1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background/Problem:

Biogas production is one of the most promising uses of biomass wastes because it
provides a source of energy while simultaneously resolving ecological and agrochemical
issues. Nepal has over half century long history of biogas promotion. The technology of
biogas was first introduced in Nepal at Godabari, Lalitpur in 1995. Then, HMGN (His
Majesty’s Government of Nepal) started biogas program in 1975. The Biogas Support
Programme (BSP) in Nepal managed the installation of over 200,000 domestic biogas plants
between 1992 and 2009. The plants use cattle manure to provide biogas for cooking and
lighting. As the project was very successful, it was prolonged several times. It is currently the
end of the fourth phase, whose main objective is to further develop and disseminate biogas
plants as a mainstream renewable energy solution in rural Nepal. Most of the energy
consumed in Nepal comes from the traditional fuels like wood, which is responsible for
deforestation. The demand of petroleum fuels is increasing day by day in the world as well as
in Nepal. One day, the sources of nonrenewable fuels will depleted soon and there will be
shortage of fuel. Fuel will not available even if people are willing to pay.

In June 1996, there was a successful example of biogas plant for operating two
cooking stoves for 4 hours each day in Nakhu jail. Similarly in 1986, a biogas plant was
installed at the Regional Police Training centre at Bhartpur, Chitwan. Regarding the waste
management situation in Kathmandu there is a vast problem in disposing the waste materials.
Non-degradable residue can be recycled but degradable residues cannot be thrown anywhere.
If they, they will harm environment and increases pathogens. The increasing population of
urban areas is responsible for the production of more and more biodegradable wastes. This
waste, by the way, contains energy. If we use this energy in daily life, there will be two
benefits: The management of waste which causes pollution and the utilization of energy too.
The industrial wastes, kitchen and canteen wastes, and vegetable wastes are quick degradable
and are responsible for high pollution.

The traditional types of biogas plants are not suitable for current situations of urban
areas of Nepal. The compact urbanization causes lack of places for installation of fixed drum
and floating drum type biogas systems. There are no possibilities of biogas production using
animal’s manure in urban areas. Hence, the installation of biogas system should be done
above the ground. But, there may effect of environment against degradation of waste.
Bacteria love their life in anaerobic environmental condition. So, we have to provide
favorable environment for them. The proper adjustment of temperature is the most important
issue. Even in the Himalaya region and in hilly region, we can produce biogas from waste
materials if proper adjustment of range of temperature in digester.

The amount of production of biogas also depends on availability of different

feedstock materials. The use of alkaline, starchy and oily materials may increase the amount
of gas production. Also, there may be different type of losses during production, during
transfer to storing device and during valve operation.

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 2. OBJECTIVE

2.1 Main objective:

The main objective of this project is to study and analysis of a biogas digester plant
and its performance.

2.2 Specific objectives:

 To study the variation of the biogas production with selection of different

feedstock materials inside biogas digester.
 To analyze how efficiency of biogas plant varies at the different flow rate of
feedstock materials.
 Study on possible methods of improving retention time and required range of
temperature for biogas generation.
 Flow visualization and losses during production; transfer to storing device and
during valve operation of biogas generation.
 Comparison of quality of slurry from the manure and waste in composting
purpose and methods of improvement in composting purpose.

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3. METHODOLOGY

1. Literature collection from books, internet and various other sources.

2. Discussion among group members in possible outcomes of analysis.
3. Visit BSP (Biogas Support Program) located at Nakkhu, Lalitpur and collection of
past data.
4. Preparation of different types of questionnaires and possible answers.
5. Listing of feedbacks and suggestions from different past reports related to biogas
production.
6. Preparation of Gantt chart.

Gantt chart:

Fig: Gantt chart

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 4. LITERATURE REVIEW:

4.1 What is biogas?

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic

matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas is produced by the anaerobic digestion or
fermentation of biodegradable materials such as biomass, sewage, municipal waste, green
waste, dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste plant material, and
crops. Organic waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas.

