BIOGAS TRAINING - Technology in South Africa

Biogas Training on the state of the technology in South Africa and the various aspects to consider.
After World War II a British fighter pilot, L. John Fry, settled in South Africa and started a pig farm. In 1957 he built the world’s first commercial anaerobic digester and produced biogas from pig manure. The following year he generated electricity from biogas to power pumps on the farm.
69 years on, largely due to cheap power and despite expanding landfills, South Africa still has a fledgling biogas industry, some way behind world leaders Germany (8,900), USA (2,200), Britain and Switzerland (600 each). The country boasts 300 bio-digesters of which only 50 are registered commercial biogas plants, larger than 100kW.
In South Africa today, biogas has the potential to displace 2,500MW of grid electricity, equivalent to the size of Eskom’s Arnot coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, commissioned in 1975. When you consider that South Africa accounts for about 1.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions; that emissions increased by 24.9% between 2000 and 2010; that in excess of 40 million tonnes of biomass and organic waste is generated annually; that agriculture is a key activity in all nine provinces and that energy costs have spiralled beyond 300% in eight years, then renewable energy, and in particular biogas power generation, presents a strong business case.
In summary, the factors driving the acceleration of biogas plants in South Africa are:
Regulatory framework promoting renewable energy,
Green funding and incentives,
Energy security (unreliable grid supply and ever-increasing tariffs),
Widely available, untapped feedstock sources, e.g. landfill sites reaching their capacity, a significant agriculture sector and approximately 200 wastewater treatment plants nationally, and
Government’s commitment to cleaner energy sources.
The food versus energy debate appears to be silenced by studies which claim that South Africa is blessed with an over-abundance of arable agricultural land opening the way for the production of agricultural biogas and biofuel feedstock crops.
Some of the clear and obvious benefits of biogas are:
Employment creation,
Landfill diversion,
Reduction of waste disposal costs,
Diesel substitution in busses, trucks, and taxis by purified biogas
Satisfying a growing co-generation demand, and
The aeration and addition of magnesium and phosphates to depleted digestate produces fertilizer and compost.
Aside from the obvious benefits, there are positive signs that many of the inherent threats to and weaknesses of the biogas industry are being addressed, viz:
Limited funding for small projects is being overcome by government incentives, foreign funders and a gradual appetite by local banks to participate in long-term biogas financing,
The rising coal price and quality problems present a competitive opportunity for biogas, and
Sectoral competition is mitigated by the interest and early participation in biogas projects from farmers and large waste management companies.
This relatively young technology is dynamic, so expect a continual improvement of current designs and methodologies. This is clear from ongoing research at the German Biomass Research Centre in Leipzig, Germany, where the objectives of further research focus areas on biogas are:
Flexibility in terms of substrates and litigation,
Process monitoring and control,
Reduction of emissions,
Increasing efficiency and reducing costs, and Coupling of material and energy use of biomass.
Nevertheless, further evidence of the growing importance of biogas is borne out by its prioritisation over other forms of renewable energy: at 12.8% it outstrips the contribution to the national electricity grid in Germany of solar PV and wind power generation.
Bio2Watt’s 5MW biogas plant in Bronkhorstspruit supplying electricity to BMW SA is the forerunner of a new commitment to tap into potential South Africa offers. Clean Energy Africa’s New Horizons and Anaergia have turned the soil on construction sites for new biogas plants in the region, each with future plans of three new commercial biogas plants per year. It can therefore be predicted that a very different biogas landscape will exist five years from now, where the value of the commercial biogas opportunity is tapped to provide the South African industry with a viable alternative energy source.

[@PhysicsWithBen]

Hello 👋, Thanks for this channel. Impressive contents!

[@ndlovukazi5977]

Intresting

[@SopheakKH]

Wow awesome content 👍👍. Like 💯. Hope to hear from you soon 🙏

[@wallyweber7044]

Thank you for the comment - the main thing is to just start. There is so many ways to build your own digester. The best way to learn is to experiment yourself. Good luck.

[@mentorman6285]

Thanks for the information - Any manufacture supplying the components kit ?

[@wallyweber7044]

There is a few suppliers globally. From which country are you?

