An Innovative Approach towards

Sustainable Energy in Rural

Bangladesh

By- Shahana Afrose Chowdhury, PhD

James Ohlmacher

Kazi Shahid Foundation

Brief Introduction to KSF

• Kazi Shahid Foundation was started as a dairy cooperative to support the country's first and so far only organic tea garden, Kazi and Kazi Tea Estate Ltd. Located in the very northern tip of the country, KKTE was founded in 2000, with the express goal of improving lives in this remote and neglected region through enterprise.

• KKTE itself was a visionary project. The first tea garden in northern Bangladesh. The first organic tea garden and also only one to be internationally certified.

• As the garden expanded, and its need for cow-dung exceeded the capacity of its own dairy, the garden adopted a most innovative solution: giving cows to neighboring women, who pay off the price in installments, through highly

feasible daily quota of milk and cow dung.

• Helped over 7000+ rural women.

Brief Introduction to KSF

• The ownership of the cow, and any calves it breeds, are fully transferred to the women. This innovative formula has not only ensured steady supply of manure for a garden now approaching thousand acres, but also brought around phenomenal transformation to the lives of the KSF women.

• KSF is fulfilling the mission of improving the lives of our neighbors more deeply than even we imagined possible at the time of the cooperative's founding.

• In addition to radically increasing the women's income and assets, KSF also facilitates establishment of bio gas plants, organic vegetable farming and supply, bio-fertilizer production and education programs.

What would you envision the goals of a sustainable rural

poverty alleviation program should be?

1. Large homes, big TV, fancy car, iPhone, designer clothing, high ranking university degree?

2. Brick home, electricity, clean water, new clothing, completing A level school?

Geography and KSF Program Area

Demography and Geography

• Bangladesh is a developing country with a population of 160 million in an area of only 147,570 sq. km. (Over 2.5 times the population of the United Kingdom living on half the land mass)

• About 85% of the population lives in rural areas where agricultural is the dominant occupation.

• 31.5% of the population lives below the national poverty line, while only 56.6% of the population aged 15 years and above is employed.

(Income tax payer) -Asian Development Bank • By law children ages 6-10 are required to attend school with a drop

out rate of over 60% at Grade 5. –UNICEF

– Bangladesh’s rapidly increasing population has led to unsustainably over use of the countries forests for fuel-wood, fodder, medicines, furniture, and building materials.

– Nearly 25% of Bangladesh is capable of supporting forests. Outside of the Sundarban national park only 6% survives located primarily in the Chittagong Hill tracts.

KSF Biogas Program

• In 2006 the Bangladeshi government started supporting the use of Biogas plants in Bangladesh. Unfortunately it has, for the most part, been unsuccessful.

• New initiative to reduce the use of unsustainable burning of biomass fuels, increase the health of rural women through clean burning methane in place of traditional dung and biomass.

• The program uses the same cashless where by the family receives a biogas Plant, with the installment payments are through feasible daily quota of milk, cow dung, and bioslurry effluent.

• All maintenance, upkeep, and repairs are covered in the payment plan and is transferred to the women upon payoff.

• Two benefits are derived from use of the plant; Methane gas used for cooking and organic fertilizer for crops.

• Currently we have restored 12 old fixed dome plants and 2 new designed Next Generation Portable Biogas Plants.

KSF Bio gas Plants

Overview of KSF Biogas Program

Sector Outlook:

• Bangladesh has a potential for about 2 million Biogas

Plants

• More than 44,500 plants have been constructed under

the program till December 2016

Program Objective:

• To establish a sustainable and commercial biogas sector

in Bangladesh

• To promote agricultural value of bio-slurry

Traditional cooking utilizing dried

cow dung on sticks and/or

collected biomass such as wood,

sticks, dried leaves, and fibrous

husks.

Next Generation Portable Biogas Plants

• Design based on ARTI style plants used in India.

• Fewer pieces, lighter weight, and no skilled labor required to assemble and install.

• Plants use locally sourced parts.

• Requires with fewer cows than previous models. The cost savings of a smaller plant combine with lower feedstock requirement, allow for greater access for our members.

• Plants are designed to be modular and portable to better suit the needs of the rural people of Bangladesh.

• Utilize the same cashless system as the dairy program, including all maintenance, repairs, and monitoring, repayment with effluent slurry, excess milk, and raw dung.

Goal: Make benefits of biogas available to the most number of people for the lowest cost to the end user.

Bio Gas Plant Model (Fibreglass Digester)

Design and Size of Biogas Plants

• Design

– Fixed dome design (brick-cement based)

– Fiberglass bio-digester

Feeding material

– Cattle dung

– Poultry litter

– Kitchen / garden waste

• Size

– 6 size of plants according to gas production capacity

• 1.2 m3 (2-3 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• 1.6 m3 (3-4 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• 2.0 m3 (4-5 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• 2.4 m3 (5-6 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• 3.2 m3 (7-8 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• 4.8 m3 (10-12 hours of cooking) gas production / day

• For cattle dung based plant, dung – water mixing ratio is 1 : 0.5

• For poultry litter based plant, litter – water mixing ratio is 1 : 2

• For kitchen waste based plant, waste – water mixing ratio is 1 : 1

Daily

expected

gas

production

(min-max)

Cow-dung based Poultry litter based

Kitchen & garden waste

based (4 days pre-

hydrolyzed in 20-50 l

buckets/ barrels) Single

burner

stove will

run for

(hours)

Required

fresh

dung (kg)

Required

dung for

starting (kg)

Up to

Required

fresh litter

(kg)

Required

cow dung

for starting

(kg) Up to

Required

Kitchen &

garden waste

(kg)

Required cow

dung for

starting (kg)

1.8 40 2400 20 600 10-15 1200 4.0

2.4 53 3200 27 800 20-30 1600 6.0

3.0 66 4000 34 1000 30-40 2000 7.5

Feeding Material Requirement for

Fibreglass Based Plant

Problems that need to be over come are: Community resistance,

Government certification, associated R&D costs, and slurry

management.

Market Data

• Population of Bangladesh is about 160 million

• Annual growth rate of 1.6%

• Over 70% resides in rural areas

• Only 4% has access to natural gas

• According to “Agriculture Census 2008” by BBS – 5.2 million households keep more than 4 heads of cattle

– 86,000 poultry farms

– 72,000 dairy farms

• Potential for at least 2 million biogas plants

• Construction target is 60,000 (3% of potential) biogas plants by 2018

Thank you!!!