Rural School is Powered by Methane Bio-Gas in South Africa's Eastern Cape

A small school in the countryside has built an anaerobic digestion plant, and is turning its food waste into energy, This school is located in the rolling hills of South Africa's Eastern Cape province, and implementing highly sustainable solutions for its agricultural and human waste, disposal, plus creating methane gas for cooking, and a nutrient-rich fertiliser. Finally, we hear that also recycling its water.

(Note: Video content is not associated with the school in the article.)

Read on and enjoy the good news in our article:

Using an integrated biogas system, the Three Crowns Rural School in Lady Frere District is teaching learners, the community, and engineers from around the country a new way of dealing with water, waste, and energy.

According to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, if a business as usual approach is followed, South Africa's freshwater resources will be fully depleted by 2030, unable to meet the needs of people or industry. "The problems will be made worse by more frequent incidents of water pollution and increased costs of water treatment," said the 2010 CSIR report author, Peter Ashton.

With over 40 percent of South Africa's dams affected by eutrophication (the process by which water becomes too nutrient-rich and prone to toxic algae blooms), acid mine drainage threatening to poison the water table around heavily populated Gauteng Province, and, according to the Department of Water Affair's 2010/11 Green Drop report, 56 percent of the nation's 821 sewage works either in a "critical state" or delivering a "very poor performance," arid South Africa must develop economical ways of effectively recycling its naturally scarce water resources.

Funded by the Development Bank of South Africa, the Chris Hani District Municipality's Environmental Management System Programme has been doing just that in its two-year-old pilot project at the Three Crowns Rural School.

The school's zero-waste system feeds organic waste from the school's kitchen, gardens, and toilets into an anaerobic "digester" (an oxygen-limiting, gas-tight enclosed pit) where microbial action breaks down the waste, creating methane "bio-gas" in the process.

The digested effluent is sent to a series of ponds, where first the remaining pollutants combine with oxygen and are transformed into a nutrient-rich "algal slurry" that makes excellent fertiliser. The water that emerges from the first pond shuttles to another, where fish like tilapia can feed on remaining algal content. The fishpond eco-system produces another algal fertiliser, and the pond water is irrigation- ready.

The final result is a system that transforms 100 percent of organic waste into biogas for cooking, pathogen-free algal fertiliser, and recycled pathogen-free water for irrigation of the school's gardens. The project also provides an impressive life-science laboratory where learners daily witness and come to understand concepts like decomposition, aerobic and anaerobic biological action, and sustainability.

"It's nothing new for the children to talk about digesters and bacteria and the algal pond and sterilisation. Hopefully these guys coming out of the school will help advance this type of thinking in the future," said Mark Wells of People's Power Africa (PPA), a consortium of environmental biotechnologies companies that was commissioned to install, manage, and monitor the system.

Francois Nel, head of environmental health and community services for Chris Hani District Municipality, emphasised the project's ability to affect the way people think. "The first thing is the education of the children and changing the mindset in terms of energy, waste, and climate change. And the ownership - the children take ownership of the environment and the importance of protecting it."

And it is not only the children who benefit. "This project is very, very important. First I can say to my own life, because I learned a lot of things about nature," said Zothe, the school caretaker who oversees the feeding of the bio-digester. "We've learned how to use things that are connected to nature, like we have a solar cooker, bio-digester, wind power energy, so we don't have to spend a lot of money, and we don't waste."

The Three Crowns project has been a great success, with four schools requesting installation of the same system, and the nearby communities of Intsikayethu and Engcobo planning to install the systems on a much larger scale.

It has also won numerous awards, including the 2011 Netherlands-sponsored Moolah for Amanzi award for best concept in water and sanitation projects, two Eskom ETA awards, and an Eastern Cape flagship project award.

Though adoption of the Three Crowns Project appears to be taking off, not far away in East London's Buffalo City Municipality, another People's Power Africa project is attempting to prove its worth to a sceptical municipality.

Like Three Crowns, PPA's "eMonti Green Hub" is a one-stop shop to recover resources (e.g., nutrient- filled fertiliser, methane gas, and recycled water) from waste, but this time the "feed" includes municipal wastewater, sewage sludge, and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste including garden and abattoir refuse.