4.2 Constituents of biogas:

Biogas comprises primarily methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and may have
small amounts of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), moisture and siloxanes.

Compound Symbol %
Methane CH4 50-75
Carbon dioxide CO2 25-50
Nitrogen N2 0-10
Hydrogen H2 0-1
Hydrogen sulfide H2S 0-3
Oxygen O2 0-0
Table 1: List of typical composition of biogas

4.3 Biogas properties:

The energy content of biogas is chemically bounded in methane. The composition and
properties of biogas varies to some degree depending on feedstock types, digestion systems,
temperature, retention time etc. Considering biogas with the standard methane content of
50%, the heating value is of 21 MJ/Nm³, the density is of 1.22 kg/Nm³and the mass is similar
to air (1.29 kg/Nm³).

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 Material Methane yield [%]

Liquid cattle manure 60

Liquid pig manure 65

Distillers grains with soluble 61

Cattle manure 60

Pig manure 60

Poultry manure 60

Beet 53

Organic waste 61

Sweet sorghum 54

Forage beet 51

Grass silage 54

Corn silage 52

Table 2: List of methane yield of different materials

4.4 Main applications of biogas

The main applications regions of biogas are agricultural biogas plants, waste water
treatment plants, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment plants, industrial biogas plants,
landfill gas recovery plants.

4.4.1 Agricultural biogas plants:

The agricultural biogas plants are considered those plants which are processing
feedstock from agricultural origin. The most common feedstock types for this kind of plants
are animal manure and slurries, Vegetable residues and Vegetable by products, Dedicated
Energy Crops (DEC), but also various residues from food and fishing industries etc. The
design and technology of biogas plants differ from country to country, depending on climatic
conditions and national frameworks. Based on their relative size, function and location,
agricultural anaerobic decomposition plants can be classified as:
 Family scale biogas plants (very small scale)
 Farm scale biogas plants (small or medium to large scale)
 Centralized/ joint co-digestion plants (medium to large scale)

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4.4.2 Waste water treatment plants:
Anaerobic decomposition is largely used for treatment of primary and secondary
sludge, resulted from aerobic treatment of municipal waste water. The system is applied in
many countries in combination with advanced treatment systems where the anaerobic
decomposition process is used to stabilize and reduce the final amount of sludge. Most
engineering companies providing sewage treatment systems have also the capability to
provide anaerobic decomposition systems.

4.4.3 Municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plants:

Utilization of source separated organic fraction of household waste for biogas
production has a large potential and several hundred anaerobic digester plants, processing
organic fraction of MSW, are in operation around the world. The aim is to reduce the stream
of organic wastes to landfills or even to incineration and to redirect them towards recycling.

4.4.4 Industrial biogas plants:

Industrial biogas plants bring about a number of benefits for the society and the
industries involved:
 Added value through nutrient recycling and cost reductions for disposal
 Utilization of biogas to generate process energy
 Improved environmental image of the industries concerned, through
environmental friendly treatment of the produced wastes

4.4.5 Landfill gas recovery plants:

Landfill gas recovery can be optimized through the management of the site such as
shredding the waste, re-circulating the organic fraction and treating the landfill as a
bioreactor. A landfill bioreactor is a controlled landfill, designed to accelerate the conversion
of solid waste into methane and is typically divided into cells, provided with a system to
collect leachate from the base of the cell. The collected leachate is pumped up to the surface
and redistributed across the waste cells, transforming the landfill into a large high-solids
digester.

4.5 Methane formation

Biogas microbes consist of a large group of complex and differently acting microbe
species, notably the methane-producing bacteria. The whole biogas-process can be divided
into three steps: hydrolysis, acidification, and methane formation .Three types of bacteria are
involved:

4.5.1 Hydrolysis
In the first step (hydrolysis), the organic matter is enzymolyzed externally by
extracellular enzymes (cellulose, amylase, protease and lipase) of microorganisms. Bacteria

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decompose the long chains of the complex carbohydrates, proteins and lipids into shorter
parts. For example, polysaccharides are converted into monosaccharide. Proteins are split into
peptides and amino acids.

