2010 International Conference on Digital Manufacturing & Automation

Introduction to a large-scale biogas plant in a dairy farm

Xiaolin Fan, Zifu Li, Tingting Wang, Fubin Yin, Xin Jin
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, China
e-mail: springlin0500@163.com

Abstract—This article describes a large-scale biogas plant in a

dairy farm located in the Tongzhou District of Beijing. It is has lacking. Presently, the highlighted problems in cattle farm
a treatment capacity of 30t manure and 30t wastewater per biogas projects are: (1) in pre-treatment process, it is difficult
day, a total of 60t/d with a residence time of 20 days. Input for mixing, removing the grass, grit-sediment, emitting sand.
material undergoes mesophilic fermentation inside the digester, Meanwhile, the operator is at high risk when doing this. (2)
which also directly stores the biogas above the slurry within The scum produced in the digester is difficult to remove
the same tank. This storage method has been found to be which may cause the clogging of the pipes. (3) High energy
advantageous for large scale biogas plants in China. Along
consumption. (4) The slurry has no disposal location, which
with biogas production, this particular plant also adopted a
combined heat and power (CHP) system. CHP systems burn
easily creates secondary pollution in the surroundings.
biogas for generating, but they also convert the excess heat into [2]Therefore, for a dairy farm biogas project, it is vital to
electricity. In this case study, the CHP system generates 160kw choose a reasonable process and a suitable anaerobic digester.
of electricity. These comprehensive systems can provide heat,
clean electricity and organic fertilizer, which can result in
II. PROJECT PROFILE
economic, social and energy saving benefits. Due to these The cattle farm, locating in the Tongzhou area of Beijing,
multiple benefits, CHP systems are commonly used when has more than 2,000 dairy cows and produces about 30t of
dealing with large scale livestock biogas projects.1 manure and a considerable amount of wastewater. The
biogas plant began construction November 2008 and began
Keywords- Large scale biogas plant; CHP; Biogas storage trial operation in September 2009. The designed treatment
within digestor capacity is 30t manure and 30t wastewater per day, a total of
60t/d with a residence time of 20 days. Input material
I. INTRODUCTION` undergoes mesophilic fermentation inside the digester, which
In recent years, China's large scale livestock industry has also directly stores the biogas above the slurry within the
grown rapidly. However, this has also led to the rapid same tank. The integrated CHP system produces 160kw of
increase of high concentrations of livestock dung as well as electricity.
water needed for cleaning this dung [1]. According to III. PROCESS FLOWS
statistics, at the end of year 2008, 610 million pigs, 44.5
million cattle and 10221.5 million poultry animals were A. Process flows
slaughtered in China. It is estimated that a cattle farm with
1000 cows will generate 50t manure and urine per day. Figure 1 shows the process flow of the biogas plant.
Although a small amount of this manure is used as fertilizer,
the majority is usually just discharged around the farm.
Although this practice is not allowed by the government,
small scale farms tend to ignore these regulations. However,
if these farms wish to further develop and expand, they must
follow the regulations or risk getting shut down. These
restrictions are one of the main limiting factors of cattle farm
development.
Anaerobic digestion can be an effective solution for
treating this farm waste, not only to reduce impact on the
environment, but also to produce biogas energy, which is
renewable.
China has been implementing large scale pig farm biogas Figure 1. Process flow diagram
projects much longer than it has large scale cattle farm
biogas projects, so design experience of cattle farms is still B. Main constructin
Main construction of the biogas plant can be seen in
Project Fund: "Eleventh Five-Year" National Science and table1.
Technology Support Programme.

