Project TakaNguvu 1

An Oil Drum Digester

Project Rationale

• Show a method of producing renewable energy and biofertilizer through waste management of manure produced at a farm.
• At Baobab Trust TakaNguvu 1 is imbedded in the environment of organic sustainable farming methods to avoid soil erosion and other farming related environmental issues.
• Transparent technology to show the functioning of bio digestion

In December 2003 the first oil drum digester of TakaNguvu 1 was filled with bacteria and slurry and went into production of biogas and biofertilizer.

Experience

The oil drum digester is a good digester system for demonstration purposes as it is possible to look inside the digester and to see what is going on and to understand the principle of a biogas digester.

Our experience with the oil drum digesters:

• To digest the manure of 1 cow 3 oil drum digesters are needed.
• The gas yield per digester:
  In a 24-hour period the average gas volume produced was 76 litres (0.076 m³).
  With this amount of gas a low pressure cooker could be operated for about 17 minutes.
• The lifespan of the digester is rather short: after 1 year of operation the drums (mixture holder as well as gasholder) had to be replaced due to rusting.
  We replaced them with plastic drums, the mixture holder as well as the gasholder
  The climate at the Coast might have negatively influenced the lifespan.
• The handling (filling of mixture and releasing of fertilizer) is time consuming and not very user-friendly.
• There are more suitable types of biogas digesters therefore we do not recommend the use of oil drum digester type:
  ->  Polyethylene Biogas Digester
  ->  Puxin Biogas Digester

Picture-Gallery

• Building up - phase 1
• Building up - phase 2
• Kitchen and gasholder
• The plastic version of the oil drum digester
• Visitors of TakaNguvu at Shamba Mtopanga

© 2002 - 2008 TakaNguvu is a product of JuaNguvu Ltd.