[@richardloch8872]

How much gas will you produce with the 2*50m digestors. what size generator will it run

[@seramogwasi9293]

I am currently studying CHP in definitely coming back home upon completing my Degree,i am originally from Oranje Vrei stad. When we feed the digester,does the Biogas escape at the Mouth opening? i am puzzled

[@wallyweber7044]

The biogas is tapped off a pipe fitted at the top of the bladder. All digesters work on a similar Mechanical approach of the methane gas displacing the liquid and the gas being extracted from the top.

[@wallyweber7044]

Hi, The feeding point goes into the bottom area of the digester covered by the fluid level. This then ensures that the gas cannot escape.

[@matthewthegardenassistant8314]

Can you put compost that has already gone through the aerobic composting process in?

[@wallyweber7044]

My advice would be to first do a test and establish the calorific value of the material. The composting process might have broken down the material to such an extent that very little nutritional content remains Also considering the retention time in the digester, you will need a very big digester to process the volume of composting materials.

[@estebancorral5151]

No. However, you can use partially aerobic composted material and then put that into the anaerobic digester. See You Tube Video Jean Pain Composting.

[@mbonaniphiwamandlamandlakh6009]

Surely planning to have one n promotes it in rural areas, been searching abt it n I was disappointed with my country

[@wallyweber7044]

You can find bag digesters that are cost effective to import.

[@itanc1]

Amazing lecture! I was riveted from start to finish. So much information that I have been looking for for so long now. Are you still working in the field? Can I email you please? I have built a micro system (55gl) as my first project which is filling a 20litre floating drum 3 times a day. My system is heated and I am running it at 35C but would like to know if you recommend increasing the temperature to 60 C to exploit the thermophilic range?

[@wallyweber7044]

Hi, currently our focus is on the large-scale hybrid systems and no longer on the micro digesters. To answer your question, heat would most definitely increase the prodcution. This can very easily be done with a solar hot water system and a heat exchanger. Thank you for the question.

[@itanc1]

@@wallyweber7044 hi Wally and thanks for your msg. I have another question if you don’t mind. Even though my digester is heated and set to 35, the sensor is reading 45. Is possible for the process to be generating its own heat. It is very well insulated and now I am worried that it will get too hot. I am going to leave it doing its thing for a few days and see if the sensor reading climbs. Do digesters ever need cooling?

[@wallyweber7044]

@@itanc1 the microbial action will generate heat. 45 'C is your max before starting to killing of microbes. It seems to high for normal bacterial heating. Is the digester in direct sun - check that - itvis good that it is insulated and that you are recording your heating profile.

[@itanc1]

@@wallyweber7044 . Hi Wally, thanks for the second message, it really helps. The sensor is taped to a stick that is taped into the effluent pipe and I think maybe the sun is heating the column of effluent in the pipe more than the rest of the tank so I might well be getting a false reading. Awaiting more plumbing parts before I can move the sensor. On another note, ish, I am seeing a vigorous willingness here in the uk for a suburban single dwelling digester, which is what I am playing with here. Although this first version is going pleasingly well,(I do remember that you don’t really get involved on this scale anymore but… I would love to know your thoughts on the viability of widespread domestic digesters in urban/suburban Europe, if you have the time of course. Anyway thanks so much for the advice, I am going to move it out of the sun immediately!! Cheers Tanc

[@OHBINEY]

can i have ducument power point presentation

[@wallyweber7044]

Send me your email address and I will try and find it and forward it on.

[@ngolleetuge4873]

I am a Cameroonian and I thing Cameroonian have very little knowledge about biogas. So what can I do to no more about biogas and to promote it..thanks

[@BlackdotEnergy]

Hello Ngolle. You can check out our website blackdotenergy.co.za/cpd-training/ we provide courses that can be shipped anywhere in the world.

[@monmusiime5647]

You can also hire me and I build it for you

[@wallyweber7044]

@@monmusiime5647 we are consulting engineers and do not construct ourselves. Regarding the training also visit RENAC which is the German institute for renewable energy and have only courses regularly.

[@estebancorral5151]

John Fry clearly wrote that the best temperature for digestion was 92-95 degrees Fahrenheit at 37 degrees Celsius you would be wasting 3.6 Fahrenheit. By the presenters own admission, South African squander their water and other resources. Do things right and pay attention to details.