978-0-7695-4286-7/10 $26.00 © 2010 IEEE 862

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DOI 10.1109/ICDMA.2010.271
 TABLE I. MAIN CONSTRUCTION OF THE BIOGAS PLANT
Process unit Construction Scale
Pre-treatment Hydrolysis tank 80m3
Anaerobic Biogas storage within 1200m3digester+350m3
digestion digester biogas storage
A centrifuge
Digestate
Slurry pond 100m2
Chemical desulfurization
Biogas clean-up
CHP 160kw
and utilization
Gas fired-boiler
C. Pre-treatment
There are a lot of crude fibers in cow dung, and the litter,
hair, feed residues and gravel are usually mixed with the
manure during collection. As a result, pre-treatment is
needed. At the same time, adjusting the feed concentration
and temperature are also necessary. Pre-treatment is the key
part of the whole biogas plant. If the feed quality cannot be
ensured, the digester operation will be very unstable.
Therefore, pre-treatment should be fully taken into account
when designing a biogas plant to ensure smooth flow and
easy operation [3].
In this plant, a round hydrolysis tank with residence time
of 24h was used to degrade the organic molecules into small
molecular organic compounds. This also reduces the SS of
the feed. A sand-removing machine in the tank was
established to regularly remove sand. In addition, a mixer
was used to ensure the feed was homogeneous. In operation,
before putting manure into the digester, the mixer should be
opened to prevent accumulation in the tank.
The crude fibers in cow dung may affect the normal
operation of the feed pump. Inside the digester, it is easy for
scum and crust to form. Thus, a shear pump was set up
before the feed pump to cut the fibers up to reduce the
adverse effects of long grass.
The temperature in the tank is maintained at about 30℃
by the heating coil pipes inside the tank. Sometimes the
return digestate can also increase the heat.
D. Anaerobic digestion
z Biogas storage within digester
Biogas storage within the digester was adopted in the
plant. With the advantage of low cost, less occupation, short
working period and stable running in winter, biogas storage
within the digester is the mainstream digester type in large-
scale biogas plants in Germany and may also be suitable for
large-scale biogas projects in China. In recent years, it has
been adopted in China.
Compared to traditional separate digester-storage, storage
within the digester has fewer issues with air leakages in the
anaerobic tank and gas holder. The bottom section of the
reactor is the part of anaerobic digester of the CSTR
(Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor). The steel tank has a
storage of 1200m3, diameter of 16m, and 6m height. An
anaerobic tank equipped with an energy efficient mixing
device (1 inclined paddle type agitator and 1 crust-broken
agitator), resolves problems of: high solids, material
inequality, poor mass transfer and large dead zone,
acidification and crust formation. Coil pipes for heating were
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also installed inside the inner of the tank wall. A biogas
pressure protector was also equipped for the tank. When the
gas pressure exceeds the set range, the pressure protection
device automatically releases some biogas, and air is pumped
in to keep the pressure in a certain range to protect the
reactor from damage otherwise.
The top of the reactor is for biogas storage, and uses
spherical dual membranes and has a gas storage cabinet of
350m3. The constant 500 Pa pressure between the
membranes is created by a blower to protect the outer
membrane and to maintain the shape and structure of the gas
holder. This also helps transport the biogas to the pipes.
Figure 2. the digester combining with biogas storage of the plant
Compared with the traditional split-type biogas system,
the biogas storage within the digester has the following
advantages [4]:
¾ Suitable for mesophilic fermentation with high
TS(8%~10%), stable operation throughout the
year;
¾ Air tight seals between the anaerobic tank and the
gas holder are not needed, thus, 15% investment
can be reduced;
¾ Reduce the size of the reactor, energy-saving;
¾ Reduce consumption, transport of output material
can be reduced
¾ Short construction period, half can be realized.
z Feed concentration
Choices of biogas feed concentration are primarily based
on two considerations: the energy balance and ammonia
concentration [5]. From the perspective of the energy
balance, high TS levels helps to reduce the amount of
material, therefore reducing heating and saving energy. It is
generally believed that when the TS is greater than 8%, the
waste heat of the generator can meet the need of the
fermentation system in the winter. On the other hand,
considering the ammonia concentration [6, 7], the TS level
