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Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia141 (2017) 000–000
00 (2017) 165–169
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4th International Conference on Power and Energy Systems Engineering, CPESE 2017, 25-29
4th International Conference September
on Power and Energy
2017, Systems
Berlin, Engineering, CPESE 2017, 25-29
Germany
September 2017, Berlin, Germany
Small-Scale TheBiogas Plant from
15th International Symposium Swine FarmHeating
on District in Northern
and Cooling Thailand
Small-Scale Biogas Plant from Swine Farm in Northern Thailand
Assessing
Det Damrongsak the a,a,feasibility
*, Chatchawan ofChaichana
using the b heat demand-outdoor
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and Wongkot Wongsapaibb
Det Damrongsak *, Chatchawan Chaichana and Wongkot Wongsapai
temperature
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Technology of
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Department of Mechanical
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of Engineering,
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Mai University,
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forecast
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Mai, 50200,
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Thailand
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Energy Technology for Environment Research
a,b,c a Center, Faculty
a of Engineering, Chiang
b Mai University, Chiang
c Mai, 50200, Thailand
c
I. Andrić *, A. Pina , P. Ferrão , J. Fournier ., B. Lacarrière , O. Le Corre
a
Abstract
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Abstract Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
c
Département Systèmes
Biogas system and its pipeline network Énergétiques
have been et Environnement
built in a small- IMT Atlantique,
village 4 rue Alfred
in northern Kastler,
Thailand. 4430050Nantes,
About Franceof the total
households
of 257 households in the village get the benefits from biogas technology in many ways.
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farm owner, households, and government sectors. Indeed,
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
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biogas The Authors.
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heat energy for cooking fuel.
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sales. Due under
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Peer-review
Systems under responsibility of the organizing committee of CPESE 2017.
Engineering.
prolonging the investment return period.
Keywords: Biogas; Renewable energy; Swine
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
Keywords: Biogas; Renewable energy; Swine
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
1.renovation
Introduction scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
1.compared
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with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
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to 30% of the total energy consumption by 2036 and reduce dependency on fossil fuel and energy imports [1].
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-5394-4146; fax: +66-5394-4145.
Cooling.
* E-mail det@eng.cmu.ac.th
address:author.
Corresponding Tel.: +66-5394-4146; fax: +66-5394-4145.
E-mail address: det@eng.cmu.ac.th
Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review
1876-6102 ©under
2017responsibility
The Authors. of the organizing
Published committee
by Elsevier Ltd. of CPESE 2017.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CPESE 2017.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 4th International Conference on Power and Energy
Systems Engineering.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.11.031
166 Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 141 (2017) 165–169
Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Ampawan village is located in Taopon subdistrict, Phrae province in northern Thailand. There are some people in
this area owning swine farms. Swine manure and wastewater initiate the environmental concerns, such as wastewater,
bad smell, flies, and insect caused by the swine manure, to all people who live in this area. There are more than 100
households in this village. Most villagers are common farmers, while one of them is the owner of the swine farm
named Jamlong Farm. This farm is located only 1 kilometer from a nearby local community. There are 2,600 pigs in
this farm capable of generating biogas as many as 160 m3/day. Hence, a group of villagers, farm owner and
government officials in this area made an effort to search for a proper solution to decrease pollutions caused by a
swine farm. Finally, they came up with an idea of building the biogas system from swine manure to reduce
pollutions, and at the same time to produce and distribute biogas to households for a cooking fuel in a nearby
community. In Thailand, biogas technology has been developed and a successful renewable energy technology.
Livestock farms frequently use biogas for heat and electricity generation [2-5].
Taopon Subdistrict Administrative Organization (TSAO), who was in charge for handling administrative work in
the area, realized the problems and steps that must be taken to resolve the environmental concerns and make local
people and a farm owner live satisfyingly together. TSAO acknowledged the important and development of the
biogas system in Ampawan village. It received sufficient funds from some sources to build biogas plant along with
its equipment and pipeline network from swine manure. Biogas would be distributed to 50 households who take part
in this project for a cooking fuel. Since heat energy for cooking in households is typically LPG, biogas would be
supplied to households as a cooking fuel to replace LPG. Ampawan Biogas Group (ABG) was established to manage
biogas use among the members. Each household must pay $3 per month for the right to use biogas. This payment
would be used for management and maintenance of biogas system including biogas safety system as well. This
biogas system not only helps the people in the village to trim down the cost of living, but also helps greatly in
decreasing the environmental impact from the swine farm in long term.

