Biogas System for the Kitchen at Trinity Academy
The Trinity Academy in Boma Ng’Ombe in Tanzania is a Primary School that strives to operate sustainably. A further piece was added to this in September 2025, when a biogas system operated with cow dung was installed at the school to supply another source of cooking power to the kitchen. The system was constructed as a floating-tank system, similar tot he ARTI Biogas systems. The fermenter capacity is more than 4000 liters, the gas tank aroung 2500 liters. The construction was done by our German Teog team in September with the help of a local team of craftsmen, so that it could be completed in two days. The system was fed with a mix of water, cow dung and pig manure, which had to be mixed and filtered to avoid blocking of inlet and outlet pipes. We started to produce flamable gas twenty days after the initial filling was completed. The water needed for the biogas system will in future be harvested from the dining hall roof, which was constructed during another project at the same time. A workshop was held with the teachers of Trinity Academy to explain the biochemical background of the process and to discuss necessary maintenance work. Another workshop was done with the kids of class 4, 5 and 6 to teach them the daily feeding procedure. Around three buckets of a mix of manure and water will need to be added every day, while the kids will also measure some process parameters like temperature and gas volume. This will help us to further improve the design of the system. The biogas burner was installed in the kitchen next to the new electrical stove and can be used to prepare the teachers lunch and the breakfast fort he boarding students. The system is not big enough to replace all firewood in the kitchen yet, but serves as pilot to test how a combination of electrical burners and biogas can be used to finally allow cooking from renewable energy sources at the school. We want to thank the entire team, all sponsors and contributors for the good cooperation in this project and look forward to a delicious lunch, sustainably cooked.Text: Franzi Enzmann