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Bio-Gas Electricity Generator
Regular access to electricity, especially in the winter months, is a serious problem for most rural schools in Tajikistan. As part of the Connectivity Project, the first public bio-gas generator in Tajikistan was built to provide an alternative energy source to School #40 in Chorbogh county of Kulyab district. Agricultural waste from local farms and cattle herds is converted into gas that powers a generator, providing both electricity and heat to the ILC.
 | | Herding cattle |
Khatlon is the southern region of Tajikistan, where infrastructure and livelihoods were severely affected by the civil war. Services such as power and water are unreliable, and farming and cattle herding are the primary occupations. School #40 has only a few hours of electricity per day, but it is located in an agricultural community with an active and organized farm development committee. After installation of the Orion-1 bio-gas system, agricultural waste from local farms and cattle herds is converted into gas that powers a generator, providing both electricity and heat to the school's ILC.
About Bio-Gas
Bio-gas is a clean, renewable energy resource. Its development is relatively simple, as it is based on one of the most basic processes in nature. During fermentation, all organic substances produce a mixture of gasses, such as methane (up to 70%) and carbon dioxide (up to 30%). Because it is an organic substance, animal manure also produces this mixture of gasses.
To harness these gasses, animal waste is put into an anaerobic environment (without access to oxygen). Then microbes break down the waste into gasses. The bio-gas system draws off these gasses into a pressurized tank. The clean and odorless gas that results can be used directly for heating and to fuel an electric generator engine. After the fermentation, the remaining organic substances are used as a natural fertilizer.
 | | Opening of bio-gas station, Kulyab |
About Orion-1 Bio-Gas Generator
The Orion-1 bio-gas generator in Tajikistan is designed for wasteless, ecologically clean processing without the specific smell of organic agricultural waste. The system consists of bio-digester with 90 cubic meters capacity and gas tank with 16 cubic meters capacity. In addition to animal waste, vegetative waste such as cabbage, straw, maize, and sunflower stalks as well as food wastes can be used as raw product.
The gas produced by the generator contains approximately 65% methane. The generator can produce 3-12 cubic meters of bio-gas a day from a maximum of 200 kg of waste. One cubic meter of bio-gas is equivalent to 0.6 cubic meters of natural gas, 0.4 liters of gasoline, 3.5 kg of firewood, or 12 kg of dung bricks. The Orion-1 bio-gas generator can produce about 80 kilowatts per hour of energy per day. It means that our ILC -- with up to 10 computers, 1 printer, and lights (5 bulbs at 100 watts each) -- could work approximately 20 hours per day continuously.
Bio-Gas Links
Biomass Backgrounder
Harvesting Clean Energy
Cogeneration (Russian)
Cenergia.org
The Tajikistan School Connectivity Project for Central Asia
is a project of Relief International - Schools Online's
Global Citizenship & Youth Philanthropy Program and has been
made possible with major funding from the United States State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Global Catalyst
Foundation. |
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