Producing fuel from corn and other crops could be good for the planet–if only the process didn't take a significant environmental toll. New breakthroughs could make a difference.
The National Geographic Magazine, October 2007 Coverpage is dedicated for BioFuel.
Read the full article:
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/tableofcontents.html?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Seminar on Bio Gas
The GoGreen Team organized a seminar on Bio Gas at Maharagama
Sri Jayasekararamaya temple, on the 8th Thurseday from 5.00-7.00 pm
We thought it is worthwhile to share the outcome of our attempt:
Chaired By Ven Mollamure Nandarathana Thero, Memember Maharagama Muninicipal Council
Resource Personnel:
Mr. Joseph , Advisor to Ministry of Science and Technology on Renewable Energy Resources
Mr. Bandula Chandrasekera Programs Coordinator Energy Forum
Matters Discussed :
1.Issue of Cost of Domestic Gas
2.Growing of Glirisiedia for Bio Gas Plants,Cattle and Gasifiers
3. Setting up of the Model Plant
4. Issue on Disposing of waste
5. Hand book on Bio Gas was distributed
6. Sponsors Sanasa Development Bank is ready to provide funds under Micro Financing
Decisions taken:
1. Coordinating team headed by Dhammika (School Leaver)
Memebers Eranga - USJ, Chamath - USJ, Harsha ,Tharindu , Kamal, Nimal - HNB Assurance
Chamila - Open University
2.Set up a plant at the Temple
3.Start a Plantation of Glirisidia by Saturday 10th October 2007.
4. Every Saturday Evening (8.00pm) a meeting on Progress Review.
................. 
Present 5 GGs.
1.Ramesh Abeywickrama.
2.Kaplia
3.Devika
4.Nishantha
5.Chamara
Sri Jayasekararamaya temple, on the 8th Thurseday from 5.00-7.00 pm
We thought it is worthwhile to share the outcome of our attempt:
Chaired By Ven Mollamure Nandarathana Thero, Memember Maharagama Muninicipal Council
Resource Personnel:
Mr. Joseph , Advisor to Ministry of Science and Technology on Renewable Energy Resources
Mr. Bandula Chandrasekera Programs Coordinator Energy Forum
Matters Discussed :
1.Issue of Cost of Domestic Gas
2.Growing of Glirisiedia for Bio Gas Plants,Cattle and Gasifiers
3. Setting up of the Model Plant
4. Issue on Disposing of waste
5. Hand book on Bio Gas was distributed
6. Sponsors Sanasa Development Bank is ready to provide funds under Micro Financing
Decisions taken:
1. Coordinating team headed by Dhammika (School Leaver)
Memebers Eranga - USJ, Chamath - USJ, Harsha ,Tharindu , Kamal, Nimal - HNB Assurance
Chamila - Open University
2.Set up a plant at the Temple
3.Start a Plantation of Glirisidia by Saturday 10th October 2007.
4. Every Saturday Evening (8.00pm) a meeting on Progress Review.
................. 
Present 5 GGs.
1.Ramesh Abeywickrama.
2.Kaplia
3.Devika
4.Nishantha
5.Chamara
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Success stories : Urban experiences: Weerasiri Café : Kottawa -Sri Lanka
Mr Wickum Weerakkody is a prominent businessman in Kottawa, an urban city located about 10Km from Colombo city limits down Highlevel Road.
He is running his very successful family business which he inherits from his father - "The Weerasiri Cafe". Begin the fully vegetarian hotel at Kottawa, Mr Weerakkody is hitting a very high daily margin, which he serves for so many customers daily .
The premises is located in a very prominent and strategic location in the middle of the town, intern , it is surrounded by so many other businesses as well as pathways to the general public.
Day by day, when the business was growing, Mr Weerakkody had to face an unexpected situation. The business has been disposing large quantities of waste water, combined with cooked food/uncooked waste which created an environmental issue. The situation went so serious as some of the concern neighbours along with the concerned environmental groups went to courts against Mr Weerakkody over his garbage disposal procedures.
There were no escape for Mr Weerakkody, as h
e too was a prominent member in the same community who had to collaborate with the same neighbours.
The only solution had been to go for a long lasting solution of garbage management system.
Even after trying various methods, Mr Weerakkody finally seek help from a senior Environmental research Engineer.
