Having established a way of quantifying the diesel consumption of the engine, we have now begun to conduct a set of tests to measure how much the use of the biogas affects the engine performance. We are primarily concerned about the rate of the diesel consumption as this is the main driver behind the project. Results so far have suggested that we can produce a diesel consumption reduction of around 40% which is a lot less than then predicted value of 80%. I suspect that this is due to the quality of the gas we are using. Having spoken to people who have done similar projects, the best feedstock for the production of gas is human waste or abattoir waste due to its high energy content. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions then let us know! ARTI currently uses a starch solution as it is cleaner and easier to transport. I think this is something we will have to look into in the next few weeks or could be a project for next year. The rainy season is also a bad time for biogas production and 2 half hour runs of the engine uses the entire 5 cubic metre tank which takes 2 days, minimum, to refill with gas! Not sure if it’s particularly economically sustainable at the moment.

Life outside of work is fairly routine now and I am regularly going to the local gym although the low protein diet isn’t really complementing the long hours pumping iron! Went to the annual kite festival at the weekend where kids from all around the city make kites and try to cut the lines of others (if anyone has read or seen the kite-runner its like that). Lots of music and dancing too which was fun! We also stumbled on a film shooting at the local temple and I had my picture taken with a Indian movie mega-star, needless to say I had no idea who he was! Also had my hand painted with henna (not out of choice!) by a friend’s wife which shows my name in Marathi. Hopefully heading to a place in the mountains at the weekend if it isn’t too wet called Mahableshwar which is meant to be pretty cool.