Reprinted (and edited for brevity) with the kind permission of:

Lorina & Larry Thompson

Digester Project, Sorsogon City (Philippines)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

We would like to express a great deal of thanks to Mr. Gerry Baron
for his design work, expertise and especially his patience.
Also a great deal of gratitude goes to Eugene Jovito for his creativity,
innovativeness and help in seeing the project completed.
Plus all the workers involved in the project and I truly mean workers!
They showed up faithfully on time every day rain or shine and we had
lots of rain to contend with. BUT, they all came to work and work they did;
we were very fortunate and extremely lucky to be blessed
with such a good crew.

Digester Specs:

3M long, 2.2M wide and 2.65 meters below ground
with .7M above ground making the total size 22 CM.

1. Digging the hole, we hit water at two meters and it was a mess.

2. Lots of dirt stacked around the hole

3. We had so much dirt it had to be moved to a further location

4. The block makers: Decided we wanted more strength than you
can get using commercial blocks so we made our own

5. In spite of the water problem the foundation was poured along with the floor.
Because of the digester depth it was decided the floor should be 20CM

6. What a mess; final depth is 2.65 meters with the floor in place.
Every morning water had to be pumped from the hole before work could begin

7. Water problem solved and the walls are starting to take shape.
Walls and posts were done in three segments

8. Plastering the inside

9. More plastering. An idea just how deep and how big the digester is

10. Rebar for the top of the digester

11. Lots of concrete for the top, 13 CM

12. Inside the digester

13. Workers inside

14. Shoring and if you look closely you can see the bottom

15. Construction of the slurry chamber

16. Eugene closing the hole in the side of digester after all shoring
was removed and the inside was painted with a sealer &
then with external latex paint.

17. Funnel that inserts into the inlet pipe.

18. Covers for the slurry pit

19. What’s this???? Are we making biogas

20. Unbelievable!!!!! We had a bit of a flame six hours after pumping
septic tank into digester. Photo taken with flash

21. Huge flame again at 71/2 hours (with no flash used.) Boiled water
right after these pictures were taken.

22. WOW!!! What a system, very functional and simple to operate

This has been a real adventure, one a bunch of people will never forget.
I know the memories of this will be with Lorina and me forever.

Again thank you Gerry Baron, Eugene Jovito, Ruben Aninipot and the crew,
Rudy Sicad, Isigani Jetajobe, Conrad Jetajobe, Vicente Laureta,
Renren Laureta, Tantoy Jeresano, Emman Janoras, Marlon Laureta,
Rommel Janoras and Rambo Laureta.
Without your help and hard work it would not have happened.

Next, phase 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Editor’s Notes:

The digester above at 22 m3 (cubic meters) is larger than the HBS.
It will be used for a larger backyard pig farm. It was built as a heavy duty
(not a low-cost) unit. However, all the design concepts of the HBS were used.

For FREE copies of the HBS (Home Biogas System) Building Plan,
send an email request to: biofuels.work@gmail.com

Thank you Lorina & Larry for sharing the above photographs with us.