Sustainable Energy Generation from Biogas through Integrated Waste Management in Public Buildings

The biogas is a renewable energy source predominantly composed of carbon dioxide and methane, generated by the decomposition of organic materials including solid municipal waste, agricultural waste, animal waste, plant matter, sewage, food scraps and green trashes. It serves as a clean energy option, yielding both methane gas and liquid fertilizer as its principal by-products. In this study, 200 kilograms of fresh cow dung collected from Abature in Birnin Kebbi were mixed with 1,000 litres of clean water and fed into a bio digester with a 2,000-liter capacity. The bio digester system was equipped with a 2 m³/psi gas tube, inlet and outlet pipes each 100 mm in diameter and 6 bar thick, two gas valves (100 mm), eight 100 mm PVC connectors, four rubber nipples (100 mm), a 0.5-meter flexible steel pipe, a 3-meter PVC flexible polyester gas pipe, 10 kg of resin and hardener adhesive, a 60-inch hose pipe, a gas pressure gauge, clips, screws, construction materials (blocks, sand, cement, stones), and a three-stage gas filtration system using chlorine, calcium, and sodium oxide. The fermentation occurred in an oxygen-free (anaerobic) setting over a 60-day period, resulting in the generation of 10 m³ psi of raw methane gas. This gas was utilized for cooking using a 2 m³ capacity gas burner for a total of 20 hours. The project demonstrates the "waste-to-energy" principle by addressing key sustainability issues: it reduces environmental pollution, transforms waste into valuable energy (biogas), and creates liquid bio fertilizer via anaerobic digestion. Implementing such waste management solutions in public institutions can notably cut greenhouse gas emissions, lower expenses related to cooking fuel and agricultural fertilizers, and support healthier communities. The experiment was carried out at Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, located in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria.