The picture shows the biogas test system. On the right of the picture you see the inlet. That is where the dung gets mixed with water at about the same ratio as Apfelsaftschorle - 1:1. This system has a stirring device. Due to cost it is not implemented at the project sites. Either way, Mr. Mfinanga always shows true sportsmanship when it comes to pulling out the straw and rocks out of the dung, which should not enter the system. He just puts his hands into the stuff. And when he is all done, he also opens the valve, which is located at the bottom (another "Griff in's Klo" required).
The long structure is the biodigester - basically a plastic tube where the manure wonders through and goes out the outlet (and serves as fertilizer). In the mean time the gas rises to the top and leaves the system via a pipe in the center. There is a water trap (the cement square in the centre of the picture) but is currently not in use, as water was never observed in the system.
Then next to the shed is the drum that is open at the bottom and has a pipe leading into it. The drum sits above water, with the pipe just ending above the water level. When the gas storms from the digester into the drum, the drum lifts up. How high the drum is indicates how much gas is currently available.
The pipe is then connected to a cooker, controlled by a valve. Over the weekend we went over every single piece in the system, as cost estimates ranged from 100 to 800 USD. We came up with 314,000 shilling (currently just under 300 USD), but Vicky thought some of the parts were on the high end side of things. So I will have to go to a store and ask some prices. And of course if they see a Mzungu, they likely will quote me higher prices....Student life, I guess.
Anyway, one of the pieces is called a Bush reducer. Sounds good to me. Although a bit of an oxymoron. How can you reduce him even more? He already doesn't have a clue. The nice thing about the news here, though. There are mostly about Africa and I don't understand them anyway. Though today I DID understand a word, but didn't think it was apropriate for a news program. Amen. I asked Dora if the announcer really just delivered a prayer and the answer was "Yes, they do that sometimes."
Maybe it was a prayer for Merkel, who just happened to not make friends with some of the African leaders. Arrgh, enough of politics already.
Today I had lunch twice. First the regular KIDT lunch. And then some rice, boiled without firewood by a solar cooker. I always meant to get one while living in Roseville. A group called Solarcookers International is based in Sacramento, but somehow I never made it. That area is definitely good for a solar cooker. Even when you are not into the enviro thingie - but when it's 40C or 100F outside it really is not appealing to turn on a kitchen stove and add 20 more degrees to your room temperature. The rice was very tasty, btwe. It took slighlty longer than one hour to cook, but there was no need to pay any attention to it, like making sue it doesn't overboil. Also, there were a few clouds around.
I had rice for dessert also. And yesterday ugali both for lunch and dessert. The cooks at KIDT and here at home obviously need to learn a thing or two about coordination. Anyway, tonight we had mango for dessert. Yumm. They were kinda small, but tasty nontheless. And cheap. Apparently 5 for 200 shillings or less than 20 cents.
Today a moskito kept flying dangerously close to my skin (I was saving my moskito repellent a bit, as I amazingly can't get the appropriate stuff here, but now that my parents sent me another couple of bottles, I am all set - THANKS!). Anyway, I interrupted its flying adventures with a clap of my hands. Now I am wondering what happens if you squash a moskito that happens to carry the Malaria virus. If you have a little wound or the stuff flies into your mouth, what will happen? I don't really want to find out, but here most people don't seem to think of malaria much more than the flu. Dora's boy friend just had it, and after one tablet he was OK again, apparently.
Darn, there I did it again. I went off topic and was describing life rather than the thesis. Anyway, I hope to do a few more interviews tomorrow for evaluation of the biogas systems.
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