Compact Digester For Biogas

Production From Foodwaste

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Why Use ARTI Biogas Digester?
 The basic tenet of science had been ignored, i.e., output of
work is dependant on energy available for doing the work.
In current practice low calorie inputs like cattle dung, distillery
effluent, municipal solid waste or sewerage used. Instead use
starchy or sugary feedstock (waste grain flour, spoilt grain,
overripe or misshapen fruit, non edible seeds, fruits and
rhizomes, green leaves, kitchen waste, leftover food, etc).

The first-prize Ashden Award to ARTI recognises enormous

potential of this compact biogas digester in towns and cities,
both to supply cooking gas and to assist in the disposal of
organic waste.

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Why Use ARTI Biogas Digester?
The Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)’s biogas
plant which use food waste rather than manure as
feedstock.

 Sufficiently compact to be used by urban households

 Waste food often discarded at the side of road, attracts
stray dogs, flies, rats, and create public health hazard.
 It safely digests kitchen waste, food waste or waste flour
from mills, effluent which can be used as fertiliser.
 The gas produced has higher methane concentration than
found in manure based plants, and thus, higher energy
content

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Why Use ARTI Biogas Digester?
 The impending scarcity of petroleum threatens the world
of fuel supply. Mankind can face this threat successfully
with the help of biogenous methane.
 Output of work is dependant on energy available for doing
the work. Uses starchy or sugary feedstock. Just 2 kg of
such feedstock produces about 500 g of methane and
reaction is completed with 24 hours.
 Conversion of feedstock into methane: 20 times efficient
than conventional system, from point of view of reaction
time: 40 times efficient. Thus, overall the new system is
800 times efficient than conventional biogas system.
 Occupies less space.
 Cheaper, reductions in pollution and energy use.

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Construction and Inoculation
 The plant is made from two standard high-density polyethylene (HDPE) water
tanks: larger tank acts as the digester, holds mixture of decomposing feedstock
and water (slurry) and smaller one is inverted and placed into it to serve as a
gas-holder, with volumes typically of 0.75 m3 and 1 m3. An inlet is provided for
adding feedstock, and an overflow for removing the digested residue.
Feedstock is almost completely digested, the effluent contains a much smaller
amount of solid matter than the residue from a manure-based plant, and ARTI
recommends that the liquid is mixed with the feedstock and recycled into the
plant. A pipe takes the biogas to the kitchen, The gas holder gradually rises as
gas is produced, and sinks down again as the gas is used for cooking. Weights
can be placed on the top of the gas holder to increase the gas .ARTI has found
that the gas produced in these plants has a higher methane concentration than
is found using manure based plants, and therefore has a higher energy content.
Experiments suggest that the reason for the high methane concentration is that
the carbon dioxide dissolves in the very liquid slurry. The methane
concentration is further increased when weights are used on the gas holder,
because more carbon dioxide dissolves under the increased pressure. It needs a
space about 2 m square and 2.5 m high, although adaptations can be made if it
is placed under a roof.

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Construction and Inoculation
 The plant is filled with a starter mix: either cattle dung mixed
with water and waste flour, or effluent from an existing biogas
plant mixed with flour. The feeding of the plant is built up over a
few weeks until it provides a steady supply of gas, typically 250g
of gas per day from 1 kg (dry matter) of feed. The feed can be
waste flour, vegetable residues, waste food, fruit peelings and
over-ripe or rotten fruit. Feedstock with large lumps (more than
20 mm) is broken up, hand- and pedal-powered food blenders
are being developed for when electricity is not available. Oil
cake, left over from oil-pressing, is another useful feedstock.
Non-edible oils (such as jatropha, castor and linseed) are being
promoted in India for making biodiesel, and oil-cake that cannot
be fed to animals is likely to become more abundant.

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Conventional Biogas VS ARTI Biogas
Systems
- Amount of required feedstock: 40 kg + 40 lit water –VS- 1-1.5
kg + 15 lit water
- Nature of required feedstock: Dung -VS- Any starchy material
- Amount and Nature of slurry to be disposed of : 80 lit, sludge
–VS- 15 lit, watery
- Reaction Time for full utilization of feedstock: 40 days –VS-
48-72 hours
- Standard size for household: 4000 lit –VS- 1000-1500 lit
- Capital Investment per unit including stove: Rs 20,000 –VS-
Rs 10,000
- Running Expenses per meal: Rs 25 –VS- 0 to Rs 5
- Establishing a new trend: Biogas in cities

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ARTI Compact Biogas Plants
Terrace Model:
• Size: 1 m3 digester
• Capacity: upto 2 kg kitchen waste
• Quantity of gas produced: upto 1
kg biogas, capable of replacing
250 gm of LPG.
• Depending on type of cooking
done, either breakfast or one
meal can be cooked entirely on
biogas.
• Requires space on open terrace
with good load bearing capacity
or open to sunlight area of land
–about 2-3 m2.
Balcony Model:
• Size: 0.5 m3 digester
• Capacity: upto 1 kg kitchen waste
• Quantity of gas produced: upto
0.5 kg biogas, capable of
replacing about 100 gm of LPG.
• Depending on type of cooking
done, about 15-20 min of
cooking (tea, snacks, etc.) can be
done.
• Can fit into a balcony.
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ARTI Biogas… some numbers

 1 kg dry weight of starch/sugar/protein

-1 kg biogas = 250 gm methane + 750 gm carbon dioxide
-250 gm methane = 250 gm LPG

 1 kg biogas = 250 gm LPG

 1 kg biogas approx 1-2 unit of electricity

IMPORTANT: The ‘wet garbage’ contains 50-70% moisture!

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Technology Limitations and
Suggestions
1. Feedstock with large lumps (more than 20 mm) needs
breaking.
Sol. Use of grinders.

2. Plant can become acidic and fail if it is over-fed, problem

particularly with plants using highly digestible organic
materials. If this happens, the plant can be recovered by
ceasing feeding, partially flushing out the contents with fresh
water, and then building up the feed rate again slowly.
This problem was more common with smaller systems (0.5 or
0.75 m3) than with larger systems.

3. The temperature needs to be sufficiently high (~30 0C).

Sol. Use of thermal jackets, recombinant DNA technology.
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Question still to answer...
 Proportion of feed to water ratio for each season.
 Real life problems faced in each season.
 Flexibility of the design to acclimatize various
geographic conditions.

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References
 http://www.betuco.be/biogaz/Biogas%20Arti%20%20i
ndia%20.pdf
 http://www.arti-
india.org/downloads/pdfs/ARTIEnergy_May2010.pdf
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Aw39B930g
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hZ0hpLe1a4#!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8NcSyHjvyA
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVb_8wv_dE#!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UafRz3QeO8

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Thank You!

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