Photo By Staff Sgt. Jordan Jones | This compilation of 30 pictures shows the inside of the digester for the bio-gas plant...... read more read more
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KABUL, Afghanistan - A high mortality rate in Afghanistan for children under five-years old from respiratory illnesses underscores the importance of projects such as solar-lights and bio-gas plants – top priorities for the Afghan government.
While these projects are underway throughout Afghanistan, the director of the Afghan Renewable Energy Department here is taking a different approach.
Construction on a new bio-gas plant began Dec. 13, 2010. “This will be a training bio-gas plant,” said Amir Mohammad Alamzai, director, ARED.
The new plant, located at the department’s main office in Kabul, neared completion Monday as the final touches were put on a condensation trap.
Bio-gas plants have been in use around the world since 1859 and were recommended for use in Afghanistan by the Michael Yon online magazine in June 2010.
They are a clean, all-natural method for capturing methane produced by the decay of animal wastes. The methane gas can then be used directly to fuel lights, stoves and heating appliances.
“In remote areas where there isn’t a power source, Afghans toss the animal dung directly on the fire,” said U.S. Army Maj. Edward Mears, bio-gas project manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Pollution from burning the dung gathers in the air and directly contributes to a high child mortality rate. According to UNICEF, Afghanistan had the highest under-five mortality rate in the world in 2008, where more than one of every four Afghan children died by the age of five. By comparison, less than one in a 100 children in the U.S. died by the age of five.
Acute respiratory infections are one of the leading causes of more than 60 percent of children dying by the age of five in Afghanistan, according to a U.N. Development Programme.
“By using the bio-gas plant, you don’t have all the particulate matter going into the air causing people to suffocate – especially children who are very susceptible to their environment,” Mears said.
The goal for the new plant is to produce a training site where Afghans can learn how the plant works and how they can build their own.
To help with that goal, a 200-meter walkway will be built leading up to the plant with signs containing pictures and information of the construction process. The posters will be in Dari, Pashtu and English, said Mears.
But the success of this plant and the benefits it can bring the Afghan people depend on one big “if” – if the people will build their own.
For bio-gas plants to be adopted by the Afghan people, they have to be affordable and sustainable. Bio-gas plants range from a very simple design to very elaborate – and very expensive.
The one built at the ARED is estimated to be cost Afghans between $400 and $1000 to duplicate out of local, easily procured materials, said Mears. Any family with two cows, a couple goats and some chickens can use this type of plant. The animal waste can go into this system and the end result is methane and fertilizer, he said.
Once the training plant is complete, the plan is to fill it with a 50/50 mixture of animal manure and water at a rate of 27 gallons per day. It takes about six weeks for the plant to get full, and then the natural decay processes to produce a steady supply of methane. The plant is expected to be in full production of methane by mid-March.
If adopted for use throughout Afghanistan, the methane produced by bio-gas plants can help heat Afghan homes in the winter and provide cooking temperatures that will sanitize foods. They will also help clean the air by eliminating key causes of air pollution.
| Date Taken: | 01.17.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 01.19.2011 05:24 |
| Story ID: | 63779 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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