[Stoves] Biogas backpack

[Anand Karve]

Dear Ron,
the 500 litre or 1000 litre flexible biogas plant would not necessarily be
carried around. Food waste is readily available in a city ( stale food or
leftover food from a restaurant, unsold, stale or spoilt fruits and
vegetables from a fruit & vegetable vender, etc. But space in an urban
house is the limiting factor. It takes just 1 kg (dry weight) of food waste
to produce about 700 or 800 litre biogas. A biogas plant made from a
plastic film or rubber would allow it to be made into any suitable shape
for keeping it in a narrow balcony or a niche next to the kitchen. We
currently make our biogas plants from plastic water tanks, which are
generally available everywhere in India. But these tanks are generally
round and squat, requiring a relatively large area.
Yours
A.D.Karve

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 4:06 AM, Ronald Hongsermeier <rwhongser at web.de>wrote:

> Dear Crispin,
>
> On 09.01.2012 19:02, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
>
>  Dear Ron****
>
> ** **
>
> Good to hear from you in the new year.****
>
> ** **
>
> *>*I think you misunderstood the article. The bag is only for transport
> and temporary storage. They take the empty (and some dung) to a biogas
> producer, get it filled and go home to cook with it. It is supposed to be
> about a day's cookin' worth.****
>
> I am with David House www.completebiogas.com on this one: it is a
> portable digester with nothing but gas in it! J ****
>
> He writes, “It's actually a gas bag, not a digester. Even so, it's an
> excellent innovation, and a worthy addition to the armamentarium, wherever
> it can serve as a means of transport in connection with a large digester
> near any large population.
>
> And as well, from my point of view, it's also a bit ironic, since the very
> sturdy bag, selling for ~$US38, could actually *be* a digester if it had
> two additional pipes (an inlet and an outlet), and further that since it's
> about a cubic meter in volume, it would produce about a cubic meter of gas
> every day, if fed and kept warm.”
>
> That may well be, but, not having seen the bag, it may well need some
> additional features apart from two pipes. You'd have to get solid materials
> in and out, etc. Also, I think that his proviso: "...wherever it can serve
> as a means of transport ... large digester ... any large population." is
> overwrought. When compared with walking 10 km with 20 or more kg on your
> head, a 3kg bag is gonna add up to 30 € pretty quick. I'm not dissing the
> idea of making a digester of that size, just have the impression from the
> relative clause that he is degrading the usefulness of the idea
> unnecessarily.
>
>
>
>  ****
>
> I think David is working on a bag digester himself. The transport of gas
> is interesting. If it turned out to be attractive as a cooking fuel (and
> delivery system) the users would perhaps be convinced to install their own
> systems. I am not convinced that a minibus would accept the gas ‘package’
> without fear or charge.
>
> I think they limited the size to keep it a relatively manageable size.
>
>  ****
>
> It is a lot lighter than a load of wood and the walking distance might be
> less. I wonder if a tire on a rim might be as good, and could be pumped by
> hand. Will a tire hold a useful volume of gas if hand pumped?
>
> Even if the walking distance was more, one would not have the same
> fatigue. i think you'd have to work pretty hard to compress a whole m^3
> into anything like a regular tire-- and a tractor tire with rim would be
> more taxing to manage than a load of firewood on one's head. ;-) If this
> was done in cooperation with schools, they could even get the transport
> with larger school children on the way home from school, delivery before
> school, pick up the bag and go home after school. hoping you're doing well.
>
> regards,
> ron
> w
> h
>
>
>  ****
>
> Regards****
>
> Crispin****
>
> ** **
>
>
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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)
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