Currently 10 million litres of that "feed" in the form of raw sewage are dumped daily into the surf zone by Buffalo City's defunct Second Creek Wastewater Treatment Works. The green hub proposes to use a large-scale anaerobic digester that is heated in continuously stirred reactors to more rapidly process that waste (woody garden refuse would fuel the heating).

Based on PPA's feasibility study, the green hub is projected to produce methane biogas at a rate of 300 kilogrammes/hour (a head-high gas canister holds 40 kg), resulting in "green" methane gas, which can provide a sustainable source of income to run the hub. Mercedes Benz South Africa has already provided a letter of interest to purchase the biomethane for use in their paint shop air dryers and ovens.

Processing the daily "feedstock" (including eight million litres of industrial wastewater, eight million litres of domestic wastewater, two million litres of sewage sludge, 48 tonnes of food waste, 16 tonnes of abattoir waste, and 82 tonnes of garden refuse), the hub would yearly generate 5.8 billion litres of recycled water, 2,300 tonnes of biomethane gas, and 10,000 tons of bio-fertiliser, while diverting 30,000 tonnes of waste from landfills every year.

"That's where it becomes so exciting," Wells explained. "Especially when you look at what's happening in the environment, the municipality needs to get its head around the huge amounts of bio-resources that they're currently not using at all, that are just being thrown into landfill sites and into the sea. It just doesn't make sense."

Ultimately PPA wants the hub to benefit local communities, and so plans are for the plant to be held mostly in a joint community and municipal environmental trust, with additional private and public equity. Unfortunately getting the hub operational will involve cutting through extensive administrative red tape, which relies on changes in the attitudes of the city's engineers and administrators.

"We know that everything is possible, but getting the city's approval and endorsement has been a struggle. These projects are very difficult to put together because you're talking about municipal resources and there's all sorts of issues around that. Plus municipalities have to change the way they do things. We're pushing the boundaries. We have the technical understanding, but now it's the how to make it real," Wells said.

Francois Nel agreed that PPA would face an uphill battle in getting the hub approved. "It's a brilliant idea. The problem is that people don't understand. They don't understand the environment, and they don't understand climate change," Nel commented, recalling how even now he struggles to convince engineers to "come to the party," despite the Three Crowns' success.

Nonetheless, PPA and its partners anticipate that the hub's environmental impact assessment will soon begin, and are working with the municipality on moving the public consultation process forward. They remain optimistic that by the end of 2013 the hub will begin producing the nutrients, energy, and recycled water.

"Essentially we see this as the people's resources. Even if the municipality is in charge of it, they're throwing it away, so we want to get the benefits from those resources back into community. Even if we don't capitalise on it ourselves, the project will go forward. The main thing is to solve the problem and demonstrate these solutions," said Wells.

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Bore Hill Farm Biodigester - Rural Property Developer to Open New Wiltshire AD Plant

More good news of another new AD Plant project:

A Wiltshire-based rural property developer is diversifying into renewables, with plans to open its first anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Warminster next year.

Malaby Biogas, sister company of Malaby Martin Ltd, which has specialised in rural redevelopment for over 10 years, will begin commissioning the £5 million Bore Hill Farm Biodigester in the second quarter of 2012.

It will be Wiltshire’s first commercial AD plant and will be capable of processing up to 20,000 tonnes of commercial food waste and generating 500 kilowatts of green energy, the company said. The renewable energy will be fed into the National Grid, but will also supply nine business units set to open on the site in 2013, thereby creating jobs and offering low cost heat and power to commercial users. 

"There is growing pressure on businesses in the food sector to dispose of their waste in a far more responsible and efficient manner than simply sending it to landfill," said Thomas Minter, director at Malaby Biogas, who added that by using local labour and British skills, Malaby was able to provide "real benefit in tough economic times."

In addition, Bore Hill Farm Biodigester will produce 15,000 tonnes of digestate which to be sold to farmers for agricultural use, as an alternative to traditional fertilizer.

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Biogas to solve LPG crisis in rural Dakshina Kannada - Times of India

Biogas to solve LPG crisis in rural DK - Times Of India

MANGALORE: Rural schools, anganwadis and backward class and minority hostels in the Dakshina Kannada (DK) district need not shell out money to get refilled LPG cylinders anymore. DK zilla panchayat plans to set up biogas production plants in schools, anganwadis and backward class and minority hostels which would convert waste into cooking gas.

(Video and article are not connected.)