cannot be too high or else it may affect the stability of the
fermentation process. In conclusion, 10% TS was designed
for in this biogas plant.
z Stirring
Appropriate mixing allows full contact for micro-
organisms and fermentation raw materials to ensure uniform
material while breaking stratifications and reducing the dead
zone. Stirring can also prevent sediment accumulation and
can break the scum layer which accelerates the separation of
biogas and substrate. Gas producing rate can be enhanced by
stirring.
In this plant, a low-speed, low-power inclined paddle
type agitator was equipped. The unit power is 6.25W/m3. In
addition, a crust-breaking agitator was set to prevent the
scum and crusts. From an engineering aspect, frequency
conversion control was adopted to minimize the energy
consumption.
Figure 3. Inner structure of the reactor
z Heating
For application in cold northern regions, coil pipes for
heating were installed inside the inner of the tank wall. The
generator waste heat was also used to warm the feed and the
reactor.
The temperature in the reactor is kept at 38℃, while the
hydrolysis tank is kept at 30℃.
Figure 4. The coil pipes inside the tank
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z Biological desulfurization
The hydrogen sulfide content in biogas is between 500 ~
2000ppmv in anaerobic digesters using cow dung as the
substrate. Biological desulfurization is the oxidation of H2S
into elemental sulfur or sulfite by colorless sulfur bacteria
such as Thiobacillus thiooxidans, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans,
etc., in the micro-oxygen conditions. [8]The equations are as
follows:
2H2S+O2---2S+2H2O (1)
2H2S+3O2---2H2SO3 (2)
A certain amount of air is injected into the top of the
reactor (about 0.7m3 air/d) to initially remove the H2S. After
biological desulfurization, the H2S content becomes about
400 ppmv, which is far below the normal level. This will
reduce the need for chemical desulfurization, which can
lower operating costs.
Figure 5. Air compressors and flowmeter for bio-desulfurization
z Digestate
Abundant nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or
potassium, are rich in the digestate and can be used as
organic fertilizer for agriculture [9]. Appropriate
comprehensive treatment can not only avoid secondary
pollution, but also increase economic benefits. The solid and
liquid digestate are separated in the centrifuge. The solid
body can be applied as organic fertilizer, while the liquid
could be discharged to the tank.
Figure 6. The solid parts after the centrifuges
E. Biogas clean-up and utilization
z Biogas clean-up
H2O and H2S in biogas need to be removed before entering
the generator and the boiler. H2O in biogas will lower the
heating value, reducing the generating efficiency. H2S is
reported to cause several health problems including:
headaches, nausea and eye irritation [10]. It may also
contribute to the corrosion of instruments and equipment. A
steam-water separator and a freeze drying instrument were
used to remove the H2S in biogas. After initial biological
desulfurization in the reactor, chemical removal is adopted
subsequently. The desulfurization agent is the high-efficient
iron oxide. After chemical desulfurization, the outlet could
not detect presence of hydrogen sulfide.
z Biogas utilization
In the early period of operation, all biogas production is
completely used by the boiler for heating. After stable
operation, the CHP can begin to provide electricity which
can be used for producing lighting, cooking, etc. for the dairy
farm. Generally speaking, 1m3 biogas can generate 1.5~2.0
kwh power. Based on the fact that the gas production rate is
1.0 m3/m3/d and 1m3 biogas generates 1.8kwh power, the
biogas plant can produce 788,400 kwh every year.
Figure 7. CHP
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This comprehensive biogas system turns the livestock
manure into clean electricity, heat and organic fertilizers, and
it serves as a very successful and commonly used model for
large-scale livestock biogas projects. The biogas plant has
good economic, social and energy saving benefits. Compared
to a traditional anaerobic digester, biogas storage within the
digester has a great advantage. Practice has proved that the
integrated reactor is suitable for large scale biogas projects
and has broad prospects in China.
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors thank the financial support of China Key
Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar
Program during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period entitled
“Large-Scale Biogas Production and Storage Integrated
System Project” (Term no. 2008BADC4B10).
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