Launching the new biogas plant digester by BiogasPro

Launching the new biogas plant digester by BiogasPro

Designed for individual households, townhouse developments and for export, the fibre glass biogas plan digester name BiogasPro3 meets a need that we have identified in the market
We are very excited to have the prototype of the AGAMA BiogasPro 3 ready for installation and testing. We intend to start rolling them out approximately the middle of 2013. Much as we love the BiogasPro6, we realised there was a place for a smaller digester to serve the needs of families of 5 or less people, generating 10 or less kg of total waste per day and with gas requirements of a couple of hours cooking and water heating time daily.
The BiogasPro 3 biogas plan digester (as its name suggests) is half the volume (not physical external size) of the BiogasPro 6, with half the loading capacity but identical functionality. It can handle a maximum of 500 litres of water per day (instead of 1000 litres) and will generate a maximum of 2 to 3 hours gas burn time on a single ring gas plate daily.
We also wanted to address the issue of transport costs particularly for the export market. We could only fit 5 BiogasPro 6's into one 40 foot container making shipping overseas prohibitively expensive per unit. We have had so much interest from other African countries and also from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia and the United States, that we needed to come up with a solution. Shipping costs were affecting the price so negatively that we were losing very enthusiastic clients.
Back to the drawing board we went with the brief being to reduce size, weight, production costs and, most importantly, to design the digester in such a way that it could be cost effectively shipped in bulk. In other words we had to manufacture in sections that could "nest" within a container. To do that we needed to use a material other than plastic. Fibre glass can be welded on site using epoxy-like welding compounds that are easily transported.
We found a fantastic manufacturing company in Cape Town, "Formo Fibreglass cc" that were willing and excited to work with us to come up with the perfect design. After several iterations and a few failed attempts, we found what we were after. The design enables us to ship the digester in 4 segments. 50 units will fit into one 40 foot container, and already individual homeowners and developers are clamouring to get their hands on one.
Why would developers be interested in biogas you may ask? Because many of them are struggling to get planning permission for new developments due to the fact that the local municipality does not have the capacity to supply that development with sufficient water and/ or sufficient energy. The longer planning permission is delayed the more money they lose. Add to that, the marketing opportunities related to marketing a development as environmentally sustainable and you are onto a winner.
Supplying a new development with a centralised, on-site waste water treatment system is very expensive. The money to build and run the system has to be spent up front before a single house is sold, affecting cashflow. With individualised on site waste water treatment, the money to manage the sewage only has to be spent as the house is sold, with little or no running costs attached to the system once it is live.
We have teamed up with an aerobic package plant agency in Johannesburg, Biobox (see: www.biobox.co.za) to provide a plant that can purify the water leaving the digester to a point where it is safe to use it for irrigation. Their system also uses minimal electricity particularly if there is a slight gradient to the land being developed.
The homeowner will have a reduced energy and water bill as a result of the biogas and the recycling of waste water and the development as a whole will put less strain on the grid making municipalities more willing to grant planning permission. It's a win win win situation for developer, municipality and customer.

 sourcehttp://www.biogaspro.com/biogas-blog/item/launching-the-new-biogaspro-3.html

world’s largest biogas plants constructing in Malaysia

NIRAS is design advisor and provides consultancy assistance in a project which is to gather the entire Sarawak pig production around what will become one of the world’s largest biogas plants based on pig manure

When, next summer, the local government in the Sarawak province on Borneo, Malaysia, start using their new biogas plant, NIRAS has drawn up the basic design as a basis of a functional tender.

NIRAS has, further, assisted technically in the tender process up to the selection of contractor, and we have commented on the contractor’s detailed project. During the construction of the biogas plant NIRAS provides ongoing special consultancy. One approach is a progress report from the site, which includes commented photos. This is a highly effective method of “remote inspection”.

At present, the plant, which, once completed, will be able to treat and utilise the biomass from 250,000 pigs, consists of 8,000 pigs in piggeries operated by the individual former independent pig farmers. There are areas for pig breeding, slaughterhouse, workforce facilities and plants for treatment of the pig manure and sewage sludge from the slaughterhouse.

NIRAS is sub-consultant for local consulting engineer Jurutera Jasa. Jurutera Jasa is the developer’s advisor on the biogas plant and is involved in all processes from design, tender and contracting, via realisation/construction supervision to start-up and handover of the plant.

The plant is situated in the Sarawak province on the island of Borneo in Malaysia and has been named “The Livestock Farming Area (LFA) at Pasir Puteh, Samarahan Division”.
Construction in stages

The entire plant covers a total area of approx. 3.2 by 4.2 kilometres, of which the actual biogas plant covers an area of approx. 300 by 480 m2 (exclusive of collection reservoirs and floating aquatic plant system).