Many of the rural schools in the district find it difficult to get refilled LPG cylinders due to irregularities in the supply by the gas agencies. Biogas plants will help the schools cut down their dependence on LPG and firewood for cooking and not just save money.

While biogas produced in the plant will be used to cook mid-day meals in schools, it will be used in the kitchens of anganwadis and hostels. The zilla panchayat has already earmarked Rs 20,000 each to set up biogas plants in four centres in the district.

The plants will be initially set up in the anganwadi centres of Daddelakadu and Soornadu in Bantwal taluk, backward class and minority hostels in Bajpe in Mangalore taluk and Balthila in Bantwal taluk. See also www.anaerobic-digestion.com

Total sanitation officer of the district Manjula told STOI that an agency that quotes a suitable price will be given the task of setting up the biogas plants, which will reduce the burden on rural schools, anganwadis and hostels in several ways. In addition to saving money, it will also help to maintain cleanliness in the schools, the anganwadi and hostel premises as kitchen waste and other bio-degradable waste can be used as a raw material for the plant, she said.

The proposed plants will have the capacity to produce biogas, sufficient for two hours of cooking, with two kilograms of waste. Also power can be generated from the plant with the help of a generator, she said, adding that the work will commence soon.

More rural schools will be chosen where such biogas plants will be set up in near future, she added.

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Biogas attraction grows in rural Arghakhanchi - Himalayan Times

ARGHAKHANCHI: In the face of lack of access to electricity, people in rural areas in Arghakhanchi district have been attracted towards biogas plant, one of the sources of alternative energy.

Many people in rural Arghakhanchi areas are still without power. An increasing number of villagers are preparing to build biogas plants at their home due to double benefits—power generated from cow and buffalo dung meets the basic need for cooking fuel and lighting up home and at the same time the residues can be reused in agriculture.

Though many villagers may not have known the benefits of biogas plants, the attraction towards this source of alternative energy will be boon to them in many ways. Since all villagers are depended on firewood for their energy consumption that leads to deforestation and is harmful to health, biogas plants ensure healthy environment both inside and outside home.

Biogas companies say continuous load shedding in other areas have fuelled attraction towards biogas plants among rural folks in the district.

According to statistics available here, around 4,200 biogas plants have been already installed in the district.

The government provides subsidy in the installation of biogas plants. An estimated cost of Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000 is required to build on biogas plant.

Farmers say the attraction towards biogas plant will go up overwhelmingly if the government increases subsidy.

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Rural Estates and Farms Set to Benefit From Feed-In-Tariffs

Estate agency firm Knight Frank claims that rural estates and farms in the UK could bring in extra income in the tens of thousands if they take advantage of the renewable energy feed-in tariff. In its latest publication, Rural Report Knight Frank created a hypothetical renewable energy farm utilizing all forms of renewable energy as a means of generating revenue through the feed-in tariff calculating the cash that could be generated from wind, solar, hydro and anaerobic digestion.




The report found that if complete grid-connectivity were achieved, the following incomes could be generated:

2 wind turbines: 300,000 Anaerobic digester: 460,000 Hydroelectric Installation: 190,000 Solar Panels: 26,300

The total income for these renewable projects would be an impressive 916,000 with a potential of 18.5m to be made over the project's lifetime.

The potential for landowners to benefit from feed-in tariff legislation in the UK is enormous with the potential not only to receive tariff payments but also to significantly reduce overheads by using the energy produced on the land.

The Knight Frank report explains the mechanism stating,

"Feed-in tariffs were introduced in the dying days of the Labour government and were designed to encourage people to create their own renewable electricity.

An index-linked payment guaranteed for up to 25 years is made for each unit of electricity produced even if it used by the generator for their own consumption. The tariff varies depending on how the energy is being generated and the scale of the scheme".

Although the hypothetical estate set out in the Rural Report gives the absolute optimal conditions for generating revenue from renewable energy, it nevertheless highlights the potential to make money though renewable energy. With project lifetimes of 25 years and revenues protected by government legislation, landowners are catching on to the fact that there is real money to be made from investing in renewable installations.

Kevin Langley is a leading knowledge in the Solar Investment and Renewable Energy world. Having worked with the subject for many years, he is fast becoming an expert on green energy and investments in green stocks.

He writes for many blogs and runs a range of Solar websites. He has a keen interest in green renewable energy and spends most of this writing time focusing on this subject.

http://solarfeedintariff.co.uk/