ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/BIOFUELS Israeli biogas digesters energise isolated Palestinian village

Record ID: 142710

  • Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/BIOFUELS Israeli biogas digesters energise isolated Palestinian village
  • Date: 24th August 2015
  • Summary: AL-AWJA, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BEDOUIN VILLAGE OF AL-AWJA VARIOUS OF MAKESHIFT HOMES IN BEDOUIN VILLAGE AMER RABAYAH, ENGINEER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF RABAYAH GROUP STANDING WITH NAYEF ZAYID, RESIDENT OF AL-AWJA VILLAGE, NEXT TO A HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR ZAYID POURING MANURE INTO BUCKET SIGN ON HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR READING 'EU PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE, THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION' ZAYID POURING MANURE INTO REACTOR VIEW OF MANURE INSIDE REACTOR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NAYEF ZAYID, RESIDENT OF AL-AWJA VILLAGE WHO RECEIVED A REACTOR, SAYING: "This is a very good machine. We have been using it for three months now, the machine provides us with 70-80 percent of the gas that we need for our household." LAUNDRY HANGING OUT TO DRY CHICKENS IN YARD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NAYEF ZAYID, RESIDENT OF AL-AWJA VILLAGE WHO RECEIVED A REACTOR, SAYING: "This area, al-Awja, there is no water or electricity. We have no services, nothing at all except what the organizations help us with." VARIOUS OF MAKESHIFT HOMES ZAYID LIGHTING BURNER USING GAS FROM THE HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR ZAYID AND HIS CHILDREN IN HOME CLOSE OF DAUGHTER VARIOUS OF MAKESHIFT HOMES VARIOUS OF ZAYID AND RABAYEH TALKING NEXT TO HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMER RABAYAH, ENGINEER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF RABAYAH GROUP, SAYING: "The idea of this project is to use the biogas for cooking. They produce it out of animal manure so they use it and they put it into this machine. Inside the reactor there is a chemical reaction that produces the biogas and from the other side it produces fertilizer which they use for farming." SHEEP IN CAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMER RABAYAH, ENGINEER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF RABAYAH GROUP, SAYING: "Home Biogas invented this machine, with all of its details, for it to be moved easily so if anyone wants to move it from one place to another he can do so easily. It's easy to assemble, there is a manual." BEIT YANAI, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF EMPLOYEE AT HOMEBIOGAS TESTING CHEMICALS IN LABORATORY TUBES CLOSE OF TEST TUBES BEING USED IN LABORATORY VARIOUS OF LABORATORY TECHNICIAN AT WORK VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEE AT WORK IN FACTORY MAN CUTTING STEEL CLOSE OF DISC CUTTING STEEL EMPLOYEES PACKING A HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR OSHIK EFRATI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HOMEBIOGAS, LOOKING AT REACTOR AT HEADQUARTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) OSHIK EFRATI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HOMEBIOGAS, SAYING: "They are throwing the organic waste into the system, the biogas the household biogas system, and it turns it into gas. The gas is being used for cooking, heating and lightening (lighting) and except then that, they get liquid fertilizer, organic liquid fertilizer that can use them for gardening, growing vegetable and fruit." CLOSE OF REACTOR READING 'HOMEBIOGAS' (SOUNDBITE) (English) OSHIK EFRATI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HOMEBIOGAS, SAYING: "The HomeBioGas system is closing an ecological circle. The waste is going in, the gas is going out to cook new food, from this food the waste will come back. Except the waste, we have the fertilizer. The fertilizer will help us to grow new food, and this is the circle." EMPLOYEES CARRYING BOX OF HOMEBIOGAS SYSTEM, LOADING ON VEHICLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) OSHIK EFRATI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF HOMEBIOGAS, SAYING: "This system will be available to everyone that needs it in the developing world. It will eliminate the waste, help them to use clean gas and then they don't have to breathe the smoke, and then it will be available also for the Western world, to people that have houses and garden that use it as they use the composter, they use it to create their gas, clean renewable energy." KEREM MAHARAL, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) AMIAD LAPIDOT, WHO USES HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR, CUTTING SABRA FRUIT PEEL FROM FRUIT BEING PLACED IN BOWL CLOSE OF BOWL OF PEEL LAPIDOT WALKING TOWARD HOMEBIOGAS REACTOR IN GARDEN BOWL OF PEEL BEING THROWN INTO REACTOR VIEW OF SABRA IN REACTOR BEING GRINDED LAPIDOT GRINDING PEEL PEEL BEING GRINDED LAPIDOT WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA65KIYVW2YVHC09KY6DL3D07ME
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Palestinian villagers living in desolate, off-grid areas in the West Bank have begun using Israeli-made biogas generators that supply free, clean energy by gobbling up organic waste.
