59% of the global population do not have sewers and rely on onsite sanitation yet affordable technology for sustainable onsite sanitation is not on the market – resulting in 4.5 billion not having access to safely managed sanitation and 5 million sanitation related deaths.
In 2019, Opero collaborated with Sistema. Bio to test and commercialize their modular anaerobic digesters, the Dungbeetle for use in sanitation. This was a strategic move to expand their product use from agriculture to sanitation owing to the huge market demand.
The DungBeetle Biodigester System is a proven, reliable, affordable, easy-to-install biodigester which uses anaerobic digestion technology. It is made from durable linear low-density polythene, it is robust and its prefabricated, modular design makes it cheaper than traditional anaerobic digesters, with the added advantage that it can be moved between sites.
As a sanitation system, the DungBeetle can be applicable to households, institutions, and decentralized wastewater treatment facilities. The technology is suitable for receiving human waste from pit latrines and works by fermenting black water and organic waste to produce biogas and liquid effluent. The biogas can be used as a clean energy source for cooking.
It comes in a package that includes a full suite of biogas appliances and connections, with the option to design the optimal sanitation system from toilet blocks to resource recovery.
To date, more than 116 DungBeetle reactors are operational in 7 countries worldwide, serving at least 8,360 people daily by containing and treating 8,190 m3 of fecal sludge yearly. With this solution, enough biogas is generated to provide 13,610 meals yearly
