The biogas plant will be built on the Chicken Chain Farm of Mr. Mofokeng. This cattle farmer owns around 150 cows and has the ambition to produce something useful out of the manure from his cows. By designing, building and using the installation the cow manure will be converted into biogas which then again will be made into electricity. At the moment, the manure of the cows at the Chicken Chain Farm is estimated to be enough to produce 20 kW. The aim is to produce an amount of 1 MW.
The Chicken Chain Farm is situated near Devon. A little village in the South African province Gauteng. As the manure from the 150 cows on this farm most likely can provide gas for roughly 10 households, and even less in the case of electricity production. Mr. Mofokeng would like to cooperate with as many neighboring farmers as possible through contracts. These farmers could serve as a supplier of biomass, by delivering the manure of their own farm to the farm of Mr. Mofokeng. When also the manure of the animals from other farmers is processed in the biogas plant, a much greater quantity of gas will be produced. In addition it is much more profitable to convert this gas into electricity. Several things have to be taken into account when the contracts between the local farmers and Mr. Mofokeng will be made. Including the potential types of feedstock, feeding of the animals, transport of manure to the Chicken Chain Farm and the minimum amount of manure which is transported. Thereby, the income of the process should also be taken into account and how this income will be distributed among the stakeholders.
Besides the construction of a biogas plant on his land Mr. Mofokeng would also like to raise awareness of the possibilities of biogas by including local farmers and the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria. He aspires for this project to serve as an example for other farmers. In the eventuality that these farmers would want to build a biogas plant of their own, they could come to Mr. Mofokeng for advice. It is important that Mr. Mofokeng can easily provide sufficient information. This information will be given through the handing out of a general business plan. The local farmers can use this to write a plan specific to their own situation. Mr. Mofokeng is enthusiastic about the idea of the widespread application of biogas in South Africa. This project aims to achieve this by promoting courses for sustainable energy, with biogas in particular, at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria.
In short, Mr. Mofokeng is the client of this project. His request is a functional biogas plant, potentially supplied with biomass from neighbouring farms, with the higher purpose of raising awareness of the potential of biogas technology among the locals.