    The portable, household "anaerobic digesters" made by Israeli start-up company HomeBioGas turn food leftovers and manure into methane for cooking and lighting.
    They can be taken along if people living in ramshackle huts or tent dwellers, such as local Bedouin, decide to relocate or move home.
    "The idea of this project is to use the biogas for cooking. They produce it out of animal manure so they use it and they put it into this machine. Inside the reactor there is a chemical reaction that produces the biogas and from the other side it produces fertilizer which they use for farming," explained Palestinian engineer Amer Rabayah, who coordinates the installation of the device.
    "HomeBiogas invented this machine, with all of its details, for it to be moved easily so if anyone wants to move it from one place to another he can do so easily. It's easy to assemble, there is a manual," added Rabayah.
    Rural West Bank areas that Palestinians want as part of a future state with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem have been left under-developed, while Israel, which captured the territory in a 1967 Middle East war, has invested in adjacent settlements.
    Palestinians - largely left to fend for themselves - have relied on donations from foreign states and international aid agencies.
    "(In) this area ... there is no water or electricity," said local resident and digester owner Nayef Zayid. "We have no services..nothing at all except what the organizations help us with."
    Around 40 digesters have been set up in a pilot project at the Palestinian village of al-Awja in the central West Bank's Jordan Valley.
    "This is a very good machine. We have been using it for three months now, the machine provides us with 70-80 percent of the gas that we need for our household," said Zayid.
    The European Union has funded the project to the tune of some 500,000 euros ($559,750), and the Peres Center for Peace, set up by former Israeli president Shimon Peres, facilitated Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.
    A group of Israeli and Palestinian volunteers helped assemble the digesters, which take about three hours to install.
    Some digesters have also been provided to Bedouin in Israel in partnership with the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, based in the arid Negev desert.
    Oshik Efrati, chief executive officer of HomeBioGas, said he hoped the product would save many lives in rural areas across the world where smoke from cooking on an open fire causes severe respiratory illness and death.
    "They are throwing the organic waste into the system, the biogas the household biogas system, and it turns it into gas. The gas is being used for cooking, heating and lightening (lighting) and except then that, they get liquid fertilizer, organic liquid fertilizer that can use them for gardening, growing vegetable and fruit," said Efrati.
    "The Home Biogas system is closing an ecological circle. The waste is going in, the gas is going out to cook new food, from this food the waste will come back. Except the waste, we have the fertilizer. The fertilizer will help us to grow new food, and this is the circle," he added.
    The company aims to expand its production capacity and enlist governments and aid agencies to buy digesters for impoverished communities, but plans are still in their infancy, Efrati said.
    "This system will be available to everyone that needs it in the developing world. It will eliminate the waste, help them to use clean gas and then they don't have to breathe the smoke," said Efrati.
    A fermentation process to produce the gas is precipitated when bacteria is added in powder or liquid form to a mix of water and waste. The bacteria then multiply to create a self-perpetuating process.
    Rich liquid fertiliser, a byproduct of the process, can also be used to boost crop growth for a population that largely relies on agriculture for income, Efrati explained.
    HomeBioGas declined to discuss a retail price for the digester, whose materials and construction costs amount to a few hundred dollars. It is best suited for use in warm climates.
    The company also sees affluent, environmentally aware Western consumers as future clients for its product, which will be sold to them for profit, marketing director Ami Amir said.
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