Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a process whereby organic waste is broken down in a controlled, oxygen free environment by bacteria naturally occurring in the waste material. Methane rich biogas is produced thus facilitating renewable energy generation. As a result, materials that are currently going to landfill can be utilised; natural methane emissions are reduced and conventional generation with its associated carbon emissions is displaced. The residual nutrient rich liquor and digestate is suitable for use as fertiliser on the farmland surrounding such a plant, reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.

AD or Anaerobic Digestion is used for producing biogas mostly, but it can also be used for its function in treating waste materials such as sewage sludge and converting them into safer (non infectious), and less potentially environmentally damaging by-products in the output which is known as “digestate”. Anaerobic digestion can also be used to provide combined heat and power, in which the heat from power generation can be used to heat nearby houses and factories with heat which would otherwise have been wasted.

You are clearly interested in the subject of anaerobic digestion and biogas, because you are reading this. So, have you ever thought of making it yourself?

I could not even start to list all the reasons why people make biogas, but the fact is that an ever increasing number of people are running their own digesters, whether by necessity to fuel their own cooking stoves, commercially for profit, or just out of interest or fun!

It is great to get enthusiastic and theorize about a subject, but even better is to start a project and learn a skill, and the very best way to learn is to get on and try something for oneself!

So, how do I recommend that you get started with a biogas project which will generate a really useful amount of biogas, and enable you to “cut your teeth” as a biogas plant operator?

Well, I happen to know that many people have started successfully by building themselves a home biogas plant fed by their own liquidized kitchen scraps.

Let’s be honest. In the affluent industrialized world, the biogas produced, while it will save its owner genuine cash in avoided energy bills, won’t be considered the “be-all” and “end-all” for such a project.

BUT, it can be a really fun project, and building such mini-AD Plants is a wise first step for all those planning a larger scale unit perhaps for a farm or community AD Project, so that the individuals involved can build confidence to go on to the full stage version later.

In order to get started, you could search around the internet forever and I suppose you would eventually glean enough information to carry out such a project for free, but for most people who wish to invest a fair amount of time in such a project, they would rather follow the path of others who have had success.

That’s why I suggest that you go and take a look at the “Firedigester” home biogas system ebook. It is the best full project manual available, and I think hobbyists will have fun and learn a lot about making biogas. For those planning a community-run digester, farmers seeking to digest their own on-farm organic feed materials, and indeed any other person/ organisation should consider this a first step (or pilot study) to prepare themselves for the full-stage plant. And, surely this product is a no-brainer for all those people? So, I suggest that you CLICK HERE to take a look at the “Firedigester” ebook home biogas system and judge for yourself.

FREE BONUS: In fact, if you buy the Firedigester ebook via my link above we will send you a FREE  membership of my new Biogas Calculator site which will enable you to download our software (for Windows systems only) and easily calculate biogas yields for a wide variety of anaerobic digester feed materials. This is a great piece of software for assessing the financial viability of any biogas project. Just email me a copy of your receipt (to me at steve[@])anaerobic-digestion.com) and I will send you the necessary link to sign up for my new Biogas Calculator for free.

Anaerobic Digestion is viable today in many examples around the world. The process technology is well developed and there are now several thousands of commercially operated AD Plants worldwide, operating profitably in the industrialised nations. At a domestic/ community level in warm countries AD is also viable in the sense that there must be several tens of thousands of small scale AD Plants now in operation which provide in the large, cooking gas for the homes supplied. With the high cost of butane gas cylinders, families and communities are saving hugely on cooking fuel costs, plus not cutting down local trees for this fuel.

Anaerobic Digestion is a renewable energy source because the biological matter which is digested in an AD plant is normally part of the earth’s normal biological cycle which even without man’s intervention would rot and form compost and during its decomposition would emit carbon dioxide, By carrying out this process within an AD Plant man is merely participating in the carbon cycle which takes place anyway, and is powered by the sun. The carbon dioxide emitted from AD will eventually be taken up by growing plants and these can once again become the feedstock for an AD Plant producing energy from the sun’s rays which fell on the plants as they grew. Therefore, the Anaerobic Digestion process is considered to be a “renewable” one.