He is non other than Engineer Mr Athula Jayamanne. Today Mr Weerakkody runs his "Weerasiri Cafe" very peacefully, thanks to Mr Jayamanne's introduction of advance waste water treatment method.
Mr Jayamanne had provided his consultancy to Mr Weerakkody to build his own Bio Gas unit in his premises, while managing his own garbage and waste water. Today Mr Weerakkody uses bio gas in his hotel's kitchen as an alternative energy source to LP Gas.
According to him, "the Bio Gas cooker functions very well, giving a maximum output, which had already recovered the ROI", Mr Wickum Weerakkody concluded his success story.
Our GO GREEN team recently visited Mr Weerakkody’s premises, what we saw was an exemplary saga which is worth to share with all around the world.
We are publishing this as an appreciation of Mr Weerakkody’s silent contribution to the society , we could found out that he is the Kottawa city’s Lions’ Club president as well.
Yet humble man he is, Mr Weerakkody spared more than 3 hours with our team, explaining each step of his Bio Gas setting up project, from his busy schedule.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Some pictures of a successful Bio Gas project- Piyara Bakery , Gampaha
This is the success story of the Gampaha Piyara Backery, successfully using bio gas for cooking, this is a large schale project.
New Invention as a solution for garbage management- from Sunday Observer
An answer to Sri Lanka's garbage problem?
Invention of an eco-friendly trash incinerator:
by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson
From an announcer for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation(SLBC) in 1959, the voice that presented the famous 'Handiyagedera' program in 1978 to an enterprising businessman today, Gunatunga K. Liyanage has come up with a novel invention which may be an answer to Sri Lanka's growing garbage disposal issue; an invention of an eco-friendly trash incinerator with almost zero per cent of environmental pollution, an instantly viable solution to the staggering problem of thrash disposal confronting the Municipal and Urban Councils in Sri Lanka he says.
A detailed description of the novel invention has been sent to the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), the Central Environment Authority, the Sri Lanka Investors Commission and the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka for their appraisal and assessment.
A miniature model of the invention; the eco-friendly trash incinerator has been set up at Gamini Furniture Palace factory premises at Buddhaloka Mawatha, Piliyandala for inspection and a demonstration of the concept could be done for interested parties on request, Mr Liyanage said.
Asked if Mr Liyanage is an engineer, he answered in the negative and said the invention was totally his, it is unique and there were no engineers involved in the initiation of the concept.
Mr Liyanage in an interview with the Sunday Observer said, "The introduction of this incineration process is unique and does not require external fuel and has no atmospheric pollution.
The possibility of generating power is also available with this concept. So, this could be the best alternative to finding vast land fills to store garbage for months till degenerated or resorting to anaerobic digestion combined with or without bio-gas generation which is of course not so popular due to the high cost of digesters, the unpleasant and unhealthy maintenance and moreover because it is a long drawn out total digestion process."
Explaining the concept Mr Liyanage further said, "The most important novel feature of an invention of a trash incinerator of this nature is the manner in which it has been designed with the ( one or preferably four) provision of air or smoke absorbing pipes or tubes which does not cause environmental pollution.
The picture shows a sectional elevation of the incinerator. Marked 7 is one of the most important features of this invention, the smoke/ air re-circulating pipes which are four in number in this embodiment but can be selected according to the need.
The smoke absorbing pipes are mounted in such a manner that their top end, at the dome, above the level of the trash feeding gates with the bottom passing though the inner conical frustum to the empty space at the bottom of the incinerator thereby enabling the air or smoke to be sucked into the pipes or tubes from the top end being discharged to the inside of the inner conical frustum structure, made of heat resistant materials, thereby rejoining the combustion process".
"As the opening at the bottom, provided for servicing and burnt material removal is now closed, the "chimney effect" causes a partial vacuum at the core of the inner conical frustum thereby enabling the air and smoke to be sucked in through the said pipes or tubes from the space in the dome above the thrash feeding level.
The ratio of fresh air or smoke sucked in can be controlled by the gates provided at, or just above the top ring of the outer conical frustum. Such gates may be arranged for dual function of feeding trash from time to time and control the amount of air sucked in, or a separate gate may be provided for the two functions.
This recirculation of partially burnt gasses so caused will ensure almost total combustion of trash. While trash may be introduced from time to time, ash may also be removed accordingly by opening the ash removal openings which have to be closed immediately", Mr Liyanage further explained.