2. Biogas program

As a result of high energy prices in Thailand, the national alternative energy development plan aims to increase
the production of alternative energy in the country in order to increase the alternative energy share of the total
energy consumption to 30% by 2036. To reach that target, Thai government encourages all sectors to produce and
use the alternative energy. For instance, financial subsidy for alternative energy projects and the introduction of
feed-in tariff (FIT) program have been offered to entrepreneurs who produce electricity from alternative energy such
as biogas and wind energy.
Pollutions from swine manure were huge concern to local community situated nearby the farm. Wastewater, bad
odor and insects certainly affect the standard of living of people in the village. Biogas system plays a big part in
problem-solving process with respect to pollutions from swine farm. Therefore, the principal focus of biogas system
is on community-based biogas production for local use, and on cutting down the effect of pollutions generated by
swine farm.
Regarding the supporting groups to this biogas project, Energy Conservation Promotion Fund (ENCON), Office
of the Permanent Secretary (OPS) from Ministry of Energy, Taopon Subdistrict Administrative Organization
(TSAO), Ampawan Biogas Group (ABG), and Jamlong Farm are responsible for providing amounts of funds to start
up the biogas project. This funds were used for project management, construction of biogas plant and its equipment,
pipeline network in the village, and biogas stoves for all households who took part in this project. Energy
Technology for Environment Research Center (ETE) from Chiang Mai University was responsible for managing the
project timeline from beginning to the end of the construction of the biogas system. The key to the success of this
project was the common understanding and collaboration between swine farm owner, households in the area, and
supports from government sectors.
The major source of heat energy used for cooking in households is Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). To change
from LPG to biogas, it is important that the biogas plant together with the pipeline network be constructed in the
village. Hence, ENCON, OPS, TSAO, ABG, and Jamlong Farm gave $51,000 for construction of the biogas plant
and pipeline network, and for biogas stoves. Biogas pipeline network was 2,200 meters in distance. All main
pipelines were put beneath the soil surface. With biogas used as a cooking fuel, new biogas stoves were given to all
households who took part in this project to replace LPG stoves. In order to extend the life of biogas system,
 Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 141 (2017) 165–169 167
Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

members and workers of ABG were trained with the basic knowledge of biogas, e.g., system operation, inspection
of biogas leakage, biogas safety, and maintenance issues.
After the biogas system was ready and able to fully operated, biogas was then supplied through pipeline network
to households in the village. The total biogas capacity is 160 m3/day, in which it helped in reducing the release of
methane (CH4) to atmosphere by 64 kg/day equivalent to 1,600 kg CO2. Since each household used LPG for
cooking with the average of 0.46 kg/day equivalent to 1 m3/day of biogas (1 m3 of biogas = 0.46 kg of LPG [6]),
therefore, there was plenty of biogas to cover all 50 households who joined this project.
Ampawan village consists of 257 households [7]. Fig. 1 shows numbers of households with and without the use
of biogas. There are 50 households (19%) participating biogas program. The remaining 207 households (81%) are
not yet decided to join the program because of some difficulties, e.g., lacking of funds and remote location.

50 (19%)

207 (81%)

Biogas No Biogas

Fig. 1. Numbers of households with and without biogas.

3. Analysis of outcomes

3.1. Relationships between stakeholders

Taopon Subdistrict Administrative

1 1
Organization (TSAO)
Environmental Swine
2
pollutions farm 2 Ampawan Biogas Group (ABG)
3
3 Energy Technology for Environment
Research Center (ETE)
Energy cost 4 4 Jamlong Farm
reduction
Biogas system 5 Energy Conservation
5
Alternative energy Promotion Fund (ENCON)
development plan 6
Office of the Permanent
6
Secretary (OPS)

Biogas Energy Households

Fig. 2. Relationships between stakeholders and their involvement in the biogas project.

Since there was concerns with pollutions generated from swine farm nearby Ampawan village, people in the
village made complaints about this matter to the local government office. Thus, Taopon Subdistrict Administrative
Organization (TSAO) consulted with Energy Technology for Environment Research Center (ETE) in order to find
the best way to resolve these pollution problems. ETE conducted surveys on the potentials of biogas yield from
swine farm if biogas plant would be built, and on how many households that biogas yield could adequately supply.
TSAO successfully set a meeting between a swine farm owner and households in community to discuss about the
168 Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 141 (2017) 165–169
Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

development of the biogas system in the village. It was concluded that biogas system must be built to reduce
pollution problems and to produce biogas for supplying to nearby households in the village for a cooking fuel in
replacement of LPG. Not only pollutions have been reduced, but the expense of heat energy used for cooking in
households would also be reduced as well. As a result of the construction of biogas system, Ampawan Biogas Group
(ABG) was founded to manage the biogas system in the village. Fig. 2 shows relationships between all stakeholders
and how they get involved in the project.
In 2014, budget for construction of biogas system was secured from ECON, OPS, TSAO, ABG, and Jamlong
Farm. Thus a 200 m3 biogas plant was built at Jamlong Farm. Biogas pipeline network was constructed for
distributing biogas to all 50 households who took part in the project. ETE was responsible for examining the
construction process and financial subsidy process from ENCON and OPS. Therefore, the relationship between ETE
and local parties on this project were based on the technical and financial issues. All households, who linked up their
stoves to biogas network and paid monthly fee to ABG, were provided biogas from the farm owner for cooking fuel.

