POTENTIAL FOR OFF-GRID BIOGAS ENERGY

A new report has found that the micro-digester sector has significant opportunities to grow if it can strengthen partnerships within the sector and with stakeholders in allied sectors. This study, commissioned by SANEDI (South African National Energy Development Institute), has uncovered untapped potential for a micro-digester sector to aid in climate mitigation and the green circular economy.

The University of Johannesburg’s Process, Energy, Environmental and Technology Station responded to a request from SANEDI to raise anaerobic micro-biogas awareness and conduct workshops and training to boost this largely untapped sector. Biogas technologies such as micro-digestors possess potential for promoting a green circular economy. It is the only fully closed, renewable energy system which produces near zero waste and when organic waste is collected and digested in this small system to create methane gas for fuel, it also creates beneficial by-products such as a rich soil fertiliser. The technology has multiple benefits for managing waste decomposition, reducing the volume of organic waste sent to landfills and thus reducing methane emissions at landfill sites.

Micro-digesters for biogas production are concentrated in public sector programmes in rural areas where the primary source of waste is cow dung and food waste to provide clean cooking gas; there is little uptake in urban areas where the technology is a sustainable solution for some municipal waste.

www.sanedi.org.za