"In this invention complete combustion is assured through suction of part of the burnt gasses back to the flame thereby ensuring that almost all the material is completely burnt.
The configuration of this novel design consists essentially of a structure of the shape of a frustum of a cone, (or a frustum of a pyramid, Tetrahedral or with a polygonal base) and no visible smoke is generated thereby eliminating or reducing environmental pollution to zero per cent.
"The structure may be supported with pillars and columns, a cylindrical structure or any other suitable civil engineering structural method while the outer conical frustum may be made with reinforced concrete preferably.
The extension chimney of any suitable height may be mounted to the top dome with the inner chimney enclosed in it with a circular gap in between the two chimneys to open when initiating the burning process and close when thrash is properly ignited. These two chimneys are supported with suitable means or any standard means such as cables which are used for supporting such tall structures."
Mr Liyanage said he hopes that his invention, concept and contribution to the country's development would be taken by the Municipal and Urban Councils and put into operation as a viable solution to the confounding garbage and trash disposal issue in Sri Lanka.
Invention of an eco-friendly trash incinerator:
by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson
From an announcer for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation(SLBC) in 1959, the voice that presented the famous 'Handiyagedera' program in 1978 to an enterprising businessman today, Gunatunga K. Liyanage has come up with a novel invention which may be an answer to Sri Lanka's growing garbage disposal issue; an invention of an eco-friendly trash incinerator with almost zero per cent of environmental pollution, an instantly viable solution to the staggering problem of thrash disposal confronting the Municipal and Urban Councils in Sri Lanka he says.
A detailed description of the novel invention has been sent to the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), the Central Environment Authority, the Sri Lanka Investors Commission and the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka for their appraisal and assessment.
A miniature model of the invention; the eco-friendly trash incinerator has been set up at Gamini Furniture Palace factory premises at Buddhaloka Mawatha, Piliyandala for inspection and a demonstration of the concept could be done for interested parties on request, Mr Liyanage said.
Asked if Mr Liyanage is an engineer, he answered in the negative and said the invention was totally his, it is unique and there were no engineers involved in the initiation of the concept.
Mr Liyanage in an interview with the Sunday Observer said, "The introduction of this incineration process is unique and does not require external fuel and has no atmospheric pollution.
The possibility of generating power is also available with this concept. So, this could be the best alternative to finding vast land fills to store garbage for months till degenerated or resorting to anaerobic digestion combined with or without bio-gas generation which is of course not so popular due to the high cost of digesters, the unpleasant and unhealthy maintenance and moreover because it is a long drawn out total digestion process."
Explaining the concept Mr Liyanage further said, "The most important novel feature of an invention of a trash incinerator of this nature is the manner in which it has been designed with the ( one or preferably four) provision of air or smoke absorbing pipes or tubes which does not cause environmental pollution.
The picture shows a sectional elevation of the incinerator. Marked 7 is one of the most important features of this invention, the smoke/ air re-circulating pipes which are four in number in this embodiment but can be selected according to the need.
The smoke absorbing pipes are mounted in such a manner that their top end, at the dome, above the level of the trash feeding gates with the bottom passing though the inner conical frustum to the empty space at the bottom of the incinerator thereby enabling the air or smoke to be sucked into the pipes or tubes from the top end being discharged to the inside of the inner conical frustum structure, made of heat resistant materials, thereby rejoining the combustion process".
"As the opening at the bottom, provided for servicing and burnt material removal is now closed, the "chimney effect" causes a partial vacuum at the core of the inner conical frustum thereby enabling the air and smoke to be sucked in through the said pipes or tubes from the space in the dome above the thrash feeding level.
The ratio of fresh air or smoke sucked in can be controlled by the gates provided at, or just above the top ring of the outer conical frustum. Such gates may be arranged for dual function of feeding trash from time to time and control the amount of air sucked in, or a separate gate may be provided for the two functions.
This recirculation of partially burnt gasses so caused will ensure almost total combustion of trash. While trash may be introduced from time to time, ash may also be removed accordingly by opening the ash removal openings which have to be closed immediately", Mr Liyanage further explained.
"In this invention complete combustion is assured through suction of part of the burnt gasses back to the flame thereby ensuring that almost all the material is completely burnt.
The configuration of this novel design consists essentially of a structure of the shape of a frustum of a cone, (or a frustum of a pyramid, Tetrahedral or with a polygonal base) and no visible smoke is generated thereby eliminating or reducing environmental pollution to zero per cent.
