[Stoves] ARTI Biogas vs. conventional biogas

Mon Aug 27 14:10:47 EDT 2007

  Dear Dr. Karve
I unconditionally apologise for the term you used that I have done a mischief intentinally. I was wondering about the miracuous result of fermentation and the yield of gas !! So, I had mentioned this to Mr. Dhussa and after he sent me his opinion I had sent the report of his observations/introspection.
In fact, I have bought a CD on Biogas + Charcoa making on behalf of Creat my organiztion and even sent it to Western Kenya for whom I have been consulting.
It is beyond my imagination of this spark.I thought we woud exchnage our knowledge !! Even, I have dispatched your paper to Dr. Kalia, Dr. Kurchania and was asking them if this would work with any other organic matter alike.
For Heaven's sake, let us not misunderstand each other. I am 66 years old and in Biogas field, my ezperience is 28 years. So  I was wondering after one 'Golkatta' of TATAs,who was working on 'Gingily extract' this innovation was a surprsie to me.

You would appreciate that just today MNRE(Ministry of New & Renewable Energy) has approved my innovation of a PE(Polyethylene) dome Biogas Plant of the Model of Deenbandhu which disposes off the brick dome and guarentees gas tightness atleast for 15 years.Reliance Industries Ltd. had supported my concept and thus, I could succeed in it. If you desire, I can send a CD on it.
Hope I am clear & loud on my thinking.
Regards
-Krishna

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 adkarve wrote :
>Dear stovers,
>
>I think that Mr. C.V.Krishna is out to play a mischief. If he had doubts about my article on biogas, he should have written to me and not to Dr. Dhussa. Dr. Dhussa is a revered and senior biogas researcher of the old school. The officials of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources have never paid a visit to us and never discussed any of the issues with us. So it is quite understandable that they have misconceptions about our system. For this very reason, I refuse to be drawn into a slanging match with Dr. Dhussa.
>
>For the uninitiated, I give little theoretical background of the ARTI biogas system. The methanogenic bacteria normally reside in the intestines of animals. Therefore they eat what the animals eat, i.e. sugars, starch, proteins and fats. Dung is not their food. They are only thrown out of the body along with dung. Therefore, in comparison to a dung based system, a biogas system using human food as feedstock, uses just a tenth as much feedstock and a fortieth as much of time to convert the feedstock into methane. It thus works 400 times as efficiently as a dung based system. Even cellulose is not directly digested by the methanogens. They need the help of cellulolytic bacteria to digest cellulose. Therefore, if green leaves are used as feedstock, one gets only half as much biogas as from starch or sugar, and it takes twice the reaction time. Thus, a cellulose is only 25% as efficient as starch. In the ARTI biogas system, the digester of a domestic plant has a capacity of 1000 litres and it accepts daily just 1 kg dry matter in the form of sugar, starch, protein or fat. Such a feedstock yields about 1 kg biogas within a reaction time of 24 hours. This gas is collected in a gas holder, which floats on the water in the digester and telescopes in and out of it. In our design, there exists a gap between the digester and the gas holder. The carbon dioxide in the biogas dissolves in the water in the digester and diffuses out into the atmosphere through this gap. As a result, one gets proportionately more methane than expected. We have been able to get biogas containing even 95% methane in certain cases.
>
>A dung based domestic biogas system utilises daily 40 kg dung and about 40 litres of water, which the village women have to bring from a distant source, carrying it on their heads. Dung is an excellent fuel. If dung is directly burned as dung cakes, 1 kg would yield about 2200 kcal of energy, whereas the same quantity of dung would yield only 600 kcal energy if it is converted into methane. Stoves are now available that burn dung cakes very cleanly.
>
>However, the ARTI Biogas system was not developed as an alternative to the dung based system but as an independent system for people who do not own cattle. Just as the conventional system is designed for using dung, mine is designed for other types of feedstocks, such as food waste, residues left after extraction of essential oils from chilli, ginger, termeric, etc., waste from fruit processing factories, slaughterhouse waste etc. We have so far installed more than 2500 biogas plants of our type and none of the users buys the feedstock. Some get leftover food from a nearby restaurant, some get unsold and overripe fruits from a fruit vender in the vicinity, some have asked their neighbours to put their leftover food aside for the biogas plant. Large users such as industrial canteens, hostels, and restaurants use their own food waste. Cooked food is the best source of methane, as it is very easily digested by the methanogenic bacteria. Thane Municipal Corporation, had an 80,000 litre biogas plant that was lying idle. Under advise from ARTI, this plant has been recommissioned, using food waste from restaurants as feedstock. The Municipal Corporation of Pune city has also accepted our model and they have installed our biogas systems in different localities to demonstrate to the general public how the wet garbage can be converted into a high quality fuel. In short, people use whatever feedstock is available to them free of cost. Even farmers have installed our system. They use rain damaged grain, misshapen fruits and rotting onions and potatoes, that cannot be sold. A seed company in Nagpur has installed our biogas system to produce biogas from undersized seed, that falls through their sieves.
>
>Everything has a value, even dung, if you do not have it. In villages, dung cakes cost Rs. 2 to 3 per kg.
>
>ARTI biogas plant using daily 1 kg dry matter and yielding about 300 grams of methane, has a digester of 1000 lit. capacity. The user can fabricate his own ARTI biogas plant if he follows instructions given in our video CD. A home-made ARTI biogas plant costs only Rs.6000 (US$150). The ARTI biogas plant can be kept in the balcony of an apartment house, on the terrace on the top of a house, or just next to the kitchen in the open space next to a house. A biogas plant works the best when the temperature is around 40 degrees C. In my geographic location, we are just 19 degrees north of the Equator. Therefore the sun shines from the North during summer and from the south in winter. Being above ground and small in size, our biogas plant can be moved from one site to another, in order to get the maximum sunshine.
>
>The daily water requirement of an ARTI biogas plant is only 5 to 10 litres. We ask users to use the previous day's effluent to mix the next day's feedstock in. If they want to use the effluent as manure for their household plants, that can also be done. It contains all the mineral elements that plants need.
>
>Yours
>
>A.D.Karve
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Choppalli Venkata Krishna
>   To: adkarve
>   Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 3:57 PM
>   Subject: Re: Re: [Stoves] Biogas technology
>
>
>     Dear Dr. Karve
>   As desired.
>   -Krishna
>
>
>   On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 adkarve wrote :
>   >Dear Mr. Krishna,
>   >I did not find any enclosure to your message.
>   >Yours
>   >A.D.Karve
>   >----- Original Message -----
>   > From: Choppalli Venkata Krishna <krishnacreat1 at rediffmail.com>
>   >To: <stoves at listserv.repp.org>
>   >Cc: <anildhussa at yahoo.com>
>   >Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 11:33 AM
>   >Subject: [Stoves] Biogas technology
>   >
>   >
>   >Dear Stovers,
>   >While going through the conference delibrations of each participant, I was
>   >for a while stuck up with some doubts and had referred Dr. Karve's Paper on
>   >Biogas Technology to one Anil Dhussa, Director, Ministry of New & Renewable
>   >Energy Sources, Govt. of India seeking a clarification.
>   >Both Dr. Karve's Paper & Anil Dhussa's Report are enclosed.
>   >For comments and opinions ,please.
>   >- Krishna
>   >
>   >
>   >
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