Course 2 Unit 4

Introduction to anaerobic
treatment technologies
[Part C only ]

Part C – Examples and case studies (in this file)

Lecturer: Dr. Elisabeth v. Münch

e.vonmunch@unesco-ihe.org
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 Course 2 Unit 4

Course 2 Unit 4
Part C: Examples and case studies

2
 List of examples for Part C
 Example 1: India public toilets (Navsarjan Trust, GTZ
pilot project)
 Example 2: China household and agricultural waste
digesters (CAAE (Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Engineering)
 Example 3: Lesotho household biogas plants (NGO
TED, now supported by BORDA, Germany)
 Example 4: Durban household biogas plant, South
Africa (pilot project)
 Example 5: Rwanda prisons
 Example 6: Germany, Waldmichelbacher Hof
(restaurant and farm
 Example 7: Lübeck, Germany (residential area)
 Example 8: Blackwater treatment in Sneek, the
Netherlands

There are many, many more examples, world-wide!

You may be able to send me project descriptions, files, powerpoint
presentations from your own experiences?

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Example 1: India public toilets

 The following slides were provided by Christine

Werner (GTZ), who gave a presentation about
ecosan in India at the Advanced Sanitation
Conference in Aachen, Germany (12-13 March
2007)
 Her complete presentation is provided under
Assigned Reading (pdf file of the paper) and Extra
Materials (powerpoint presentation in two parts)

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 Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot project
– Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK)

location:
Nani Devti, Ahmedabad District, Gujarat State, India
implementation period:
2005/2006

source: Martin Wafler

vocational training institute Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK)

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot project

proposed system for the DSK Campus
http://www.alisontoon.co

source
separating
toilet
greywater (pre-treated)
m<

dung

Biogas
plant

ornamental garden
urine storage

www.beefgonzo.de
compost vegetable garden
biogas sludge drying
beds
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 Navsarjan Trust ecosan pilot
project - DSK

source: esf
source: esf

source: esf
toilet block with biogas plant UDD as „emergency toilets“ ladies urinal

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 Sketch map of the night-soil based
biogas plant

22 toilet cabins arranged in 2 semi-circles supplie a

biogas reactor locatet in the center
1: mixing chamber for buffalo dung
2: inlet chamber toilet water
(source: http://www.ruralsanitation.com/)
3: outlet chamber
„pour-flush“ squatting
pan with „P“-trap
2

infiltration/evapotranspiration biogas towards

of wash-water in flowerbed 1 plant greywater garden
for reuse of water
2

towards towards sludge

greywater drying beds
garden for
reuse of water

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 Construction of the night-soil based
biogas plant

source: esf
source: seecon
inletchamber for
toilet water

beginnig of construction

source: esf
biogasreactor in the center
source: esf

of the building

almost finished toilet center Feb. 2007

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 2: China household and

agricultural waste digesters

 The slides for this example were provided by

Heinz-Peter Mang (he is with CAAE (Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Engineering))

 I got them from him at the UNESCO-IHE

Refresher Course in Nanjing, China (October
2005) – I have asked him for an update, but
have not received an answer yet

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 Course 2 Unit 4

China: Northern “Four-in-One”

Comprehensive utilization

kitchen
Pig-pen, toilet Green house

food

manure

biogas fertilizer

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China: Southern “Pig-Biogas-Fruit”
Comprehensive utilization

biogas

Pig manure and

Liquid toilet waste

sludge Biogas
digester

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 Course 2 Unit 4

China: Northwest “Five-Matches”

Comprehensive utilization
Water
cooking heater Warm
house
lighting
orchard

Sand
sedimentation

Water
storage

Biogas
digester

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 Household biogas digester plants in China
during 1973 – 2005 (total number, in 10,000)

16,000,000
16 million biogas plants
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

973 975 977 979 981 983 985 987 989 991 993 995 997 999 001 003 005
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2
Year

How many are there in your country?

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 3: Lesotho household biogas

plants

 I got these slides from Mantopi Lebofa

who works for the NGO TED, which is
now also supported by BORDA,
Germany
 A more detailed presentation for this
example is provided under Extra
Materials

15
 Biogas system

Feeding
material.
Irrigation by
Gas taken to the house gravity

Methane producing
organisms produce
gas
Storage for irrigation
Root Treatment System water – H20 could be
pumped or irrigate
Water flowing into gravitationally
the expansion canal

Sketch of biodigester replacing a septic tank. Wastewater as well as kitchen and

garden waste enter the digester and are broken down to biogas and fertile water.
The advantages: No more emptying of septic tank. Reuse of all water in the
garden. Less cost on cooking energy.
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 Design details
Fixed Dome Bio Digester,
Ventilation Size: z m3
Pipe
Gas storage capacity: xy m3
All measurements in cm
Not to scale
Principle of dry
toilet connection and
additional inlet