The plant is built in stages. The farm is constructed on an ongoing basis ending with a total capacity of 250,000 pigs. At present agreements are being entered into with pig farmers about moving their production to the farm.

The slaughterhouse and biogas plant are constructed to their full capacity from the start. The slaughterhouse was completed in 2011. The construction of the biogas plant started in 2011 and is expected to be finished in the course of the summer of 2013.

Home biogas system Philippine

The design of most biogas systems can be traced to either the China Fixed Dome  6+ million in-use or the India Floating Cover .9+ million in-use.

 The Philippine BioDigester Home Biogas System

1. Does not need a concrete dome that is difficult to build, expensive and prone to leaks.
 2. Does not need a floating (metal) cover that corrodes, is expensive and difficult to operate.
 3. Does not need a stirring system that corrodes, is laborious and prone to leakage.
 4. The Home Biogas System HBS has a simple sediment removal process that is easy and convenient to operate.
 5. The Home Biogas System HBS can be located closer to the kitchen or place where the gas will be used to minimize piping problems like clogging and leaks.

Download DC  http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/22030001/1611142161/name/Home+biogas+system.docx

Anaerobic Biogas Digester Modelling ppt

Waste Treatment – produce biogas and nitrate rich fertilizer, reduce pollution , renewable source of energy.

Mixing Effectiveness – poorly mixed, can result in failure of digester (poor break up of solids, settling increases PH)

Problems with Scale up

Research Paper : Sunflowers for Bio-gas

In many countries renewable energies are of growing importance as alternative energy supply. In Europe and especially in Germany Bio-gas is a key element in this segment supplying already 2.1% of the German electricity production (Bio-gasportal, 2011). Bio-gas is a product of anaerobic digestion or fermentation of biodegradable materials. It is comprised primarily of methane and carbon dioxide. Bio-gas can be used for the production of heat, electricity, and directly in gas distribution networks. In addition to organic waste, an increasing amount of biomass is used to produce Bio-gas. In Germany maize is the most widely used crop for Bio-gas production with acreage of more than 500.000 ha. To improve maize accentuated crop rotations additional crops with high biomass yields are necessary. Sunflower could be one of these crops as a biomass yield of up to 20 t/ha can be achieved (Hahn and Ganssmann, 2008). For Bio-gas production a high methane yield per hectare is an important aim in energy plant breeding. The methane yield per hectare depends on the biomass yield, the amount of Bio-gas per kg organic dry matter and the methane content in the Bio-gas. Here sunflower offers an advantage as its oil is producing a high methane content in Bio-gas. However, an increasing biomass yield is associated with higher amounts of sunflower stems. And in this yield fraction, compared to maize, higher ash content and larger amounts of structural substances like ADL were found. In contrast to oil, protein and soluble carbohydrates these substances affect negatively the efficiency of energy degradation of biomass. Therefore, our objectives were to (1) investigate biomass yields of newly developed hybrids and (2) estimate genetic parameters for ADL, ash and sugar content of sunflower stems.

download :http://www.asagir.org.ar/asagir2008/archivos_congreso/Sunflowers%20for%20Biogas%20%E2%80%93%20Breeding%20for%20Yield%20and%20Quality.doc

A cross-section model of the patented mini biogas Plant by TISTR

A cross-section model of the patented mini Biogas Plant by Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research ( (TISTR)

A cross-section model of the patented mini biogas Plant

A cross-section model of the patented mini biogas unit developed by the Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research gives an idea of how it works. The unit can process 15 kilogrammes of household waste per day into biogas.
A research and development project of the Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research (TISTR), the mini biogas unit covers a space of one square metre, roughly the size of a refrigerator or washing machine.


Source: bangkokpost.com/business/economics/313002/biogas-production-goes-home

Scaling of gasholder

Scaling of gasholder

The size of the gasholder - the gasholder volume (VG, see Figure 6)—depends on gas production and the volume of gas drawn off.
Fig. 6: Digester and gasholder Each biogas plant consists of a digester (VD) and a gasholder (VG). For calculation purposes, only the net digester volume or gas space is relevant. In the fixed-dome plant (C), the net gas space corresponds to the size of the compensating tank (Vo) above the zero line. The zero line is the filling limit.


Gas production depends on the amount and nature of the fermentation slurry, digester, temperature and retention time (Figures 7,8).
Fig. 7: Gas production from fresh cattle manure depending on retention time and digester temperature


The curves represent averages of laboratory and empirical values. The values vary a wide range owing to differences in the solids content of the dung, animal feeds and types of biogas plant. Regular stirring increases gas production. The 26-28 °C line is a secure basis for scaling in the majority of cases.
Fig. 8: Gas production from fresh pig manure depending on retention time and digester temperature


The curves represent averages of laboratory and empirical values. The measured values show an even wider range of variation than in the case of cattle dung. Particularly large variations occur if antibiotics are added to the feed. The 26-28 °C curve is a realistic guide for the planning of a plant.

