One of the environmental care movements that is currently being discussed is savings in the use of fossil energy. How to make biogas from household waste, is considered a simple step to start. With the depletion of non-renewable fuel supplies such as oil and gas, everyone has to participate in making alternative solutions that are more effective and sustainable .

Renewable innovations and inventions to create fuel for everyday needs are being carried out. One of the innovations to create energy is biogas. Biogas is a gas produced from anaerobic activities that degrade organic matter.

How to make biogas can help humans in energy efficiency , because usually biogas is made from household waste, such as garbage or livestock manure. Biogas is one of the appropriate uses for livestock manure. Let's follow the full discussion below!

Principles of Biogas Production

The basic principle in making biogas is that there is an anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. That is, a closed digestion process of organic waste from free air to produce methane gas.

Furthermore, this methane gas can later be used as an alternative renewable energy to replace LPG for cooking. Because, methane gas is flammable and non-toxic. This type of gas is known as biogas.

The anaerobic decomposition process in biogas production is assisted by a number of microorganisms, namely methane bacteria. It takes the right temperature for the fermentation process. The optimal temperature is 30-55 degrees Celsius, where at this temperature, microorganisms can decompose organic materials to the maximum.

In the process of making biogas, organic waste such as livestock manure or agricultural residues is broken down by bacteria. Meanwhile, the composition of biogas consists of carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrogen (N2), Oxygen (O2), Carbon monoxide (CO).

In practice, this method of making biogas is not too difficult. In fact, you can try it yourself at home. There are 2 ways to make biogas that you can follow below:

How to Make Biogas

Besides being made massively in a special installation or factory, biogas can also be produced or made at home in a simple way. Here are some steps to follow:

How to Make Biogas from Animal Manure

The steps to make biogas from livestock manure, among others:

1. Mix cow dung with water in a temporary reservoir to form mud in a 1:1 ratio. This form of mud will facilitate the process of entering the digester.
2. Stream the sludge to the digester through the inlet. In temporary filling, the gas valve above the digester is opened so that entry is easier and the air in the digester can be forced out. In this first filling, large amounts of cattle dung mud is required until the digester is full.
3. Add 1 liter of starter, then fill fresh rumen from RPH (Rumah Pemotongan Hewan) as much as 5 sacks for a digester capacity of 3.5 to 5.0 m2. After the digester is full, the gas valve will be closed to allow the fermentation process to occur.
4. Next, exhaust the first gas produced on the 1st to the 8th day, because at this stage, CO2 gas is formed. Meanwhile, on the 10th to 14th day, only methane (CH4) and CO2 begin to decrease. The composition of CO2 27% and CH4 54% is the biogas that will ignite.
5. On the 14th day, this gas that has been formed can be used to start a fire on a gas stove or for other purposes. Starting from the 14th day, the digester can produce renewable energy .

How to Make Biogas With Trenches

The second method of making biogas comes from India, reported by Instructables , this simple biogas production at home can use certain wet waste and cow dung.

Materials and Tools:

• Digester tank
• Inlet pipe
• Gas storage tank
• Gas outlet pipe
• Slurry outlet pipe

Steps to make it:

1. Prepare organic raw materials that can be digested by microorganisms and bacteria. Mix cow dung with water. For a basic guide, a good mix is between 7-9% solids.
2. Filter the raw materials from other coarse objects, such as roots, wood, hard leaves, other dirt or grass stalk residues and animal feed residues that are too coarse in texture.
3. Make a mixing bowl with a size of 50x50x50 cm plus a gauze made of chicken wire with a net of 1 cm. The design of the permanent tub was made of bricks and cement.
4. Make a trench measuring 6 meters long, 75 cm wide at the bottom, 95 cm wide at the top, 95 cm high at the output end and 85 cm high at the input end.
5. Place the inverted gas holding tank into the digester tank after adding the slurry. Remember, open the valve while placing the gas tank. It takes 10-15 days to get results the first time.
6. For the gas in the tank the first time it will not burn because it contains CO2 gas. You can detect how much gas there is in this way, the gas passenger tank will rise when gas is produced.
7. Connect with burning. The raw material for biogas production can be mixed with household waste, except egg shells and onion skins.

What you need to know is that this biogas doesn't smell like cattle or cow dung. The next step, biogas must be continuously filled with a mixture of cow dung in order to produce an optimal amount of biogas.

Biogas Function in Environmental Sustainability

In addition to cooking, biogas also serves to reduce environmental pollution, produce clean energy and reduce carbon emissions. The main benefit is to minimize or reduce dependence on the use of non-renewable petroleum fuels.

Biogas plays an important role not only in the energy sector, but also in agriculture, where agricultural waste can be processed into organic fertilizers that do not pollute water and soil conditions. On the other hand, biogas is aligned with the goal of preventing impacts of global climate change. This is because biogas can be further processed into environmentally friendly biomethane or natural gas.

Biomethane produces less carbon emissions , non-toxic, and can be an alternative energy fuel CNG ( Compressed Natural Gas ). Biomethane produced by biogas is the easiest biofuel to produce on a large scale.

Well, that's the review in the article about processing household waste in the form of biogas. From the discussion on how to make biogas above, hopefully we can understand the importance of renewable energy in the form of biogas to preserve the environment.