Biogas

Bóthar encourages project beneficiaries to construct biogas plants and use animal manure to produce methane gas for cooking and lighting. The use of biogas plants creates a clean cooking environment, reduces the need to cut down trees and conserves the natural environment.

Biogas is a gas, rich in methane, which is produced by the fermentation of animal dung, human sewage or crop residues in an airtight container. In order to have a continuous gas production the fermentation chamber should be fed manure twice a day. The plant is cheap to construct and has an average life span of thirty years.

Biogas plants collect cow dung from specially adapted cattle sheds, mix it with water and channel it into fermentation pits. The resulting gas (of which 65% is methane) is produced as a by-product of this fermentation and is collected in a simple storage tank from where it is piped directly into the farmer's home to provide energy for cooking and lighting.