Controlling Carbon Emission In Pig Biogas

Plant
Don Kushan Wijemanne,
Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak
donkushan@gmail.com
Supervised or advised
by
Dr. Saad Kashem and Dr. Daniel Tan

AbstractThe topic mainly emphasises about the biogas technology of anaerobic digestion of farmyard manure. Standard
operations and building of agricultural biogas plant guarentee a safe operation and a well cost effective constructing
operation. Our main goal on this research is to capture carbon emission released from the pig manure and convert it to
carbon credits.The pig manure is regulated in order to enhance the implementation of biogas technology.The carbon
emission can be reduced by organic wastes and agricultural manures by a certain number per year. The digestion process
used gives renewable energy and improves the current fertilising qualities of the pig manure. This in order results in an
environmental friendly manure supervision.The simulation tool will be using is solidworks in this research paper. This
computer aided engineering software is used to design the tank needed to place pig manure and seal it. The sustainability
assessment on this material will be taken into account such as the carbon footprint, air acidification process and the total
energy consumed of the tank.
Keywords: Biogas; carbon emission; sustainable; solid works; computer aided engineering(CAE); manure

I.
INTRODUCTION
Biogas refers to as a renewable fuel that can be
used to produce power and heat. The pig
biogas plant emits certain gases such as carbon
dioxide, methane and hydrogen and when
oxidized and combusted it releases important
useful energy. These can be then used for
cooking, process heating and water heating.
The main company responsible for the pig
biogas plant will be able to access the local
distribution gas distribution network. The gas
can be distributed to the gas companies but the
gas should be clean and should be in good
quality to be accepted to the local gas
distribution network. Certain gases like water,
hydrogen sulphide, and other impurities must
be removed. If the biogas in the plant is further
compressed in a tank, it can used for
transportation. This will replace the
compressed natural gas. This biogas when
compressed should be concentrated as that of
fossil natural gas. Countries like Germany and
Sweden use this method for natural
compressed biogas. The research carried out
accounts to carbon dioxide being procured
because obtaining methane is very powerful
and the potential of obtaining methane is 23
times higher than that of carbon dioxide. There
it is an advantage of recovering biogas as it
limits the green house effects. Another
advantage as to using biogas is that it is not
dependent on fossil resources so we can tend
to reduce greenhouse gases.

The research goes into detail by describing the

different types of technologies for preseparation of the manure and the post-process
of manure in big biogas plant. The organic
matter used in pig biogas plant operation is
vastly reduced during the anaerobic digestion.
The pig biogas plant can be implemented and
developed to improve the manure management
and to significantly reduce the loss of
nutrients.
The presentation of the typical installation of
the pig biogas plant will be clarified. Firstly
animal manure is collected and then delivered
to a tank known as the pre-tank and then added
to the digester. When added to the digester the
biological anaerobic digestion is initiated. The
manure is thoroughly mixed and heat is given
to produce the biogas by bacteria. The manure
inside the tank should be added and completed
by fat which is brought by a municipal waste
to provide the optimum production of carbon
emission and methane. In order, to get best
results the manure mixture should be spent in
the digester for minimum 2-3 weeks. Then the
pig manure is stored in another separate tank
and will be spread evenly in the fields. To
produce heat and electricity from this pig
manure is by using a CHP system (combine
heat and power). The power produced by this
system is sent to the national grid. The manure

is heated to produce biogas and this process

can send heat to the rural city by gas network.

there are around 4000 and more vehicles running

biogas fuel in Swedish roads.[4]

The advantages of this type of installation are

that the smell of the manure or the slurry is
vastly reduced and it is at this point degassed.
The produced energy in the plant can be used
in the farm itself. There are certain drawbacks
of implementing such a plant. It could contain
obnoxious smells this would rise the threat of
evaporation of ammonia gas. This indeed is a
harmful greenhouse gas.