"The structure may be supported with pillars and columns, a cylindrical structure or any other suitable civil engineering structural method while the outer conical frustum may be made with reinforced concrete preferably.
The extension chimney of any suitable height may be mounted to the top dome with the inner chimney enclosed in it with a circular gap in between the two chimneys to open when initiating the burning process and close when thrash is properly ignited. These two chimneys are supported with suitable means or any standard means such as cables which are used for supporting such tall structures."
Mr Liyanage said he hopes that his invention, concept and contribution to the country's development would be taken by the Municipal and Urban Councils and put into operation as a viable solution to the confounding garbage and trash disposal issue in Sri Lanka.
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/10/21/imp01.asp
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Read the article on Bio-GAS
Why Pay for Gas When You Can Get it Free
Introduction
Today oil prices in are soaring and recently barrel of crude oil hit its highest USD 88.
Sri Lanka being a non oil producing country has a major impact on it’s economy as well as on the lives of it’s people due to the soaring petroleum prices.
In this context , a group of students who are reading for MBA at University of Colombo, (2005/2007 batch), has been looking for viable renewable energy sources available in the country. The students have set up a team named “Go Green” for promoting renewable energy sources that could be utilized in Sri Lanka and also to make awareness among public about cheap renewable energy sources.
Renewable Energy
There are many types of renewable energy sources effectively used in today’s world. Some of them are Ethanol or Green petrol, Bio Diesel and Bio Gas. In the case of ethanol, Brazil is leading in the world and produces Ethanol at the lowest cost as much as USD 0.88 per gallon. Brazil is a large scale sugar producer and they use sugar to produce their ethanol. Unfortunately Sri Lanka is a net importer of sugar and major portion of sugar for consumption is importing. The technology to produce ethanol that could be used as an alternative to petrol is not available in Sri Lanka. Hence, group realized that production of ethanol is not a viable option.
Production of bio diesel too is not a suitable option due to the high cost involved in the production process.
After extensive research, group found that bio gas is a cheap energy source that could be easily produce in Sri Lanka.
Introduction: What is bio gas
People have been burning garbage for a long time, until recent technology and new systems became available, it was generally a bad idea. Open-pit trash burning gave way to municipal solid waste incinerators and so-called “waste-to-energy” facilities, but all of them involved the burning of general household, industrial, and even medical garbage – spewing toxic chemicals like dioxins into the air.
Biomass gasification and anaerobic digesters are a totally different way of turning waste materials into fuels for energy – and with state-of-the-art pollution control devices, they are almost completely clean and renewable sources of electricity.
A biomass gasification facility turns plant biomass, including yard and garden waste, vegetable scraps, recycled paper, agricultural waste, and wood refuse from construction, into a pressurized gas mixture.
There is still research being conducted to improve biomass gasification, as there are still some drawbacks with the process. Hydrogen can be removed and stored for use in hydrogen fuel cells. Biomass gasification does produce some carbon dioxide, although because it is from a renewable organic source it has a short atmospheric residence time and therefore does not contribute to global warming.
Overall, biomass combustion provides a renewable, steady, gap-free flow of electricity to the power grid.
The Process
Biogas is generated when bacteria degrade biological material in the absence of oxygen, in a process known as anaerobic digestion. Since biogas is a mixture of methane (also known as marsh gas or natural gas, CH4) and carbon dioxide, it is a renewable fuel produced from waste treatment.
Anaerobic digestion is basically a simple process carried out in a number of steps that can use almost any organic material as a substrate - it occurs in digestive systems, marshes, rubbish dumps and septic tanks.
Humans tend to make the process as complicated as possible by trying to improve on nature in complex machines but a simple approach is still possible.
Conventional anaerobic digestion has been a "liquid" process, where waste is mixed with water to facilitate digestion, but a "solid" process is also possible, as occurs in landfill sites.
As methane is very hard to compress, it is best use as for stationary fuel, rather than mobile fuel. It takes a lot of energy to compress the gas (this energy is usually just wasted), plus the hazard of high pressure. A variable volume storage is much easier and cheaper to arrange than high pressure cylinders, regulators and compressors.