4.5.2 Acidification
Acid-producing bacteria, involved in the second step, convert the intermediates of
fermenting bacteria into acetic acid (CH3COOH), hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
These bacteria are facultative anaerobic and can grow under acid conditions. To produce
acetic acid, they need oxygen and carbon. For this, they use the oxygen solved in the solution
or bounded-oxygen. Hereby, the acid-producing bacteria create an anaerobic condition which
is essential for the methane producing microorganisms. Moreover, they reduce the
compounds with a low molecular weight into alcohols, organic acids, amino acids, carbon
dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and traces of methane. From a chemical standpoint, this process
is partially endergonic (i.e. only possible with energy input), since bacteria alone are not
capable of sustaining that type of reaction.

4.5.3 Methanization (Methane formation)

Methane-producing bacteria, involved in the third step, decompose compounds with a
low molecular weight. For example, they utilize hydrogen, carbon dioxide and acetic acid to
form methane and carbon dioxide. Under natural conditions, methane producing
microorganisms occur to the extent that anaerobic conditions are provided, e.g. under water
(for example in marine sediments), in ruminant stomachs and in marshes. They are obligatory
anaerobic and very sensitive to
Environmental changes. In contrast to the acidogenic and acetogenic bacteria,
theMethanogenic bacteria belong to the archaebacter genus, i.e. to a group of bacteria with a
very heterogeneous morphology and a number of common biochemical and molecular-
biological properties that distinguish them from all other bacterial general. The main
difference lies in the makeup of the bacteria’s cell walls.

The following reaction that takes place in the process of methane production is as follows:

2CH3CH2OH + CO2 CH4 + 2CH3COOH

CH3COOH  CH4 + CO2

CO2 + 4H2 CH4 + 2H2O

The above equations show that many products, byproducts and intermediate products
are produced in the process of digestion of input in an anaerobic condition before the final
product (methane) is produced. The general anaerobic transformation of solid waste can be
described by the means of following equation:

Organic New Cells + Resistant Organic

material + Matters + CO2 +CH4 + NH3 +
H2O + H2S + Heat.
Nutrient 7
4.6 Necessary conditions for anaerobic digestion of organic wastes

4.6.1 Temperature
The methanogens are in active in extreme high and low temperatures. The optimum
temperature is 350C. When the ambient temperature goes down to 100C, the gas production
virtually stops. Satisfactory gas production takes place in the mesophilic range, between 25 to
300C. When the ambient temperature is 300C or less the average temperature within the dome
remains about 40C above the ambient temperature. Gas production can be increased in the
cold climate by means of proper insulation of digester.

4.6.2 pH value
The optimum biogas production is achieved when the pH value of input mixture in the
digester is between 6 and 7. The pH in a biogas digester is also a function of a retention time.
In the initial period of fermentation, as large amounts of organic acids are produced by acid
forming bacteria, the pH inside the digester can decrease to below 5. This inhibits or even
stops the digestion or the fermentation process. Methenogenic bacteria are very sensitive to
pH and do not thrive below a value of 6.0. Later as the digestion process continues
concentration of NH4 increases due to digestion of nitrogen which can increase the pH value
to above 8. When the methane production level is stabilized, the ph range remains buffered
between 7.2 to 8.2. Hence pH of the input mixture plays very important role in methane
formation.

4.6.3 Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N) ratio

Carbon and nitrogen are essential for cell synthesis and metabolism of anaerobic
digestion and the carbon to nitrogen ratio of a substrate can affect the digestion process. In
general a ratio of around 20-30:1 is considered the best for anaerobic digestion. C/N ratio
should never be more than 35, with an optimum of 30. If the C/N ratio is very high, nitrogen
will be consumed rapidly and the rate of reaction will decrease. If the C/N ratio is very low
nitrogen will be liberated and accumulated in the form of ammonia, which is toxic under
certain conditions.
Table 3: C &N contain and C/N ratio of different fermenting materials

