MaximsNewsNetwork: 08 December 2009 - UN MINUSTAH: The "biodigestor" - a pilot project in a poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince is making methane gas for electricity, using human waste from public toilets. If successful, the project would provide an alternative, green fuel to wood charcoal, and could help the country overcome its massive environmental problems linked to deforestation.
One poor neighborhood in Haitis capital, Port-au-Prince, is the scene of a new pilot project that will provide new sources of energy, and improve basic sanitation on the streets.
The project starts with some public toilets. Here, for the price of about a penny (US$0.01) residents have the chance to clean up, and use the bathroom. In most Haitian cities, people dont have access to running water. So modern toilets are a real luxury. Particularly when they are open to the public.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Aline Saint-Fort, Public Bathroom Attendant:
Other public toilets are no where near as clean. And they are expensive. In most places in the city you pay five or even ten cents to use the bathroom thats ten times what we charge.
With the capacity to take one thousand users a day, the project hopes to improve sanitation. But the real benefit is a by-product produced in the yard outside. Engineers with Viva Rio, the Brazilian NGO that runs the project, built this large underground reaction tank called a biodigestor. Inside it are bacteria that are transforming human waste into methane gas a biofuel that can be used as a powerful, and virtually free, source of energy.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Valmir FACHINI, Project Coordinator, Viva Rio:
The way it works is simple. The waste comes from the toilets, and gets dumped into the reaction tank. This starts the fermentation process, the produces bio-gas. The gas crosses a column of water, and comes to rest at the top of the tank. This bio-gas can be used for cooking and electricity.
The fermentation inside the bio-digestor also enriches the roots of the surrounding foliage, which act as a filter for liquid waste.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Valmir FACHINI, Project Coordinator, Viva Rio:
This reactor has a capacity to produce fifty cubic meters of biogas per day. This will generate 3000 watts of electricity per twenty four hours.
Biogas is cheap and easy to produce. If the project is replicated, it could give Haitians green alternatives to charcoal fuel. This would combat deforestation the underlying cause of the countrys massive environmental problems.
And thats not all. Filtered water coming out of the bio-digestor is rich in nutrients and can support many forms of plant and animal life. Ducks feed on insect larvae. And fish prosper here. With proper care this pond will become a fishery, creating food and jobs in the neighborhood.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Valmir FACHINI, Project Coordinator, Viva Rio:
Here in these tanks, the water comes rich with nutrients. The sunlight permits the production of algae. And the algae are the primary food source for fish.
So one pilot project in Port-au-Prince is helping an underserved neighborhood to produce green energy and improve sanitation at the same time.
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How does a biogas plant work?by bioconstructer342,139 views
@offertorycardiacml this is NOT SPAM!!! IT IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!WHY FLAG??!!WHAT HAVE YOU TO HIDE ??IT IS OUT THERE!! just a lot of ignorant people tied to stagnation instead of trying to make a positive change... shame on all of you who flagged this
tappakeggaday1 11 months ago
Great technology, now we just need to apply it in "developped" countries
jyveslandry 2 years ago