Why bio gas
The poor usage of natural resources is taking us to the destruction of the planet. Deforestation, high levels of carbon dioxide generated by forest fires, pollution caused by vehicle, industries, and other factors, are causing a global warming effect at an accelerated pace. In this sense, high poverty rates contribute to this phenomenon. Currently, many options have come about to substitute wood as a source of fuel, as gas and electricity have increasingly higher costs. Solar cooker have requirements in their usage and don't work on rainy days. An alternative that is being used more and more often is the anaerobic methane digester.
Biogas is best used directly for cooking/heating, and for lighting .
There are many advantages of biogas over wood as a cooking fuel
Easy availability than using firewood
Trees can be retained
Biogas is a quick, easily controlled fuel
No smoke or smell (unless there is a leak - then you need to know anyway!)
Clean pots
Sludge is a better fertiliser than manure or synthetic fertilisers (and is cheaper than anufactured products)
Reduced pathogen transmission compared to untreated waste
Bio gas Sri Lankan context
Sri Lankans uses various types of energy sources to satisfy their energy needs.
The main areas that energy is used are transportation, cooking ,lighting and machine running. For these purposes, we use Biomass, Electricity, Petroleum oil and LP Gas. Nearly 70% of the Sri Lankan population lives in rural areas. Most of them have no access to grid electricity. Most of them use biomass for their cooking purposes and finding of firewood is not a problem for them. However, majority of them use kerosene oil lamps for their lighting purposes and that affects considerable amount of their income since kerosene is expensive. Whereas, in urban population, although grid electricity is available people spent considerable amount of their income on cooking fuel mainly on LP Gas.
Therefore, it was identified by our research that bio gas could be well promoted as a energy source in the following areas.
1) As a energy source for lighting in rural areas.
2) As a energy source for cooking in urban areas.
Use in rural areas
Sri Lanka’s economy is still largely based on agriculture, which accountable for 70% of the population. Most of farmers engage in animal raising, and related activities.
After harvesting, straw is burnt out and animal waste are dump far away from their sheds without using for any productive purpose. All these material are abundant in rural areas and these could be utilized to produce bio gas. The farmers spend large amount of money on fertilizer too. Although, presently fertilizer is heavily subsidized, tax payers bear major portion of the fertilizer bill. Very big advantage is that , the remains of waste material and animal waste after using to produce bio gas can be used as a fertilizer.
Once these waste is dried, they are well ahead than chemical fertilizers in all spheres.
10 tones of degraded waste could fulfilled the need of fertilizer for 10 hectares of farm land. The economic benefit of having a bio gas unit in rural area is two fold ‘
One is the savings on kerosene oil used for lighting oil lamps and the other is the savings on the part of fertilizer. Apart from these, time used to collect firewood and time on disposing straw and animal waste etc. could be saved.
Uses in urban area
Today, solid waste is collected and disposed at a large number of unprotected sites in populated cities such as Colombo, Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kandy, Galle, etc. Even in remote areas, solid waste dumps have become a common sight. It is estimated that Colombo municipal area produces about 850 metric tones daily and the figure for the whole metropolitan area exceeds 1,100 – 1,200 MT/day. These waste disposal sites create unhealthy and unhygienic environment. Around 75% of this waste could be utilised as bio degradable material to produce bio gas.
The urban population mainly uses LP Gas and electricity for their cooking. A unit of bio gas could address both the disposal of waste as well as energy needs of cooking in urban population. If money spent on disposing waste by municipal councils channels to promote and establish bio gas units in urban house holds, it will not only address the economic problems but also the environmental problems.
The pioneer research organization in Sri Lanka in researching on bio gas is NERD;
National Engineering Research and Development Centre
Also there are several prominent NGOs which have been contributed immensely in the mission of promoting bio gas technology to rural and urban Sri Lanka, such as USAID, Practical Action, etc.
Department of Animal Production and Health is one of the government contributor to the industry, while several Universities, Ruhuna, Peradeniya etc, from the researching front.
Success stories
Gampaha PIYARA BAKERS
Kottawa Weerasiri Café
Role as Facilitators
Team GO GREEN @ Colombo has formulated its strategies to act as a facilitator to share the available knowledge among interest groups and communities.
We have very special interest to promote bio gas technology among urban communities in their energy needs for cooking, while minimising impact to the environment in waste water management.
The team is working forward under the supervision and guidance of Dr P S M Gunerate, Dean, Management Faculty and Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawarate, who inspired the students on strategic management in Sri Lankan context, University of Colombo.
