Kurdish man turns cow dung on farm into biogas

(26 Mar 2023)
IRAQ BIOGAS

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

LENGTH: 2:43

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Irbil, Iraq - 11 March 2023

1. Kettle on stove running on bio biogas
2. Various of man collecting cow dung from farm
3. Bucket filled with cow dung
4. Goats and sheep inside barn
5. Various of man adding and mixing water with cow dung
6. Various of man emptying mixture into barrel
7. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Diyar Abdul Kareem, unemployed university graduate who produces biogas from cow waste:
"First of all, we get a barrel like this one, then we go to one of the farms and collect some animal waste. We mix it with water. The liquid amount has to be more than the animal waste. After we mixed them, we empty the mixture into this barrel. Then we leave it for a few weeks until it produces gas."

8. Abdul Kareem turning barrel tap to open it and release gas
9. Various of hose connected to tube of tire
10. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Diyar Abdul Kareem, unemployed university graduate who produces biogas from cow waste:
"After leaving the animal waste for several weeks to decompose here, a gas is produced and stored inside this tube, which is connected to a gas stove."

11. Abdul Kareem checking hose connection
12. Tire tube inflated with biogas produced from animal waste
13. Various of Abdul Kareem lighting stove and putting kettle on
14. Various of Abdul Kareem pouring tea
15. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Diyar Abdul Kareem, unemployed university graduate who produces biogas from cow waste:
"But if we want to expand this project and get (commercial) advantage out of it, it has to be approached differently. We must have a big hole in the ground, something called a gas chamber. That way, we can store a large amount of animal waste in this gas chamber and use the gas that is yielded for more a year. We can generate electricity from it, or we can use it for domestic purposes."

16. Various of Abdul Kareem at cow farm
STORYLINE:
An Iraqi university graduate could not find work in the job market, so he returned to his family house in a village in Irbil and started turning cow dung into biogas.

Diyar Abdul Kareem graduated from the Koya Oil institute in 2018, but like many graduates, he struggled to get a job.

He decided to get into the family business of cow farming on a farm in the Kurdish region of Iraq, but he put a twist on the job.

He used his knowledge from studying at the oil institute to turn animal waste into biogas, resorting to very simple techniques.

"After leaving the animal waste for several weeks to decompose here, a gas is produced and stored inside this tube," Abdul Kareem says.

He mixes the animal waste with water infused with some other substances, which he would not name, to speed up the decomposition of the waste.

He then stores the mixture in a barrel that is connected to a hose, which leads to a tractor tire tube.

When the biogas is produced, it goes through the hose and ends up in the tire where it is stored.

The process requires some patience because it takes several weeks to inflate the tractor tire tube with biogas.

The amount of gas that is collected at that point is sufficient for a couple of weeks, with an average use of one hour per day.

Abdul Kareem's environmentally friendly farming practice results in renewable fuel, which he says does not smell and burns just like natural gas.

He admits however that the technique and tools that he uses are not very efficient because the process takes weeks and produces only a small amount of biogas.


AP video shot by Adnan Ahmad



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