3.2. Use of biogas

Before the biogas program was introduced to local community in this area, the main energy source used for
cooking was LPG. Each household used LPG with the average of 0.5 kg/day. This required 25 kg/day of LPG to
cover 50 households who took part in this project. To cover these amounts of LPG, it needed 55 m3/day of biogas.
After the biogas system has been built, people in the villagers are able to decrease the LPG use by 9,125 kg/year
equivalent to approximately $6,700 in payment saving annually. Each household must pay a fee of $3 a month to
ABG as it uses the collected fee for management and maintenance reasons of the biogas system and its pipeline
network. With the presence of biogas, each household is able to reduce the cost of heat energy from previously paid
$11 per month for LPG down to only $3 per month as a regular fee for biogas use.

3.3. Potential uses of biogas

With biogas production of 160 m3 per day, these amounts of biogas can solidly supply about 100 households.
There have already been 50 households taking part in this project. This means the remaining biogas can certainly be
supplied to 50 more households if they decide to join the project in the future. These additional 50 households
normally use about 25 kg of LPG a day. If they make a decision to change heat energy from LPG to biogas, it will
save about $18.4 daily which translates to $6,700 saving annually.

4. Barriers and solutions

4.1. Technical issue

Before having the biogas system, technical issue was a major problem for people in the village. The problem
involved the design, construction, operation and safety concerns of biogas system. The pipeline network and biogas
stoves were another challenge since it required the collaboration between the swine farm owner and many
households in the village. A farm owner still did not have sufficient knowledge of biogas system. People in the local
community were also not aware of technology and its benefit of biogas. Therefore, it was important to train the farm
owner about operation, maintenance, and safety issues of biogas system. The biogas end users (households) must
also be trained with the basic knowledge of biogas as well.
Regarding the biogas safety concerns, training course on biogas safety must be carried out to biogas operators
and people who use biogas in the community. Most biogas main pipelines are placed about 50 centimeters below the
soil surface with signpost indicating where the pipelines are. There are several water drain valves along the entire
biogas pipeline network to drain water out of biogas pipeline. The biogas workers are advised to regularly drain the
water out of biogas pipeline at particular times. In addition, gas leakage detector must be installed in biogas plant to
detect potential gas leaks that sometimes lead to detrimental accidents.
 Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 141 (2017) 165–169 169
Det Damrongsak et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

4.2. Investment

Capital investment was an important issue that must be addressed before the beginning of this biogas project. To
boost the amounts of biogas production in Thailand, the ministry of energy would provide subsidy no more than
60% of the total investment value of the project. The total value of this project was $51,000. The details of payments
by each party for this project are shown in Table 1. With subsidy from the government, the payback period of this
project would be reduced from 11.10 years to 5.10 years.
Table 1. Details of project payments.
Organization Amounts (USD) Portion (%)
Ministry of Energy 27,000 53
Taopon Subdistrict Administrative Organization (TSAO) 18,000 35
Ampawan Biogas Group (ABG) 3,000 6
Jamlong Farm 3,000 6

4.3. Replication and up-scaling

Biogas system has become a successful program due to the firm commitment between all parties participated in
this project. It becomes a good demonstration site of biogas technology where other communities who have
problems with manure wastes can observe and learn from. The biogas model in Ampawan village can be up-scaled
or replicated for some other areas that may be interested in small-scale biogas system. This will help in rising the
use of alternative energy in the country as specified in the national alternative energy development plan.

5. Conclusions

Biogas system and its pipeline network has been successfully built in a small village in northern Thailand. A
number of households participate in this project and receive biogas for cooking fuel. This clearly helps each
household in cutting down the energy cost from LPG by $8 per month. Not only biogas is used as the source of
energy, but also helps in reducing environmental impacts caused by swine manure. People in the local community
gain better knowledge and understanding on biogas technology. The collaboration between local people, biogas
plant owner and government sectors plays an important role to the success of this biogas project.

Acknowledgements

Technical data and assistances from Energy Technology for Environment Research Center, Faculty of
Engineering, Chiang Mai University are gratefully acknowledged.

References

[1] DEDE, Alternative Energy Development Plan: AEDP 2015, Ministry of Energy, Thailand (2015)
[2] N. Tippayawong, A. Promwangkwa, and P. Rerkkriangkrai, “Long term operation of a small biogas/diesel dual-fuel engine for on-farm
electricity generation,” Biosystems Engineering, vol. 98, pp. 26-32 (2007)
[3] W. Wongsapai, P. Thienburanathum, and P. Rerkkriengkrai, "Biogas situation and development in Thai swine farm," International
Conference on Renewable Energy and Power Quality (ICREPQ’08), Santander, Spain, 12-14 March (2008)
[4] D. Damrongsak and N. Tippayawong, “Experimental investigation of an automotive air conditioning system driven by a small biogas
engine,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 30, pp. 400-405 (2010)
[5] D. Damrongsak and N. Tippayawong, “Performance and thermoeconomic analysis of a biogas engine powered ventilation system for
livestock building,” Engineering Journal, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 1-10 (2014)
[6]D. Damrongsak and W. Wongsapai, “Biogas Initiative from Swine Farm in Southern Thailand,” MATEC Web of Conferences, vol. 70, (2016)
[7] TSAO, General Information, Taopon Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Phrae, Thailand. Available: http://www.taopon.go.th/