Bio Digester at Waterford Kamhlaba

The biodigester produces burnable biogas and a nutrient-rich slurry. The bio-digester was the result of a student-led project – funded by the students who won the Zayed Future Energy Prize in 2015. The function of this bio-digester is to use the left-over food from the school’s cafeteria to fuel the heating of water that is then used to wash dishes in the cafeteria kitchen. The food waste is fed into the bio-digester which is then broken down into a burnable gas.

This gas fuels the gas geyser which heats the water used to wash dishes. A by-product of this process is liquid fertilizer, which we use in our vegetable garden. (Any extra food waste from the cafeteria is also used by the permaculture gardener to make fertilizer, and the balance is given to staff members to feed their dogs and pigs). This bio-digester serves as a producer of sustainable power, a responsible method of discarding our food waste, as well as an educational tool.