Note: digester outlet at

the bottom

Gas Outlet Overflow

Manhole

Radiu
s

pipes of
1m length

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 4: Durban household biogas

plant, South Africa (pilot project)

 I took the photos on the following slide during

the field trip organised as part of an
international ecosan conference in Durban,
South Africa (May 2005)
 This installation was just a single pilot installed
provided by an NGO (I can’t remember the
name of the NGO)

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 Household biogas
Toilet & plant in rural Durban,
shower Kitchen South Africa

Digester receives toilet

water, greywater and
collected manure from 2-3
cows

Left: Toilet (flush), connected to

digester
Middle: Digester with floating
dome (biogas collection) Storage and drying for digestate
Right: biogas pipe to house (used as fertiliser) 19
 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 5: Rwanda prisons

 The information in the following slides

was taken from the paper by Butare and
Kimaro (2002) – this paper is also
provided under Extra Materials

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 Biogas plant at Cyangugu Prison in
Rwanda
 Biogas plant treats toilet waste from
prisoners by using fixed-dome
anaerobic digesters
 Generation of biogas was achieved to
generate energy for cooking - savings in
kitchen fuel is around 80%
 Sustainable solution for the treatment
of waste from 6,000 prisoners

Source: Butare and Kimaro (2002)

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Design details
 Bioreactor is fed through two
toilet-waste flows: one comes
from 4,500 prisoners and the
other from 1,500.
 1 digester of V=150 m3
(divided in 2 shells to improve
performance); a storage
capacity of 28 m3; 2 holding
tanks to further stabilize
sludge.
 Production of 75,000 CH4
L/day
 30 m of gas line which feeds 4
stoves of 1200 L.
 Plant life time 30 years
 Effluent from biogas plant is
reused as fertilizer in crops
inside prison (2 ha): bananas,
coffee, soy, tomato, etc.

Bioreactor split into 2

shells
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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 6: Germany,
Waldmichelbacher Hof
(restaurant and farm)

 The following slides are from a presentation I gave at

the Durban ecosan conference (May 2005)
 More information:
 Separate presentation and paper under Extra Reading
 GTZ project datasheet: www.gtz.de/en/themen/umwelt-
infrastruktur/wasser/9399.htm

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Biogas plant with electricity generation at

farm and restaurant in Germany
Description:
 Farm of 200 ha, with grazing
land and fodder crops
 280 hornless cattle
 Restaurant with 250 seats
(“Waldmichelbacher Hof”)
 Slaughterhouse processing one
cattle per week
 Four families live and work
on/from the farm & restaurant
System components:
 Low flush toilets for all
buildings
 Manure collection, and mixing
channel under the cattle shed
 Heated, insulated and fully
mixed anaerobic digester with
280 m3 volume (40-44°C)
 Anaerobic storage digester with
1500 m3
 Two combined heat and power
generator sets with 37 kW
(electricity) and 74 kW (thermal
energy / heat) each

This is an example to
show that conventional
flush toilets (non-UD) can
also be used in an ecosan
project!
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 Key results

 Annual savings in operating costs in

2004:
 20,000 €/year for not needing to
purchase fertiliser
 23,400 €/year due to electricity
produced on-site (more than 50% Gas bladder of anaerobic digester
of the electricity demand covered) no. 2 (not heated, not mixed;
 Heat for all residential houses and floating cover)
restaurant, and hot water
 5,300 €/year is the income from
selling excess electricity to the
grid* * New German legislation forces
energy companies to buy back
 Valuable liquid fertiliser (digested such green energy from
manure) produced decentralised production for a fair
 Sanitisation of sewage by mesophilic price
digestion and long retention times

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 Concept schematic of this closed-loop system
E
Barn and stable
F (in winter)
Farmland Fodder
DM Slaughter-
Cattle house
Fertiliser F
(“digested Horses Meat
manure”) OSW
W W M
DM
Collection
Anaerobic Restaurant,
channel: W
digester W W ww
shop,
Manure and
(heated) ww storage tank storage distillery
effluent tank W H+E
BG
Households
BG
Biogas Cogeneration H+E
plant
“Ecosan- E
Biogas Plant”
Electricity
exported to
the grid
H: heat, E: electricity, F: fodder, DM: digested manure, BG: biogas, W: waste(water) 26
 Design drawing

Floating cover

Digester
Gas withdrawal

Stable/
cattle
shed

Digested
manure
Storage vessel

Combined heat and power plant

Heat to house

electricity

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 7: Lübeck, Germany

(residential area)

 The information on the following slides

was taken from the GTZ project
datasheet on this project:
 http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-
ecosan-pds-004-germany-luebeck-
flintenbreite-2005.pdf

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Housing estate with biogas plant in
Lübeck-Flintenbreite
(slide 1 of 2)

 Integrated sanitation
system using vacuum
toilets and biogas plant =
production of energy +
saving of water
 Foreseen for a community
of 350 inhabitants
 Area of 3.5 ha which was
not connected to central
sewerage
 Separate treatment of
Biogas grey, black and storm
plant water
 Digested anaerobic sludge
is reused in agriculture

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Process schematic
(slide 2 of 2)

vacuum Kitchen, Storm

toilet shower water

Blackwater Greywater

(4.8 L/cap/d) (56 L/cap/d)

Kitchen wetlands
Biogas residue
plant
Effluent infiltration
Biogas
Effluent

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 Course 2 Unit 4

Example 8: Blackwater treatment in

Sneek, The Netherlands

 The next slide is from myself and the remaining

slides for this examples are from Brendo
Meulman, Landustrie, the project leader
(provided in Sept 2007)

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 Neighbourhood “UASB-septic tank” for
blackwater in Sneek, The Netherlands

• The “UASB-septic tank” is located in this

garage, together with storage tanks and other
experimental process units
• It treats the blackwater from 80 persons
(400 – 500 L/d; 5.6 L/cap/d; 1 L per flush)
• Digester is heated to 20 or 30°C with hot
water generated with biogas
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General view of the housing area

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How to get a concentrated organic
fraction?
 Vacuum toilets are used, they flush with
1L water and 100L of air. Reduction of
36 L/cap/d water, is 25% of total water
consumption

Vacuum toilet Vacuum station (pump) 34

 Course 2 Unit 4

References
 Butare, A and Kimaro, A (2002) Anaerobic technology for toilet
wastes management: the case study of the Cyangugu pilot
project, World Transactions on Engineering and Technology
Education, Vol.1, No.1.
http://www.eng.monash.edu.au/uicee/worldtransactions/World
TransAbstractsVol1No1/Microsoft%20Word%20-
%2032_Butare.pdf *
 Heeb, J., Jenssen, P., Gnanakan, K. & K. Conradin (2007): ecosan
curriculum 2.0. In cooperation with: Norwegian University of Life
Sciences, ACTS Bangalore, Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, German Agency for Technical Cooperation and the
International Ecological Engineering Society. Partially available
from www.seecon.ch and
http://www2.gtz.de/dokumente/oe44/ecosan/cb/en-m23-
ecosan-human-dignity-lecture-2006.ppt
 Tchobanoglous, G., Burton, F.L., Stensel, H.D. (2003) Wastewater
Engineering, Treatment and Reuse, Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., McGraw-
Hill, 4th edition. This is a good book on conventional wastewater
treatment
 Zhang Wudi et al. (2001): Comprehensive utilization of human
and animal wastes. Proceedings of the First International
Conference on Ecological Sanitation in Nanning 2001,EcoSanRes,
China

* Also under Extra Materials on the I-LE

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Other organisations and websites for
biogas plants
 BORDA (Bremen Overseas Research and
Development Association): www.borda-net.org -
extensive experience with decentralised anaerobic
wastewater treatment (mostly without source
separation), e.g. Household biogas plants all over the
world. See also their website to view the
presentations at recent symposium “Business
Unusual” Nov. 2006
 Biogas for Better Life, An African
Initiative (www.biogasafrica.org) – New initiative
from May 2007, see next slide for more information
 Agency for renewable resources: www.fnr.de
(Fachagentur für nachwachsende Rohstoffe; in
German and English)
 Fachverband Biogas: www.biogas.org (in German
only)
 Internationales Biogas und Biomasse
Kompetenzzentrum (IBBK) (http://www.biogas-
zentrum.de/ibbk/) – in German only

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 Some more information about the
Biogas for Better Life Initiative
 Pan African Biogas Initiative Launched : 31 May 2007
A large-scale biogas initiative has been launched to bring renewable
energy to 20 million households in some 25 African countries. The
initiative was approved at a conference entitled 'Biogas for Better Life: An
African Initiative', held in Nairobi, Kenya on 22 May 2007. The initiative is
being supported by a consortium consisting of African countries
(including Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal
and South Africa), implementing agencies, local NGOs and donors
(including Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the Shell
Foundation).
 Dutch partners in the initiative are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
development organisations SNV and Hivos.
 The first national biogas programme – in Rwanda –has already begun.
Similar programmes in Ethiopia and Uganda will begin later this year.
These national programmes aim to construct the initiative’s first 50,000
biogas plants. Biogas programmes are already operational in various parts
of the world. SNV has worked on several successful programmes in Asia,
especially in Nepal and Vietnam.
 A simple biogas plant can be operated by any family with at least two
cows or four pigs. The family toilet can also often be connected to it. Such
a plant will generate enough gas to power a stove and a lamp.A biogas
plant costs from 300 to 400 euros (although in Africa it will initially cost
more). But the expense can be recouped within a few years through
savings on firewood. And the waste product can still be used as manure.

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