Gas production is encouraged by high, uniform temperatures (e.g., 33°C), long retention times (e.g., 100 days) and thorough mixing of the slurry.

Gas production is adversely affected by low and fluctuating temperatures (15-25 °C), short retention times (e.g., 30 days) and poor mixing.

Example:

1 kg of cattle dung yields only 15 lof biogas in a retention time of 30 days at a digester temperature of 20 °C. If the retention time is increased to 100 days and the digester temperature to 33 °C, 1 kg of cattle dung gives 54 lof biogas (Figure 7). The size of the gasholder is determined, primarily by the amount of gas drawn off and when it is drawn.

Examples:

A refrigerator operating round the clock consumes all the gas produced on a given day. The gasholder merely has to compensate for fluctuations in the,daily volume of gas produced.

A water pump consumes the entire daily gas production in a few hours. The gasholder must every day collect the entire daytime and night-time production and compensate for daily production fluctuations.

The ratio of gasholder volume (VG) to daily gas production (G) is called the gasholder capacity (C).

Example:

Gasholder volume (VG): 1.5m³ (1500l)

Daily gas production (G): 2.4 m³

Gasholder capacity (C):

1.5 m³ 2.4 m³ = 0.625 = 62.5 %.

The required gasholder capacity and hence the required gasholder size is an important planning parameter. If the gasholder capacity is insufficient' part of the gas produced will be lost. The remaining volume of gas will not be enough. If the gasholder is made too large, construction costs will be unnecessarily high, but plant operation will be more convenient. The gasholder must therefore be made large enough to be able to accept the entire volume of gas consumed at a time. It must also be able to accept all the gas produced between consumption times. Furthermore, the gasholder must be able to compensate for daily fluctuations in gas production. These fluctuations range from 75 % to 125 % of calculated gas production.

Calculation examples for gasholder size:

Daily gas production: 2400 l

Hourly gas production: 2400 -:- 24 = 100 l/h

Gas consumption


from 0600 to 0800 hrs

=2h


from 1200 to 1400 hrs

=2h


from 1900 to 2100 hrs

=2h


Duration of gas consumption:

6 h


To simplify the calculation, uniform gas consumption is assumed. Hourly gas consumption:

2400 l -:- 6 h = 400 l/h

Gas is also produced during consumption. For this reason, only the difference between consumption and production is relevant to the calculation.

DG = 400 l/h - 100 l/h = 300 l/h

The necessary gasholder size during consumption is therefore:

VG(1)=300l/h x 2h=600l.

The longest interval between periods of consumption is from 2100 to 0600 hrs (9 hours). The necessary gasholder size is therefore:

VG(2) = 100 l/h x 9 h = 900 Q.

VG(2) is the maximum relevant gasholder size. With the safety margin of 25%, this gives a gasholder size of

VG = 900 l x 1.25 = 1125 £.

The required gasholder capacity is thus:

C = 1 125 l -:- 2400 l= 0.47 = 47 %

Daily gas production: 2400 l

Hourly gas production: 100 l/h

Gas consumption


from 0530 to 0830 hrs

=3h


from 1830 to 2000 hrs

=1.5h


Duration of gas consumption:

4.5 h


Gas consumption per hour:

2400 l -:- 4.5 h = 533 l/h.

Difference between gas production and consumption:

DG = 533 l/h -100 l/h = 433 l/h.

Hence the necessary gasholder size during consumption is:

VG(1)= 433 l/h x 3 h = 1299 l.

The necessary gasholder size in the intervals between consumption results from the period from 0830 to 1830 hrs (10 h). The necessary gasholder size is therefore:

VG(2) = 100 l/h x 10 h = 1000 Q.

VG(1) is the larger volume and must therefore be used as the basis. Allowing for the safety margin of 25 %, the gasholder size is thus

VG = 1299 l X 1.25 = 1624 Q.



The required gasholder capacity thus works out as

C = 1624 l -:- 2400 l= 0.68 = 68 %.
Fig 9: Graphic determination of required gasholder volume in accordance with the first example, page 21/22. Working steps: 1. Plotting of gas production curve (a) and gas consumption curve (b). 2. Plotting of gas consumption times. 3. The gasholder curve (thick line) is determined by parallel shifting in accordance with the numbered arrows (1-9). The value VG does not yet include the safety margin of 25 %

Fig. 10: Graphic determination of the required gasholder volume in accordance with the second example on page 23/24. The safety margin of 25 % for fluctuating gas production must be added to the value VG. The distance H can also be regarded as the height of the floating gas drum. Experience shows that about the same volume of gas per hour is produced day and night.


A gasholder capacity of 50-60% is normally correct for peasant households in Third World countries. A capacity of 70 % or even more must be allowed only where not more than one meal a day is cooked regularly or where eating habits are highly irregular