The idea of converting organic household waste into energy for cooking is certainly an appealing one, but getting a biogas system up and running in your own backyard can be quite an undertaking. Israeli company HomeBiogas is out to make this a more realistic proposition for eco-conscious households, and has just introduced a third-generation model it says produces 30 percent more clean fuel than its previous system, along with fertilizer to give your plant life a boost.
HomeBiogas first emerged in 2015 by way of a crowdfunding campaign, offering families a way of producing cooking gas by feeding food scraps into a digester chamber. Here, live colonies of bacteria naturally break down the organic matter and produce gas that can be piped back to the kitchen for stovetop cooking, along with liquid fertilizer for the garden.
The team has since reworked its design based on customer feedback to result in a simplified machine, which is not only easier to assemble but makes is also far more efficient. The company credits a reimagined digester shape, which allows for a larger bacteria biodome, for the 30-percent boost in biogas production, enough for two hours of cooking each day.
"The overall size of digester is 1.4 cubic meters (40.4 cu ft) – 20 percent bigger – to contain more communities of bacteria over time and have a faster gas production process," a HomeBiogas spokesperson tells New Atlas. "What's really important is that the size expanded in shape and not on the system floor space."
The team has also greatly reduced the amount of pieces that make up the HomeBiogas system from 15 to just four, now consisting of an inlet, outlet, digester and the gas bag. This not only makes for easy assembly, with the system able to be put together by a couple of people in a couple of hours, but should also improve durability.
"When you have more parts, you have more problems," the company tells us. "So fewer parts mean fewer opportunities for damage and wear and tear to occur."
Best suited to sunny spots, the machine just requires 100 L (26 gal) of animal manure at the beginning to kickstart the digestion process. And when it does get to the end of its life, every component of the new generation HomeBiogas system is 100-percent recyclable.
HomeBiogas is returning to the world of crowdfunding to get its latest machine into production, with early pledges starting at US$435, while the recommended retail price will be $720. Shipping is slated for April 2020 if all goes to plan, while you can check out the promo video below.
Source: HomeBiogas