You may email us on : gogreen2007@googlegroups.com/ wegogreen@gmail.com
Introduction
Today oil prices in are soaring and recently barrel of crude oil hit its highest USD 88.
Sri Lanka being a non oil producing country has a major impact on it’s economy as well as on the lives of it’s people due to the soaring petroleum prices.
In this context , a group of students who are reading for MBA at University of Colombo, (2005/2007 batch), has been looking for viable renewable energy sources available in the country. The students have set up a team named “Go Green” for promoting renewable energy sources that could be utilized in Sri Lanka and also to make awareness among public about cheap renewable energy sources.
Renewable Energy
There are many types of renewable energy sources effectively used in today’s world. Some of them are Ethanol or Green petrol, Bio Diesel and Bio Gas. In the case of ethanol, Brazil is leading in the world and produces Ethanol at the lowest cost as much as USD 0.88 per gallon. Brazil is a large scale sugar producer and they use sugar to produce their ethanol. Unfortunately Sri Lanka is a net importer of sugar and major portion of sugar for consumption is importing. The technology to produce ethanol that could be used as an alternative to petrol is not available in Sri Lanka. Hence, group realized that production of ethanol is not a viable option.
Production of bio diesel too is not a suitable option due to the high cost involved in the production process.
After extensive research, group found that bio gas is a cheap energy source that could be easily produce in Sri Lanka.
Introduction: What is bio gas
People have been burning garbage for a long time, until recent technology and new systems became available, it was generally a bad idea. Open-pit trash burning gave way to municipal solid waste incinerators and so-called “waste-to-energy” facilities, but all of them involved the burning of general household, industrial, and even medical garbage – spewing toxic chemicals like dioxins into the air.
Biomass gasification and anaerobic digesters are a totally different way of turning waste materials into fuels for energy – and with state-of-the-art pollution control devices, they are almost completely clean and renewable sources of electricity.
A biomass gasification facility turns plant biomass, including yard and garden waste, vegetable scraps, recycled paper, agricultural waste, and wood refuse from construction, into a pressurized gas mixture.
There is still research being conducted to improve biomass gasification, as there are still some drawbacks with the process. Hydrogen can be removed and stored for use in hydrogen fuel cells. Biomass gasification does produce some carbon dioxide, although because it is from a renewable organic source it has a short atmospheric residence time and therefore does not contribute to global warming.
Overall, biomass combustion provides a renewable, steady, gap-free flow of electricity to the power grid.
The Process
Biogas is generated when bacteria degrade biological material in the absence of oxygen, in a process known as anaerobic digestion. Since biogas is a mixture of methane (also known as marsh gas or natural gas, CH4) and carbon dioxide, it is a renewable fuel produced from waste treatment.
Anaerobic digestion is basically a simple process carried out in a number of steps that can use almost any organic material as a substrate - it occurs in digestive systems, marshes, rubbish dumps and septic tanks.
Humans tend to make the process as complicated as possible by trying to improve on nature in complex machines but a simple approach is still possible.
Conventional anaerobic digestion has been a "liquid" process, where waste is mixed with water to facilitate digestion, but a "solid" process is also possible, as occurs in landfill sites.
As methane is very hard to compress, it is best use as for stationary fuel, rather than mobile fuel. It takes a lot of energy to compress the gas (this energy is usually just wasted), plus the hazard of high pressure. A variable volume storage is much easier and cheaper to arrange than high pressure cylinders, regulators and compressors.
Why bio gas
The poor usage of natural resources is taking us to the destruction of the planet. Deforestation, high levels of carbon dioxide generated by forest fires, pollution caused by vehicle, industries, and other factors, are causing a global warming effect at an accelerated pace. In this sense, high poverty rates contribute to this phenomenon. Currently, many options have come about to substitute wood as a source of fuel, as gas and electricity have increasingly higher costs. Solar cooker have requirements in their usage and don't work on rainy days. An alternative that is being used more and more often is the anaerobic methane digester.
Biogas is best used directly for cooking/heating, and for lighting .
There are many advantages of biogas over wood as a cooking fuel
Easy availability than using firewood
Trees can be retained
Biogas is a quick, easily controlled fuel
No smoke or smell (unless there is a leak - then you need to know anyway!)
