Page last updated 30/08/2018
The idea that rotting vegetable matter gives off a flammable gas has been understood since the ancient Persians. In modern times, the first sewage plant was built in Bombay in 1859; an idea that was brought to the UK in 1895, when the gas produced was used to light street lamps. This system was developed in the UK and Germany in the early 1900s for the treatment of sewage. Centralised drainage systems were being installed in many towns in Europe and anaerobic digestion was seen as a means to reduce the volume of solid matter in the sewage. The gas produced was occasionally used as a source of energy, such as for running vehicles. The use of farm manure to generate methane was developed, again in Bombay, in the 1930s. It was developed for use by Indian villagers by KVIC (Khadi and Villages Industries Commission) in the early 1960s. This design, which used a floating steel gas drum, formed the basis of an ongoing Indian Government outreach programme to provide villagers with cooking fuel. China started a similar programme in the 1960s and claimed that 5 million plants had been built by the early 1980s. The design was based on a septic tank. The original rectangular tank was rapidly replaced by a design based on a dome shape. The biogas plants built in early programme were not reliable and did not last, because of poor quality control. The programme was revived when the Chinese government set up the Chengdu Biogas Research Institute to train biogas installers and set standards for biogas plant construction.  The fixed dome design (“the Chinese Design”) was adapted for use in other countries, especially in Nepal and India. The Nepal programme was started in 1976 by DCS (Development and Consulting Services of United Mission to Nepal), using the KVIC design from India. It was replaced by a fixed dome design, which has proved very reliable. This programme was transferred to local management, under a UNDP grant as the Gobas Gas Company. This was then taken over by by BSP (Biogas Support Programme), under a grant from SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation).  As well as biogas plants, there was a need for biogas equipment. This includes slurry mixer, biogas pipes and valves, and stoves and lights. Both the Indian and Chinese programmes developed this equipment. DCS in Nepal developed a biogas stove, which was manufactured by local companies and sold through GGC  and later through BSP. Unfortunately, a detailed scientific analysis of the DCS design showed that it was not optimised. Later tests, by SNV and others, showed it is not as efficient as it should be. The Indian programme inspired a brief enthusiasm for on-farm energy generation via biogas in the UK in the early 1980s, when the oil price spikes caused people to look for alternatives. The drop in the price of oil, and therefore electricity, which followed made the farm-scale biogas plants look uneconomic, so few of the 200 or so plants that were built at that time survived. The programmes in China, India and Nepal have developed steadily. Interest in Europe and UK revived in the 1990s. More information can be found in “Small-scale, Rural Biogas Programmes” and “Running a Biogas Programme”.
Biogas History
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Page last updated 30/08/2018
The idea that rotting vegetable matter gives off a flammable gas has been understood since the ancient Persians. In modern times, the first sewage plant was built in Bombay in 1859; an idea that was brought to the UK in 1895, when the gas produced was used to light street lamps. This system was developed in the UK and Germany in the early 1900s for the treatment of sewage. Centralised drainage systems were being installed in many towns in Europe and anaerobic digestion was seen as a means to reduce the volume of solid matter in the sewage. The gas produced was occasionally used as a source of energy, such as for running vehicles. The use of farm manure to generate methane was developed, again in Bombay, in the 1930s. It was developed for use by Indian villagers by KVIC (Khadi and Villages Industries Commission) in the early 1960s. This design, which used a floating steel gas drum, formed the basis of an ongoing Indian Government outreach programme to provide villagers with cooking fuel. China started a similar programme in the 1960s and claimed that 5 million plants had been built by the early 1980s. The design was based on a septic tank. The original rectangular tank was rapidly replaced by a design based on a dome shape.  The biogas plants built in early programme were not reliable and did not last, because of poor quality control. The programme was revived when the Chinese government set up the Chengdu Biogas Research Institute to train biogas installers and set standards for biogas plant construction.  The fixed dome design (“the Chinese Design”) was adapted for use in other countries, especially in Nepal and India. The Nepal programme was started in 1976 by DCS (Development and Consulting Services of United Mission to Nepal), using the  KVIC design from India. It was replaced by a fixed dome design, which has proved very reliable. This programme was transferred to local management, under a UNDP grant as the Gobas Gas Company. This was then taken over by by BSP  (Biogas Support Programme), under a grant from SNV  (Netherlands Development Organisation).  As well as biogas plants, there was a need for biogas equipment. This includes slurry mixer, biogas pipes and valves, and stoves and lights. Both the Indian and Chinese programmes developed this equipment. DCS in Nepal developed a biogas stove, which was manufactured by local companies and sold through GGC and later through BSP. Unfortunately, a detailed scientific analysis of the DCS design showed that it was not optimised. Later tests, by SNV and others, showed it is not as efficient as it should be. The Indian programme inspired a brief enthusiasm for on-farm energy generation via biogas in the UK in the early 1980s, when the oil price spikes caused people to look for alternatives. The drop in the price of oil, and therefore electricity, which followed made the farm-scale biogas plants look uneconomic, so few of the 200 or so plants that were built at that time survived. The programmes in China, India and Nepal have developed steadily. Interest in Europe and UK revived in the 1990s. More information can be found in “Small-scale, Rural Biogas Programmes” and “Running a Biogas Programme”.
Biogas History
Steel drum plant in Nepal First dome biogas plant in Nepal KVIC steel drum plant in India Underground biogas plant in Nepal Cooking on a biogas stove in Nepal