Production of BIOGAS:

basic calculations
Tutorial for the course

Renewable Energy Technology

RET (MJ2411)
Miro Petrov
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH

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 Biogas via anaerobic digestion
- technology overview
Simplified overall biochemical stoichiometry of cellulose conversion via anaerobic digestion:

C6H10O5 + H2O  3 CH4 + 3 CO2

Anaerobic digestion proceeds in absence of oxygen and is a product of

the life cycle of a naturally occurring cluster of various microorganisms,
resulting in the production of methane.

The overall process is divided in the following intermediate steps:

• Hydrolysis – cellulose, starch, proteins, lipids, etc., are hydrolysed to soluble compounds;
• Fermentation/Acidogenesis – conversion to amino acids, fatty acids, alcohols;
• Acetogenesis – further conversion to hydrogen, low-weight acids (primarily acetic acid) and CO2;
• Methanogenesis – intermediate products are reacted together to produce CH4

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 Biogas system overview
It is very important to prevent any methane escaping to the atmosphere from the biogas production or
upgrading processes!
Quality control and
Crops separation of
unwanted material
Organic
residues Outsorted
Biogas to cars
material
and buses
Sand,
etc.

Pretreatment, mixing, Cleaning & upgrading

Sterilizing at and separation of of biogas to fuel
70 oC for
Biogas from sewage
inert material treatment quality
1 hour

Surplus gas to
Digestion at heat and power
37 oC for generation
20-30 days
Sludge to the
fields as fertilizer

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 Farm-scale biogas plants
Source: Nordic Folkecenter
for Renewable Energy,
Denmark
www.folkecenter.net

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Horizontal (plug-flow) biogas digester

The typical plug-flow biogas digester for smaller-scale applications:

Source: Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, Denmark. www.folkecenter.net

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 Large-scale biogas plants

• Centralized collection and treatment of various organic

material, such as manure from several regional farms,
fresh biomass (purpose-grown grass or agricultural
residues), domestic organic waste, industrial organic
waste, etc.

• Larger digesters are necessary – usually of the silo type.

• More optimized and better controlled process conditions =

higher yield of biogas per unit substrate material

• Biogas upgrading process can be economically employed.

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 Vertical (silo) biogas digester
Vertical biogas digesters are usually used for larger-scale centralized biogas plants:

Source: Nordic Folkecenter

for Renewable Energy,
Denmark.
www.folkecenter.net

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 Practical process steps
• The substrate is diluted with water for two reasons – (a) to be
easily pumped around; and (b) to maintain anaerobic conditions!
(Only small percentage of solid material in a unit mass of substrate)

• Digestion for 20-30 days at constant 37 oC. Should be kept

as steady as possible. Very vulnerable to sharp changes in either
process conditions or to highly variable substrate material!
(Needs a large volume digester to even out any fluctuations, certain energy
input to keep it warm, and often has a considerable water consumption)

• Pretreatment (stabilization, sterilization/pasteurizing, etc) and often

also aftertreatment (post-digestion tank, sterilization of the residue,
etc.) are sometimes needed

• Biogas upgrade – can be economically applied for large-scale production.

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Biogas yield from different substrates

Typical average
biogas yield from
various types of
organic wastes

Source: Nordic Folkecenter

for Renewable Energy,
Denmark.
www.folkecenter.net

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 Example 1: Farm-scale biogas

• A small dairy farm has 100 cows. Each cow produces 50 kg manure/day.
• Additionally, around 1 m3/day of forage residue or grass silage from the pastures can
be collected, mixed with the manure, and sent to the biogas digester.

• The total substrate potential is therefore:

5000 kg manure (= 5 ton/day ~ 5 m3/day) + 1 m3/day additives = 6 m3/day!

• Chosen retention time of 30 days  6 m3/day * 30 days = 180 m3 digester.

Chosen digester type: horizontal cylindrical digester, low-cost pre-manufactured.

• Transportation limitations to the farm: max. Ø = 3 m; max. length 15 m.

This suggests a maximum horizontal digester of 106 m3, hence 2 such units are
needed to operate in parallel.

• No pre- or after-treatment. The biogas will be burned locally without storage or upgrade.
Expected raw biogas with 55% methane content, thus having a calorific value (LHV) of
~ 20 MJ/mn3 = 5.55 kWhthermal/mn3

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 Example 1: Yield prediction
Biogas Yield (produced raw biogas per ton liquid substrate):

• For cow manure, typically 27 mn3/ton;

Assuming that the manure is mixed with water already in the stable and directly pumped to the
digester without need for preheating or intermediate storage;
Biogas yield from manure  5 ton/day * 27 mn3/ton = 135 mn3/day

• For the supplementary substrate – mixed fodder and grass residue – a plausible yield
average value is ~ 150 mn3/ton fresh mass.
Assuming that the additional residues already have a high moisture content, are stored in the
stable and mixed directly into the liquid manure with negligible amount of added water, and also
that 1 m3 ready substrate carries ~1 ton fresh mass of residues;
Biogas yield from additional residues  1 ton/day * 150 mn3/ton = 150 mn3/day

• Total biogas production at steady operation = 135 + 150 = 285 mn3/day

• Gross energy output of the system  285 mn3/day * 5.55 kWh/mn3 = 1582 kWhth/day
Thermal energy rate of the biogas product output = ~ 66 kWth

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 Example 1:
parasitic energy consumption
• Pump load can be neglected. Start-up or off-design operation is disregarded.
Assumed continuous operation at steady conditions, constant temperature of 37 oC and
constant inflow of fresh substrate with the same outflow of spent liquid

• Digester outer wall surface = 156 m2 (a cylinder of 3 m diameter and 15 m length)

• Reasonable heat insulation  average thermal loss of ~ 1 W/m2.K

• If during a cold winter day (0oC ambient temperature)  ΔT = 37oC = 37 K

This gives 2 * 156 * 1 * 37 = 11544 W of thermal loss  ~ 12 kW constant
heat input necessary to maintain proper operational conditions!