Clean pots
Sludge is a better fertiliser than manure or synthetic fertilisers (and is cheaper than anufactured products)
Reduced pathogen transmission compared to untreated waste
Bio gas Sri Lankan context
Sri Lankans uses various types of energy sources to satisfy their energy needs.
The main areas that energy is used are transportation, cooking ,lighting and machine running. For these purposes, we use Biomass, Electricity, Petroleum oil and LP Gas. Nearly 70% of the Sri Lankan population lives in rural areas. Most of them have no access to grid electricity. Most of them use biomass for their cooking purposes and finding of firewood is not a problem for them. However, majority of them use kerosene oil lamps for their lighting purposes and that affects considerable amount of their income since kerosene is expensive. Whereas, in urban population, although grid electricity is available people spent considerable amount of their income on cooking fuel mainly on LP Gas.
Therefore, it was identified by our research that bio gas could be well promoted as a energy source in the following areas.
1) As a energy source for lighting in rural areas.
2) As a energy source for cooking in urban areas.
Use in rural areas
Sri Lanka’s economy is still largely based on agriculture, which accountable for 70% of the population. Most of farmers engage in animal raising, and related activities.
After harvesting, straw is burnt out and animal waste are dump far away from their sheds without using for any productive purpose. All these material are abundant in rural areas and these could be utilized to produce bio gas. The farmers spend large amount of money on fertilizer too. Although, presently fertilizer is heavily subsidized, tax payers bear major portion of the fertilizer bill. Very big advantage is that , the remains of waste material and animal waste after using to produce bio gas can be used as a fertilizer.
Once these waste is dried, they are well ahead than chemical fertilizers in all spheres.
10 tones of degraded waste could fulfilled the need of fertilizer for 10 hectares of farm land. The economic benefit of having a bio gas unit in rural area is two fold ‘
One is the savings on kerosene oil used for lighting oil lamps and the other is the savings on the part of fertilizer. Apart from these, time used to collect firewood and time on disposing straw and animal waste etc. could be saved.
Uses in urban area
Today, solid waste is collected and disposed at a large number of unprotected sites in populated cities such as Colombo, Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kandy, Galle, etc. Even in remote areas, solid waste dumps have become a common sight. It is estimated that Colombo municipal area produces about 850 metric tones daily and the figure for the whole metropolitan area exceeds 1,100 – 1,200 MT/day. These waste disposal sites create unhealthy and unhygienic environment. Around 75% of this waste could be utilised as bio degradable material to produce bio gas.
The urban population mainly uses LP Gas and electricity for their cooking. A unit of bio gas could address both the disposal of waste as well as energy needs of cooking in urban population. If money spent on disposing waste by municipal councils channels to promote and establish bio gas units in urban house holds, it will not only address the economic problems but also the environmental problems.
The pioneer research organization in Sri Lanka in researching on bio gas is NERD;
National Engineering Research and Development Centre
Also there are several prominent NGOs which have been contributed immensely in the mission of promoting bio gas technology to rural and urban Sri Lanka, such as USAID, Practical Action, etc.
Department of Animal Production and Health is one of the government contributor to the industry, while several Universities, Ruhuna, Peradeniya etc, from the researching front.
Success stories
Gampaha PIYARA BAKERS
Kottawa Weerasiri Café
Role as Facilitators
Team GO GREEN @ Colombo has formulated its strategies to act as a facilitator to share the available knowledge among interest groups and communities.
We have very special interest to promote bio gas technology among urban communities in their energy needs for cooking, while minimising impact to the environment in waste water management.
The team is working forward under the supervision and guidance of Dr P S M Gunerate, Dean, Management Faculty and Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawarate, who inspired the students on strategic management in Sri Lankan context, University of Colombo.
You may email us on : gogreen2007@googlegroups.com/ wegogreen@gmail.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Team Go Green
We are a group of students who are reading for MBA at University of Colombo, (2005/2007 batch).
We have set up a team called “Go Green” to search for viable renewable energy sources available in the country.
We are here to promote renewable energy, that could be utilized in Sri Lanka, and also to make awareness among public about cheap renewable energy againt the fossil fuel .
We sincerely hope that all of you too would join us for this humble task.
We have set up a team called “Go Green” to search for viable renewable energy sources available in the country.
We are here to promote renewable energy, that could be utilized in Sri Lanka, and also to make awareness among public about cheap renewable energy againt the fossil fuel .
We sincerely hope that all of you too would join us for this humble task.
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