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A portable bio-gas plant

Tanya Abraham

Sheen Thomas, a member of Kochi’s Go Green International (GGI) society, has invented a portable bio-gas plant, which can be placed in the kitchen to decompose organic waste and produce bio-gas.

The device aims to destroy waste at source without polluting the environment. While creating the plant, Thomas focussed on two main aspects — keeping the kitchen odour-free and making sure that no spillage in any form occurs.

All waste that is organic is dumped into the plant, which can be kept next to the cooking stove or the sink, after lining it with cow dung. The bacteria in the cow dung activates itself within two to three days. Waste is added to the plant with equal quantity of water. “The quantity of waste added initially should not be more than 200 grams to help activate the bio-gas plant; gradually the waste added can be increased in a day or two,” explains Thomas.

Household waste takes an average of 12 hours to decompose. Gas produced sustains cooking for 45 minutes at a stretch (waste to be 200-500 grams for an average middle- class Indian family) till new gas is formed in the tank once again. The light weight container can be transported without much effort and a tight-fitting lid in acrylic seals will prevent all foul smell of decomposition and possible leakage of froth from decay.

To arrest the slurry formed from spilling out of the tank, openings of varying sizes are incorporated in the design. A four-inch diameter pipe for the dumping waste and a tap that doubles as a pipe which can be shut or open to collect slurry as and when required are additions for convenient usage. The gas collected in the tank moves through a pliable rubber hose to the stove. Lining the tube with a special ingredient prevents moisture, which stops bio-gas combustion, from accumulating in the pipe.

The GGI initiative has been implemented in a sea-food peeling plant in Kochi and Pachallam. The device has helped families to reduce cooking gas expenses and create organic vegetable gardens .

More Stories on : Non-conventional Energy | Environment

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