• Necessary heat input for one day: 12 kWth * 24 h = 288 kWhth/day

Therefore there is 288/1582 = 0.182  18% internal energy consumption for
heating the digesters on a cold day!

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Example 2: Large-scale biogas plant
• Two large dairy farms with 1000 cows each would feed manure to a centralized biogas
digester plant. Each cow produces 50 kg liquid manure per day.
• Additionally, various other sources in the region would deliver a total of 100 ton/day of
different supplementary substrates, such as:
a) Sorted organic municipal solid waste (food & vegetable garbage), at 50 ton liquid sap per day;
b) Flotation slurry from a local milk-processing factory, at 20 ton liquid substrate per day;
c) Organic residues from a local potato chip factory, at 20 ton liquid sap per day;
d) Flotation slurry from a local fish processing factory, at 10 ton liquid substrate per day.

• The total substrate potential (assuming 1 ton = ~1 m3 liquid substrate) is therefore:

2*1000*50 kg manure/day = 100 ton/day + supplements of 100 ton/day = 200 ton/day

• Chosen retention time of only 20 days  200 m3/day * 20 days = 4000 m3 digester.
Needs a vertical cylindrical digester, constructed on-site, plus a post-digestion tank of the same volume.
Suggested dimensions for the digester and the post-digester: 20 m Ø at base, 13 m height.

• The biogas will be upgraded to ~95% methane and sold as SNG (substitute natural gas).
• Therefore, the final product has a calorific value (LHV) of ~34 MJ/mn3 = 9.44 kWhth/mn3
However, raw biogas still has a calorific value such as in the previous example.

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 Example 2: Yield prediction
Biogas Yield – using the table on slide 9 and assuming average % content of solids (VS):

• For cow manure, typical yield is 27 mn3/ton;

Biogas yield from manure  100 ton/day * 27 mn3/ton = 2700 mn3/day

• For the vegetable waste – average expected productivity of 25 mn3/ton;

Biogas yield from vegetable sap  50 ton/day * 25 mn3/ton = 1250 mn3/day

• For the dairy factory flotation slurry – average expected productivity of 45 mn3/ton;
Biogas yield from vegetable sap  20 ton/day * 45 mn3/ton = 900 mn3/day

• For the potato chip factory residues – average expected productivity of 21 mn3/ton;
Biogas yield from vegetable sap  20 ton/day * 21 mn3/ton = 420 mn3/day

• For the fish-meal flotation slurry – average expected productivity of 80 mn3/ton;

Biogas yield from vegetable sap  10 ton/day * 80 mn3/ton = 800 mn3/day

Total raw biogas production at steady operation = 2700+1250+900+420+800 = 6070 mn3/day

• Gross energy output of the system  6070 mn3/day * 5.55 kWh/mn3 = 33.7 MWhth/day
Thermal energy rate of the raw biogas product output = 1.4 MWth

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 Example 2:
parasitic energy consumption
Pump load can again be neglected. Start-up or off-design operation are disregarded too. Assumed continuous operation at
steady conditions, at constant 37oC and constant inflow/outflow of fresh/spent substrate residing 20 days in the digester.
• Three main items of internal energy consumption should be considered in this case:
1) Heat leaking to the surroundings, as in the small-scale example;
2) Additionally, the energy consumption for biogas upgrade should be taken into account here;
3) Also, the energy input for substrate pretreatment and preheating need be accounted for.

• Heat loss to surroundings through digester walls:

Digester outer wall surface = 1445 m2 , but here we have also a post-digester, so total wall surface = 2890 m2
Better heat insulation of tank walls  average thermal loss of ~ 0.7 W/m2K. On a cold day again ΔT = 37 K.
Heat loss rate = 2890 * 0.7 * 37 = 74851 Wth ~ 75 kWth (relatively low if compared to the small-scale case!)

• Energy consumption for biogas upgrade:

The overall electrical power needed for biogas scrubbing via the most commercial technologies, based on
various literature sources, can be deducted to be on average ~ 0.3 kWhel per mn3 raw biogas.
Electricity input for a biogas scrubber = 0.3 kWhel/mn3 * 6070 mn3/day = 1821 kWhel/day = ~ 76 kWel

• Energy input for substrate pretreatment:

The major internal energy consumption related to pretreatment is the thermal power needed to preheat the substrate to
operating conditions. If the substrate arrives cold, say 5oC, and is heated up to 37oC (ΔT = 32 K), having a specific heat
capacity similar to pure liquid water (cp= 4.18 kJ/kgK)  this would certainly be the largest parasitic load for the system!
Heat rate needed for preheating = 200*103 kg/day * 4.18 * 32 = 26.752*106 kJth/day = 310 kWth

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 Example 2: Discussion

Assuming the electrical power is produced internally by a biogas-burning engine with 33% el. efficiency:
Raw thermal energy consumption for biogas upgrade = 76 kWel / 0.33 = 230 kWth

• Total thermal parasitic load for the large-scale biogas plant:

Total internal heat consumption = 75 + 230 + 310 = 615 kWth

• Internal efficiency of the system:

Total internal heat consumption = 615 / 1404 = 0.438  therefore:

There is ~ 44% internal parasitic heat load for running the continuous digestion process!

The largest internal energy consumption occurs in the biogas scrubber and substrate preheater!

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