NIVU BIOGAS
Design and installation of several small scale biodigestors for converting food waste to cooking gas.
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Installed in schools as a teaching tool for sustainability - built with participation of, and run by students. Additional cost saving benefits for schools.
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Concept design of integration of the units with the town’s waste stream and development of a new biodigestor design based on this system.
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2012, 2013
Integration with the town’s waste stream was difficult because the biodigestors are sensitive to over-feeding and need the waste to be processed in the form of small particles.
Research on the waste management system of the city revealed that the key to making a waste distribution system work was to build a biodigestor that could be fed once every seven days instead of everyday like the existing design. This would allow the same infrastructure to be used for a greater number of households, making it profitable.
The new design broke down the digestion process into two stages, like it is for large biodigestors. Fluid is circulated between the two stages using a pump that runs on gas generated in the first stage which is non-combustible and needs to be vented.
Full scale two-stage digestion prototype
I envisioned a system for collection and distribution of the various inputs and outputs of biodigestion at a large scale.
