to view the presentations at recent symposium “Business Unusual” Nov. 2006
Biogas for Better Life, An African Initiative  ( – New initiative from May 2007, see next slide for more information
Agency for renewable resources: (Fachagentur für nachwachsende Rohstoffe; in German and English)
Fachverband Biogas: (in German only)
Internationales Biogas und Biomasse Kompetenzzentrum (IBBK) ( – in German only

37. Some more information about the Biogas for Better Life Initiative
Pan African Biogas Initiative Launched : 31 May A large-scale biogas initiative has been launched to bring renewable energy to 20 million households in some 25 African countries. The initiative was approved at a conference entitled 'Biogas for Better Life: An African Initiative', held in Nairobi, Kenya on 22 May The initiative is being supported by a consortium consisting of African countries (including Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa), implementing agencies, local NGOs and donors (including Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the Shell Foundation).
Dutch partners in the initiative are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and development organisations SNV and Hivos.
The first national biogas programme – in Rwanda –has already begun. Similar programmes in Ethiopia and Uganda will begin later this year. These national programmes aim to construct the initiative’s first 50,000 biogas plants. Biogas programmes are already operational in various parts of the world. SNV has worked on several successful programmes in Asia, especially in Nepal and Vietnam.
A simple biogas plant can be operated by any family with at least two cows or four pigs. The family toilet can also often be connected to it. Such a plant will generate enough gas to power a stove and a lamp.A biogas plant costs from 300 to 400 euros (although in Africa it will initially cost more). But the expense can be recouped within a few years through savings on firewood. And the waste product can still be used as manure.