LOTS OF PROGRESS – NOT YET COMPLETED
TAKING FORM
Work continues at our pilot plant at the Dompoase Landfill. The access footbridge leads the way into the site.
GOING VERTICAL
The small production building is rising from its foundation and the tower for the water tank is in place. This site is entirely off grid so we need to provide water via a tank on a tower and power via a generator. All concrete was mixed onsite for the digesters, the bricks and the pads. This meant trucking sand, concrete and water to the site.
BIRDWATCHING AT DOMPOASE
The variety of foodstuffs and habitats at the landfill site makes for pretty good bird-watching opportunities. The fecal sludge ponds provide habitat for Spur-winged Lapwings (left) and White-faced Whistling Ducks (right).
GENERATOR ROOM
This side of the small plant building will house our 20kW diesel powered generator. We will also have a 5kW gasoline powered genset for times we are using only smaller loads – our laptops in the office for example. All fuel will need to be brought in in cans, until we are able to run the diesel motor on biodiesel and the gasoline motor on biogas! Note the “open block” construction on the outer wall to allow better airflow around the generators.
OFFICE/LAB SPACE
The room on the left will be used for office and lab space. It is a small room (3mx3m) that will have two tables and a couple of chairs. The metal roof of the structure will keep us dry but will allow for lots of airflow between the top of the walls and the roof.
IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME
On the left you can see the “front” of the open air biodiesel research facility. This will provide excellent ventilation, but with a roof to keep the sun and rain off us and our equipment. Some of the fermentation tanks can be seen in the foreground, with their fiberglass gas collectors sitting on top. Eric poses with reporter Elisabeth Braw, Senior Reporter at Metro, the international daily. Metro has a circulation of 17 million in 21 countries. She was on a visit to a few African countries looking for stories on renewable energy and other “green” projects. If we make it into one of her stories, we’ll post a link to it!
FERMENTATION
Finishing touches are underway on the fermentation tanks. The “sample ports” have been installed on eight of the twelve tanks, the gas collectors have now been installed, and leak and flow testing is now scheduled for October 3rd, about four weeks later than planned.
BUILDING IS COMPLETE!
As of month’s end, our small research building is structurally complete. Remaining items are poly tanks for water and incoming material, incoming piping, generator delivery, electrical supply wiring, receipt and assembly of the biodiesel plant equipment, and fitting out of the office/lab with tables and chairs. All of this should be completed within the next month. Then the FUN begins!
WE ARE HERE
Here’s the big picture of where we are, from about 4,000 miles up courtesy of the fabulous Google Earth. We are located in Kumasi, in central Ghana, in West Africa. You can see the small red icon showing our exact location in the center left of this screenshot.
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[Latest] * [Troutsfarm] * [A Two-Birthday Month] * [FS2BD Construction Continues] * [A New Goat] [Around the Yard and Gardens] * [Wetland Walk] * [Bopping Around the Kumasi Markets] * [Ayoum Village]
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