Essay on Making a Biogas Digestor for Ugandan Farmers

Uganda is a country that covers 7,108 sq mi in area and a host of 33.3 million people found in East Africa. It is bordered by Congo on the West, Kenya on the East, Tanzania and Rwanda on the south and Sudan on the North. It

Waste treatment in London is not very energy-efficient or economical which is a cause for high taxes. An interesting alternative, in addition to recycling, is for household waste to be burned or converted to biogas to be used as a source of energy which can provide thousands of households with heat and electricity [13][14].

In this first articles explains how a farmer from a large dairy farm that is called Brookside Dairy in Indiana County is adopting new technology that will save money and help the environment by managing manure from 550 dairy cows. The Brookside Dairy farm has been owned by the George family since 1781owning about 1,200 acres and with that much land the bills were high and with 550 cattle they had about 10,000 gallons of waste to spar. In the article Mr. George said"economics, odor control and the resulting better quality fertilizer for considering a digester on their dairy operation.” So then the Georges sought help from there friendly business partner Jim Resh, of the Indiana County Conservation District, to find out if there was a way to install an on-farm digester.

Alongside the President, a Prime Minister is appointed as the head of Parliament. Currently, Uganda is led by Yoweri Museveni as President, and Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda as Prime Minister in the capital city of Kampala (Uganda: History). INTRO SENTENCE. Overpopulation has started to become an issue, with the population expanding 13 million more people in 15 years, leaving a total population of about 37 million.

In addition to fuel crops, Hawaii also has abundant resources for biomass heating. During their research Turn et al. (2002, 4) found that the biomass resources for Hawaii include: swine, dairy, and poultry manure, sugarcane bagasse and trash, pineapple processing waste, macadamia nut shells, municipal solid wastes, food waste from commercial food preparation facilities, sewage sludge, and fat, oil and grease wastes from food preparation activities. One of the main advantages is that biomass energy can use municipal solid waste. Hawaii also produces about 10 pounds of trash per person coming to about 1.8 million tons of trash per year (Yap 2008). Hawaii has a power plant that can use over 2,000 tons of garbage a day to generate electricity (Covanta Energy 2011). Hawaii has decided to start exporting its garbage to give it enough time to expand the power plant’s capacity (Yap 2008). Smaller scale biomass fueled power generation can help get rid of agricultural and municipal refuse, while alleviating the strain on the electricity grid and providing a cheap locally based source of electricity (Turn, Keffer, and Staackmann 2002, 17). If Hawaii develops biomass as a renewable resource, it can reduce the need to import petroleum and export garbage.

Fracking drills into the earth in order to obtain gas. However, in the process methane is leaked into the environment hurting the climate. When cows digest food, they too emit methane in their waste and their flatus. Cattle emits “one hundred and fifty billion gallons of methane per day and produces one hundred and thirty times more waste than all humans collectively”. Unlike human waste, most of it has no use and cannot be used for “waste treatment”.

Sixty thousand pounds of wet manure is produced each day by the five thousand cows that are located on the George DeRuyter and Sons dairy farm in Outlook Washington (Bonneville). You might be thinking “that’s a lot of crap”, well you’re right! The positive to all this crap is that something can be done with it. Anaerobic Digestion is a biological method when microorganism hydrolyze-break down- waste material when there is no oxygen present (American 1). Anaerobic digesters can take animal wastes, such as cow manure, and through a process break the waste down into organic molecules that can be further hydrolyzed and used as an energy source. If further steps are taken such as, removing carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen from the substance then

Majority of the population of Uganda live in Thatched huts, made of mud walls and dry vegetation

For over forty years now, scientists and researchers have been tirelessly searching for an alternative to fossil fuels. Biofuels have become an interesting contender in the search for the replacement of the non-renewable energy source. Biofuels have been used throughout history for over thousands of years. There is a large debate over biofuels and its true impact on the environment. Those involved in the discussion debating whether biofuels have any real overwhelming benefits compared to fossil fuels could argue for its usage. According to recent research performed by the University of Michigan, biofuels may not be the best alternative for fossil fuels. Regardless of its impact on the environment, biofuels are becoming more popular particularly when the price of oil rises.

Poop is just one of the many biological materials, called biomass, that has the potential to create bioenergy. Burning wood is the oldest kind of biomass energy used on Earth. Poop is considered a biogas product, because it produces gas. Biogas can also be produced from crops such as corn, wheat, sugarcane, as well as agricultural waste products and algae. The composting process of all biogas material produces the gas that can potentially help power the world and have a positive impact on climate change.

Nowadays, biofuels have become essential for future economic development and environmental protection. Primarily, their environment-friendliness and low carbon emissions are emphasized as the main advantages. However, in reality, few investigations were made to find out the disadvantages of such renewable alternative, and it may bring much more negative impacts than its advantages.

Initial consensus was hog waste could be used as fertilizer for neighboring crops, but as learned above, this isn’t exactly a solution to a problem but rather another problem in the making. In the long-term, waste lagoons tapped as manure sources to spray on fields is not sustainable as fields are unable to absorb the volume of waste generated by hog production facilities. To cut air and water pollution generated by hog waste, approximately 29 swine operators across the country use waste digesters that are considered biogas recovery mechanisms.12 The infrastructure of this costly system consists of slat covered barn flooring that hogs walk across, and as they defecate, their waste is routed to a large sized manure digester. This digester allows bacteria to decompose the waste for a set period of time and produces methane in the process. The methane gas produced travels through piping to a generator where it can be burned to create electricity a farm site can in turn sell. Through additional refinement, biogas can also be made into transportation fuel, i.e. natural gas. Any remaining waste not decomposed by bacteria would be routed to a waste containment lagoon and covered to limit wafting of noxious odors and avoid overflow due to rains. At this time, this method is considered somewhat cost prohibitive and interested parties are trying to find economical alternatives that may be

The population of Uganda is three forty-seven thousand fifty-eight hundred. There is one thousand four hundred Gross Domestic Product per capita. The life expectancy for males is fifty-three years old and the female lives to about fifty-five. The currency is equal to about two thousand six hundred four and six cents in the United States of America. The literacy rate for males is seventy-seven percent and the females are fifty-eight percent.

Unlike gasoline or diesel, biofuels release little pollution. It can also be used to produce electricity by heating water using biofuels and using the steam produced to rotate a turbine. Another method is to allow the biofuel to decay and produce methane. Methane is commonly used as fuel for car, heating, cooking, and producing electricity.

The everyday American on average wastes an astonishing twenty pounds of food each month (Gunders). Food waste is defined, as food that was intended for human consumption but was never eaten. Food waste in America is a massive problem; perfectly edible food is spoiled and discarded at every section of the food supply chain, which causes severe consequences for the environment and the economy. If Americans wasted 5% less food, the country as a whole would save fifty million dollars yearly (Hall). Not only would reducing food waste help save money but also it would immensely help climate change, as decomposing food in landfills creates methane gas. CO2 is known as the main culprit of climate change however; although methane gas is less talked