August 14, 2010
As part of the Blackstone Ranch/National Geographic Innovation Challenge Grant he received, T.H. and Sybille Culhane traveled with their two-year-old son, Kilian, to the Okavanga delta to experiment with building biogas systems out of local water tanks at three different tourist camps owned by Great Plains Conservation. Their goal was to introduce the “how to” side of the technology to local staff in the hopes that it would create a culture of biogas builders in the region and help offset the use of the firewood and charcoal. The use of these resources cause habitat loss, create unintended brush fires, and pollute the air and water.
At Zarafa camp, shown here, we built a hybrid system with a 2,500 liter water tank as the primary digester and a 2,500 liter tank with a 2,000 liter tank upside down in it as secondary ARTI-type digester and gas holder.