Biogas in the gas network: The purified biogas

produced can be injected to the existing gas
networks. In Stockholm for instance there are a
variety of network of natural gas. This network
provides natural gas for water heaters, stoves,
cooking stoves and etc. [5]

II.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Introduction to biogas
This research report is based on the pig biogas
plant and how the carbon dioxide emission is
obtained. The advantages and disadvantages of
biogas will also be explained. Biogases in
definition are gases produced in order to
breakdown organic matter by anaerobic process.
Biogas can be produced from certain industrial
waste products, pig manure, green waste and
municipal waste. Biogas is an energy source like no
other and mainly the technology is simple and
mature. The foremost parts of a biogas system are
the digesters and the tanks. Methane gas is
produced in the tank through the process known as
anaerobic digestion from organic waste. The
Carbon dioxide accumulated in the tank can also be
converted to carbon credits and can be used to
generate electricity from a particular system.[1]
B. How does the biogas work?
There are many different systems of
producing biogas. For instance bio-gas for
warming is the easiest way to use biogas
for heating purposes. In this process water
removal is required in order for further
process. The main purpose for small
biogas plant is to keep warm the building
during cold season in some countries.
However, excess heat can lead to thermal
heating network.[2]
Biogas power generation: Heat and electricity can
be produced from a gas generator. The production
of heat and power ration however depends on the
plant design, but usually of 64% of electricity and
34% heat. [3]
Biogas as Automobile fuel: The separations of
carbon dioxide in order to get methane are between
98% to 99%. Impurities in the system and water
should be removed to avoid from environmental
and mechanical damage. However in order to do
this the gas has to be compressed. Currently there
are 100 biogas plants in Sweden and approximately

Biogas plants mainly consist of a mixer, gas storage

and about 2-3 digesters. The anaerobic
fermentation tanks which are known as the
digesters are also important components of the
biogas plant because they anaerobe situation in
which the bacteria provides the total of biogas
production. They layers in the digesters have to be
constantly heated for optimum continuous of
discharge of gas. The gas container or the holder is
surrounded by a steel airproof covering, like a ball
floating in the mixture, and the gas is collected by
anaerobiosis and gas is generated normally. Simple
widely used designs, gas holder is prepared with a
gas output, whereas in a sludge digester there is an
opening for the over flow of the sludge into an
underground drainage pit. [6]
Nowadays , a lot of designs and technologies and
different types of digesters are manufactured. The
size of a small biogas in a household can be a large
profitable plant. The size of the digester also affects
the contrary and the logistics. Therefore the plants
are situated near the raw materials made. The
factors affecting digestion can be of 2 major
parameters. First is the design and the other is the
substrate water. One of the important classification
of the water content of the substrate is to digest the
raw materials or the contents of the dry mass of less
than 16 % and and dry digestion which is the dry
matter content of 40% is power. Dry digestion is
often subjected to the anaerobic fermentation
process from energy process.[7]

holder. This device captures the excessive gas

present in the digester. [12-13]
Gas holder is another type of producing biogas. It
consist of a flexible material, therefore it cannot be
damaged against high weather conditions. Or it can
also be placed top of the substrate which acts like a
balloon plant.[14-16]

Fig 1: standard process of biogas production

(Source: http://www.probiopol.de)
In addition, there are many ways a digester can
work. However, the technology which is common
today is the two-stage digester. Digesters allow the
sludge to fill in and fill the empty spaces in the
tank. Digestion types of different devices include
the resulting technologies.[8]
Batch Type: the digestion of raw materials
becomes empty when the digestion is
filled
at
once.
Continuously flow type: the digester is
filled completely, the raw materials are
therefore added continuously and digested
material is removed.
Pug flow type: With the other hand feed is
continuously added.
Contact type: A medium is added to the
bacteria for support.[9-10]

C. Various types of biogas

In Europe some designs have been
chosen to manufacture underground
structures. The digester is made up of
concrete and steel; these materials are
adequate for insulation. To give maximum
flow of substrate it is rotated continuously.
[11-12]
Slurry is store sludge for storage during winter.
The stores however can be opened or closed and
are connected through a device called the gas