Household and agriculture C % dry mass N % dry mass C/N ratio

Potato peel 37.5 1.5 25

Kitchen garbage 62.5 2.5 25
News paper 40 0.05 800
Fresh grass 48 4 12
Amaranths 39.6 0.6 11
Oat straw 50.4 1.05 48
Wheat straw 60 0.5 120

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Rice straw 18 0.3 60
Not leguminous vegetable types 24 1.5 16
Cabbage 43.2 3.6 12
Grain stalks and leaves 55 1 55
Foliage 75 1.5 50
Soybean 17.5 3.5 5
Sugarcane 45 0.3 150
Water hyacinths 30.4 1.9 16
Mustards 39 1.5 26
Human excrements 48 6 8
Human excrements with urine 70 7 10

4.6.4 Loading rate

Loading rate is the amount of raw material fed to the digester per day per unit volume
of digester capacity. The digester load serves as a measure of digester efficiency. The digester
load primarily depends upon four factors: substrate, temperature, volumetric burden and type
of plant. For a typical agricultural biogas plant of simple design, upper limit for digester load
is roughly 1.5 kg/m3 per day.

4.6.5 Retention time

Retention time is the average duration/time sample remains in the digester.
Considering the climatic conditions of Nepal, retention time of 50-60 days seems desirable.
The retention time is also dependent on temperature.

4.6.6 Dilution and consistency of input

Input feedstock material should be properly diluted. The suitable ratio is 1:1 on unit
volume bases, that is; same volume of water for given volume of solid when the domestic
organic materials are used. If the input is in dry form, the quantity of water has to be
increased accordingly to arrive at desired consistency of the inputs. The dilution should be
made to maintain the total solids from 5 to 10%. If it is too diluted, the solid particles will
settled down into the digester. And if it is too thick the particles, impede the flow of gas
formed at the lower part of digester. In the both cases, gas production will be less then
optimum.

4.7 Biodigester
The biodigester is a physical structure, commonly known as biogas plant. Inside the
biogas plant, various chemical and microbiological reactions take place. It is also known as a
bioreactor or anaerobic reactor. The main function of this structure is to provide anaerobic

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condition to the organic materials. The digester should be air and water tight. It can be made
of various construction materials and in different shapes and sizes.

4.7.1 Types of biogas plant

There are mainly three types of simple biogas plants. They are:
1. Balloon plants
2. Fixed dome plants
3. Floating drum plants

5. MATERIALS, EQUIPMENTS AND FACILITIES:

a) Waste materials for methane gas production:

 Kitchen /Canteen waste materials.
 Animal excreta, poultry farm
 Fresh grass, herbs, leaves
 Vegetable waste form vegetable markets.

b) Measuring equipment :
 weight balance
 pressure measuring equipment(pressure gauge)
 universal indicator
 flow meter
 measuring cylinder
 thermometer

c) Fabrication equipment:
 drums
 different pipes
 foam, straw
 plastics
 ply, bricks

d) Software:
 Ansys and Solidworks for drawing and flow visualization

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6. EXPECTED OUTPUTS:

Methane production as biogas energy.

 The use of starchy and oily products as feedstock materials overcomes the
limitations of primitive type of biogas plants by increasing its efficiency.
 Consistency of temperature in digester.
 Less retention time for production of biogas.
 Quality of slurry as fertilizer.

7. EXPECTED BUDGETS:

S.N Materials Number Cost Total

1 Drum 2 2000 4000
2 Pipes 2 500 500
3 Form,straw 1500 1500
4 Lab test 5000 5000
5 Stationary 4000 4000
6 plastic 5000 5000
7 Transportation 5500 5500
8 Miscellaneous 2500 2500
Total Rs. 28000

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8. REFERENCES:

1. www.google.com
2. A biogas handbook
3. A report no renewable energy development strategies and solid biomass fuels in
Nepal - Tara Nath Bhattarai
4. www.google.com (Arti- india biogas company)
5. BSP annual report 2010-11
6. BSP Nepal
7. A final report on design and fabrication of a kitchen waste based biogas plant and
testing with different materials.
By Amblish Kaji Sakya, Kundal Lal Das,Ravi Shah

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