CASE STUDY –BIOGAS

PRODUCTION
 Introduction
Animal and agricultural wastes constitute a high proportion
of biomass and their utilization and recycling is important for
economical and environmental aspects.
Anaerobic digestion Methanogens the most widely used
processes for treating these wastes and represents an
attractive method for treating organic wastes for biogas
production as alternative energy sources
 PROBLEM DEFINITION
Fossil fuel sources depletion
Need for a renewable energy source
Effective utilization of plant, animal, human and agricultural
waste.

CASE STUDY HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT BY

NANOFLUIDS
 Waste treatment:

• Anaerobic digestion is usually the basic biological treatment

process for high organic strength wastewaters to produce
biogas methane gas.
• The process can be carried out in relatively inexpensive and
simple reactor design and operating procedures.
What is biogas?
• A mixture of methane and carbon
dioxide

CH4

CO2
How is it made?
Biogas is produced by the breakdown of organic waste by
bacteria without oxygen (anaerobic digestion or
fermentation).
Leftover food from houses, shops,
restaurants and factories

Leftover straw and

Cow, sheep and What types of organic waste could be turned
crops from farming
chicken manure in biogas? Sewage

Leftover meat and

blood from abattoirs
Biological processes of anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic Digestion in a Biodigester

• Digester is fed a mixture of water and waste called a slurry

• Daily, fresh slurry is added, displacing previous days load that bacteria have
started to digest

• First, digestible organic matter is broken down by acid-producing bacteria

• By-products are then broken down by methane-producing bacteria

How Much Biogas Can I Get From My Waste?

• Amount of biogas depends on the waste itself and design of the digester.

• Some digesters can yield 20 liters of biogas per kilogram of waste up to 800 liters per kilogram.

• Factors: waste quality, digester design, temperature, system operation, presence of oxygen.
 Methanogens
• Methanogens are group of microbes known as methanogens
that produce methane gas
• They can be used as sources of biogas
• This would be a renewable source of energy
 Classification
•Methanogens belong to the Archaea group
•Examples
Methanococcus jannaschii
Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

The prokaryote kingdom has been split into several further

kingdoms (e.g. Archaea and Eubacteria) based on the genetics
and biochemistry of microbes
Methanogens can also utilize methane as a substrate in conjunction with the
reduction of sulfate and nitrate.
 Biochemistry
• Methanogens are chemoautotrophs
• Methanogens use a number of different ways to produce
methane
Using ethanoate (acetate) that derived from the decomposition of
cellulose:
CH3COO+ + H-  CH4 + CO2 +36 kJ mol-1
And using hydrogen and carbon dioxide produced by the
decomposers:
4 H2 + CO2  CH4 + 2 H2O +130.4 kJ mol-1
 By-products of anaerobic digestion

• There are three principal by-products of anaerobic digestion.

•  
1. Biogas, a gaseous mixture comprising mostly of methane
and carbon dioxide, but also containing a small amount
hydrogen and occasionally trace levels of hydrogen sulfide.
Biogas can be burned to produce electricity
 Biogas
• Biogas consists of about 40% CO2
and 60% CH4

BEA Dithmarschen
Biogas composition
Matter  %
Methane, CH4 50-75
Carbon dioxide, CO2 25-50
Nitrogen, N2 0-10*
Hydrogen, H2 0-1
Hydrogen sulphide, H2S 0-3
Oxygen, O2 0-2*
2. (acidogenic digestate) is a stable organic material
comprised largely of lignin and chitin, but also of a variety
of mineral components in a matrix of dead bacterial cells;
some plastic may be present. This resembles domestic
compost and can be used as compost or to make low grade
building products such as fibreboard.
3. A liquid (methanogenic digestate) that is rich in nutrients and
can be an excellent fertilizer dependent on the quality of the
material being digested.
 Biogas production

• Requirements & Materials:

• Anaerobic fermenter (methanogens and decomposers)
• anaerobic conditions
• an optimum temperature of 30- 35°C
• an optimum pH of 6.5 to 8
This needs to be monitored as the decomposers produce acids and they work
faster than the methanogens consume the acids
• organic waste (biomass) e.g. sewage, wood ,animal wastes and olive oil wastes
 Experimental set-up:

Graduated gas

Cylinder •

bioreactors Water bath