Biogas electricity -- The Pura village case study

Book · Fri Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:142306

Rajabapaiah, P; Jayakumar, S ^[1]; Reddy, A K.N. ^[2]

---

1. Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India)
2. International Energy Initiative, Bangalore (India)

A potentially useful decentralized source of energy is biogas, which is an approximately 60:40 mixture of methane (CH{sub 4}) and carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), produced by the anaerobic fermentation of cellulosic biomass materials such as bovine wastes. Since 1987, the traditional system of obtaining water, illumination, and fertilizer in Pura village in south India has been replaced with a community biogas plant electricity-generation system. The technical, managerial, and economical aspects of this system are the subject manner of the present paper. Various subsystems are described, and the problems of operation and maintenance under field conditions are also discussed. A comparison of Pura`s present community biogas system with its traditional means for obtaining water, illumination, and fertilizer shows that the households are winners on all counts, having obtained such benefits as improved hygiene and convenience at relatively low cost. The Pura community biogas plant is held together and sustained by the convergence of individual and collective interests. Noncooperation with the community biogas plant results in a heavy individual price (access to water and light being cut off by the village), which is too great a personal loss to compensate for the minor advantages of noncooperation and noncontribution to collective interests.

• OSTI ID: 142306
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOMASS CONVERSION PLANTS
ECONOMICS
INDIA
LIGHTING SYSTEMS
MAINTENANCE
MANAGEMENT
MANURES
ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS
PERFORMANCE
POWER GENERATION
REFUSE-FUELED POWER PLANTS
SLUDGES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WATER SUPPLY