After the successful Biogas workshop at the Parainen permaculture we scheduled another Biogas workshop. This time at our own premises: the Beyond Buckhtorns Permaculture. We had plans to build this DIY Biogas system since we planed our move to Finland. Due to the high latitude at 61°, and the very cold winters, the prerequisites on building a Biogas system are more than for a system in Portugal. Therefore our planing took pretty long. There was no possibility to get the digester near the sauna, so that the exhaust air could be used, and as we don't have a huge cellar that option was gone as well. Over the last month some options came up and we thought it would now be the right time to create the system in order to save us some time in long run. 

What did we actually build?

A Solar C³ITIES IBC Biogas digester and a Biogascentral Floating IBC gas storage. Both work perfectly together. I have to note that the later one, the Biogascentral Floating IBC, is a system I co-invented some time ago. 

The Biogas Workshop

We started with the biogas basics:

  • Biogas composition
  • Biogas chemistry and physics
  • General digester structure
  • Different Biogas systems - their pros and cons
  • Gas storage
  • Gas scrubbing
  • Gas usage and appliances

Within a good 1 hour and a coffee, tea and cake break we covered everything necessary to run a Biogas system at home. 

The next 3 1/2 hour we built the system up to the point that we are now able to fill it with a starter and then in some weeks time hopefully have the first blue flame. 

Thank you to all our participants. It was a lovely day and a nice workshop.