The Research
Academic Partnerships and Scientific Research
The scientific research and study required to complete the design of the Mount Everest Biogas Project has resulted from multiple academic partnerships. While biogas digesters are common in this part of the world, the MEBP digester will run entirely on human waste, which, at the outset, posed three scientific research questions.
First, human waste as the sole fuel input produces less methane than traditional biogas digesters that are fed with a diversity of animal and food waste. As such, scientific research was required to confirm that enough methane would be produced to successfully operate the project.
Second, climbers at Everest Base Camp often ingest antibiotics to manage travelers’ diarrhea and respiratory ailments. Important to consider in the system design were what impacts the prevalence of antibiotics would have on gut microorganisms required for natural decomposition.
Third, pathogen destruction by the digester needs to be measured to know if the effluent can be used safely as fertilizer for crops potentially consumed by humans.
To answer these questions, Mount Everest Biogas Project established a long-term relationship with the academic community of Nepal through a joint program with Seattle University and Kathmandu University. Beginning in 2015, the parties began running lab and bench tests simulating mini-biogas digesters operating at temperature ranges that mirrored the conditions at the site while using actual climber waste from Everest Base Camp.
In May 2016, the results demonstrated successful fecal decomposition and methane gas production from actual climber waste samples taken from Everest Base Camp at three different operating temperatures.
The phase one technical report demonstrates by repeated lab testing at Kathmandu University that the human waste breaks down and produces gas. A pivotal moment in scientific testing of the design, this was a major risk reduction for the program. This critical lab result eliminates technical risk to the Mount Everest Biogas Project performance. Testing will continue with phase two, commencing in September 2017, to answer the third question in regards to pathogen destruction.
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