Saturday morning (21 January 2023), 7 students from SMA Negeri 28 Jakarta visited the domestic biogas installation (BIRU) in Bogor Regency. This biogas installation belongs to the Group Leader in Tonjong Village, Tajurhalang District. This visit was part of an assignment given by the school in physics with the theme of energy conversion.

Georgio and his friends, who are class X students at SMA Negeri 28, saw firsthand how livestock manure from dairy cows was mixed with water and then fermented and turned into biogas for cooking in the kitchen.

They then directly practice the procedure for filling livestock manure into the digester so that it can be converted into biogas which can be used for cooking. This process of converting organic matter into biogas is basically an application of chemistry and biology, where conditions without oxygen (anaerobic), pH suitability and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen are required so that bacteria can decompose organic compounds in livestock manure into biogas.

They also see how the concept of a manometer is applied as a practical pressure gauge for measuring pressure and gas availability. In addition, the biogas digester used in the BIRU program is an application of the concepts of communicating vessels and hydrostatics in this subject.

Then they made a simple replica of the biogas digester using plastic bottles and balloons to practice directly the energy conversion process that occurs in the biogas digester.

Plasticine is used to help maintain a tight system so that the anaerobic process occurs and the gas produced will be collected in a balloon connected to a pipe.

Written by: Jihan Ahmad
Edited by: Fauzan Ramadhan