Mr. Eddy Ojara – PI

Dr. Miria Frances Agunyo – Co-PI

The importance of biogas storage on a global scale cannot be overstated. To fully utilize the potential of biogas, numerous nations have made investments in the development of packaging options (Winquist et al., 2019). Flexible biogas bags, and balloon-style storage, and other cutting-edge technologies are all examples of biogas storage mediums. These storage options are crucial for enabling the containment, transportation, and use of biogas in a secure manner as needed (Shivakumar et al., 2019). It is however, important to note that majority of these storage units are bulky and poses several barriers for effective adoption and usage locally hence the need for innovating a portable, durable and affordable biogas storage unit.

As such, this project focused on design and fabrication of portable, durable and affordable biogas storage systems that could be used in different entities including at institutions and households, boosting the clean cooking transition, thus contributing to SDG 7. This is in line with the government’s policies and initiatives encourage the adoption of biogas technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve waste management, and enhance energy access in rural and underserved areas (Sawyerr et al., 2019a).

Preliminarily, the modelling and simulation of the storage systems suggests that Type 1 and Type 4 cylinders could be ideal for achieving the project’s objectives. For the Type-4 composite vessel, modelling results show that innovating a cylinder having a mass of 4.7kg, volume of 0.004m³, density of 1,150kg/m³ with a weight of 46.5N would be possible, allowing for testing of other parameters tensile strength and compression strength. Fabrication of the storage units is underway and this will be followed by testing for performance prior to pilot use.