Heath Reed, Andy Stanton
The Nano Biogas project considers the viability of small-scale biogas fuel production for cooking and heating as an alternative to solid or processed higher cost products like Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) in rural India. Currently, women regularly cook on open fires and chula (stoves) fuelled with wood or dried cow manure which is carried many miles and produces damaging levels of smoke and toxins when burned. LPG fuels are safer to cook with but can be prohibitively expensive and have high supply chain embodied energy costs.
The Indian government aims to improve the living standards of its poorer communities. Aligned with those aims, this project explores whether biomass to biogas conversion is technically viable using ‘jugaad’ principles. Jugaad is a Hindi word which means a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in innovative ways.
The design research team researched, developed jugaad enabled small scale biodigesters in a farming village in Uttar Pradesh. Khanpur Garbi has 400 cattle that produce an estimated 3 tons of manure (biomass) per day. Working with the villagers and through several design iterations, using local and discarded materials, custom components, creative thinking and practices, the biodigester was fashioned.
The biodigester has been running for many months reliably, saved users in the region of 30% on LPG fuel costs and associated LPG supply chain embodied energy costs. The families respiratory, muscular skeletal and eyes health has improved and a byproduct of the system, a rich manure slurry fertiliser, has significantly increased fresh crop yields
Funders: Global Challenge Fund, Research England Expanding Excellence England
Partners: Ativa Design Consultancy, Khanpur Garbi village residents