D. Advantages of Biogas: [17-18]

1. Renewable energy sources: biogas is
indeed a renewable energy source of
energy. The raw materials are mainly of
waste water, just when it is frail the
production of waste have to be stopped.
2. Since the use of waste products for biogas
it reduces landfill in dumpsites and in
farms. This means less water and soil
pollution.
3. Non-polluting: nature is not polluted as
everything is sealed when the process is
establishes. There is no need of oxygen as
which means no fuel needed.
4. Large number of job vacancies: job
opportunities for thousands of people in
the plant are available. Biogas can be
decentralized, which makes it easy for the
people living in remote areas to get access
to and very easy to get access if electricity
not present.
5. Cheaper technologies: Used to generate
both heat and electricity. Can be used in
automotive a purpose which is known as
compressed natural gas (CNG).
6. Reduces
the
greenhouse
effect:
biodegradable waste can be recycled into
a lot of desirable shapes and working on
simple methods and technology.
D. Disadvantages of Biogas: [17]
1) Little progress technology: Constructing a
biogas plant in not a very efficient as they
are intended to be. Large scale industrial
production of biogas is still on the energy
map. Even though biogas plants can solve
the energy problems faced by certain
countries, very few investors will put up
the initial capital.
2) Contains impurities: Even though a
process of ultra-filtration occurs to destroy
all the impurities present it will still
contain a number of impurities.
3) Unstable: if the plant is not supervised or
maintained properly it is prone to
explosion if the biogas comes in contact

with the surrounding. This could make the

whole investment a failed one.
4) In a large scale it is not attractive: On a
large scale it is no very economical and it
is very hard to increase the efficiency of
the biogas plant.

industrial effluents , V Singhal, JPN Rai Bioresource technology, 2003 Elsevier

With all these disadvantages present, people still

tend to use biogas in day to day life. Public
transport is involved in CNG.

[11] Experimental comparison of MCFC

performance using three different biogas types and
methane , R Bove, P Lunghi - Journal of Power
Sources, 2005 Elsevier
[12] Mesophilic biogas production from fruit and
vegetable waste in a tubular digester , H
Bouallagui, RB Cheikh, L Marouani, M Hamdi Bioresource Technology, 2003 Elsevier

F. Reference
[1] The anaerobic digestion of solid organic waste ,
A Khalid, M Arshad, M Anjum, T Mahmood Waste Management, 2011 Elsevier
[2] Heating of a biogas reactor using a solar energy
system with temperature control unit , TM
Alkhamis, R El-Khazali, MM Kablan, MA
Alhusein - Solar Energy, 2000 Elsevier
[3] Renewable energy: sources for fuels and
electricity , TB Johansson - 1993 books.google.com
[4] Biogas as vehicle fuel , W Papacz - Journal of
KONES, 2011 - yadda.icm.edu.pl
[5] Evaluation of energy efficiency of various
biogas production and utilization pathways , M
Pschl, S Ward, P Owende - Applied Energy, 2010
Elsevier
[6] A review of the biogas industry in China , X
Jiang, SG Sommer, KV Christensen - Energy
Policy, 2011 Elsevier
[7] Biogas production: current state and
perspectives , P Weiland - Applied microbiology
and biotechnology, 2010 Springer
[8] Enhancement of biogas production from solid
substrates using different techniquesa review ,
TR Sreekrishnan, S Kohli, V Rana - Bioresource
technology, 2004 Elsevier
[9] Biogas production from water hyacinth and
channel grass used for phytoremediation of

[10] Comparison of biogas productivity of cassava

peels mixed in selected ratios with major livestock
waste types , BA Adelekan, AI Bamgboye - African
Journal
of
Agricultural
,
2009
academicjournals.org

[13] Balancing of greenhouse gas emissions and

economic efficiency for biogas-production through
anaerobic co-fermentation of slurry with organic
waste , S Wulf, P Jger, H Dhler - Agriculture,
ecosystems & environment, 2006 Elsevier
[14] Biogas farming in Central and Northern
Europe: a strategy for developing countries?
Invited overview , M Plochl, M Heiermann - 2006 ecommons.library.cornell.edu
[15] Life cycle assessment of biogas production by
monofermentation of energy crops and injection
into the natural gas grid , C Jury, E Benetto, D
Koster, B Schmitt, J Welfring - Biomass and
Bioenergy, 2010 Elsevier
[16] Transient performance of a horizontal floating
gas holder type biogas plant, GN Tiwari, SB
Sharma, SP Gupta - Energy conversion and
management, 1988 Elsevier
[17]http://www.conserve-energyfuture.com/advantages-anddisadvantages-ofbiogas.php
[18]
http://ecovillage.org.in/ecopedia/alternateenergy/advantagesand-disadvantages-of-biogas