Biogas

By Aditya Kumar
 What is Biogas?

Biogas is a renewable fuel produced by the breakdown of organic matter such as food scraps and
animal waste. It’s produced when organic matter, such as food or animal waste, is broken down by
microorganisms in the absence of oxygen, in a process called anaerobic digestion.

Biogas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide. It can also include small amounts of hydrogen
sulphide, siloxanes and some moisture. The relative quantities of these vary depending on the type of
waste involved in the production of the resulting biogas.
 Some interesting facts related to Biogas

● The first human use of biogas is thought to date back to 3,000 BC in the Middle East, when the Assyrians
used biogas to heat their baths.
● The first large anaerobic digestion plant dates back to 1859 in a leper colony in Bombay.
● In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome the post-apocalyptic settlement Bartertown, run by Tina Turner’s
terrifying Aunty Entity, is powered by a pig-farm biogas system with biogas used to power the desert-chasing
vehicles.
● China has the largest number of biogas plants, with an estimated 50 million households using biogas. These
are mostly in rural areas and small-scale home and village plants.
● The torch at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was fuelled with biogas.
 Biogas Production Process

The process of biogas production is anaerobic in nature and takes place in two stages. The two stages have been
termed as acid formation stage and methane formation stage.

● In the acid formation stage, the biodegradable complex organic compounds present in the waste materials are
acted upon by a group of acid forming bacteria present in the dung. Since the organic acids are the main
products in this stage, it is known as acid forming stage.

● In the second stage, groups of methanogenic bacteria act upon the organic acids to produce methane gas.
 Raw materials for Biogas production

Although, cattle dung has been recognized as the chief raw material for biogas plants, other materials like
night-soil, poultry litter and agricultural wastes can also be used.
 Advantages of Biogas

● It is a eco-friendly fuel and a replacement of fossil fuels.

● The required raw materials for biogas production are available abundantly in villages.
● It not only produces biogas, but also gives us nutrient rich slurry that can be used for crop production.
● It prevents the health hazards of smoke in poorly ventilated rural households that use dung cake and firewood
for cooking.
● It helps to keep the environment clean, as there would be no open heap of dung or other waste materials that
attract flies, insects and infections.
● Availability of biogas would reduce the use of firewood and hence trees could be saved.
 Components of biogas plants

● Mixing tank - The feed material (dung) is collected in the mixing tank. Sufficient water is added and the
material is thoroughly mixed till a homogeneous slurry is formed.
● Inlet pipe - The substrate is discharged into the digester through the inlet pipe/tank.
● Digester - The slurry is fermented inside the digester and biogas is produced through bacterial action.
● Gas holder or gas storage dome - The biogas gets collected in the gas holder, which holds the gas until the
time of consumption.
● Outlet pipe - The digested slurry is discharged into the outlet tank either through the outlet pipe or the
opening provided in the digester.
● Gas pipeline - The gas pipeline carries the gas to the point of utilization, such as a stove or lamp.
Points to be considered for construction of a biogas plant
Site selection- While selecting a site for a biogas plant, following aspects should be considered

● The land should be levelled and at a higher elevation than the surroundings to avoid water stagnation
● Soil should not be too loose and should have a bearing strength of 2 kg/cm2.
● It should be nearer to the intended place of gas use (eg. home or farm).
● It should also be nearer to the cattle shed/ stable for easy handling of raw materials.
● The water table should not be very high.
● Adequate supply of water should be there at the plant site. The plant should get clear sunshine during most
part of the day.
● The plant site should be well ventilated.
● A minimum distance of 1.5m should be kept between the plant and any wall or foundation.
● It should be away from any tree to prevent root interference.
● It should be at least 15m away from any well used for drinking water purpose.
 Availability of raw materials

The size of the biogas plant is to be decided based on availability of raw material. It is generally said
that, average cattle yield is about 10 kg dung per day. For eg. the average gas production from dung may
be taken as 40 lit/kg. of fresh dung. The total dung required for production of 3 m3 biogas is 3/0.04= 75
kgs. Hence, a minimum of 4 cattle is required to generate the required quantity of cow dung.
Average maximum biogas production from different feed stocks

S.No. Feed Stock Litre /kg of dry matter % Methane content

1 Dung 350 60

2 Night Soil 400 65

3 Poultry Manure 440 65

4 Dry Leaf 450 44

5 Sugarcane Trash 750 45

6 Maize Straw 800 46

7 Straw Powder 930 46

 Average dung yield
S.No. Living Being Quality Of Dung produce (Kg/day)

1 Cow, Heifer 10

2 Bullock 14

3 Buffalo 15

4 Young Bovine 5

5 Horse 14

6 Pigs 2.5

7 Goats 1

8 Lambs 0.5

9 Ducks 0.1

10 10 Hens 0.4

11 Human Being 0.4

Requirement of cattle for various sizes of biogas plants

Plant Size in m3 Minimum number of cattle required

2 3

3 4

4 6

6 10

8 15

25 45
 Calorific values of commonly used fuels

Commonly used fuels Calorific values in KiloCalories Thermal efficiency

Biogas 4713/M3 60%

Dung Cake 2093/Kg 11%

Fire Wood 4978/Kg 17.30%

Diesel 10550/Kg 66%

Kerosene 10850/Kg 50%

Petrol 11100/Kg ___

 Technical guidelines for establishment of Biogas plants

1.Digester Design

● The recommendation of KVIC is to have a digester volume of 2.75 times the volume of gas
produced per day.
● KVIC recommendation for the depth of the plant is between 4 to 6 m according to the size but for
economical use of building materials, a depth to diameter ratio between 1.0 to 1.3 are considered
ideal for all types of plants. In a floating drum plant, a continuous ledge is built into the digester
at a depth 10 cm. Shorter than the height of the gas drum to prevent the gas holder from going
down when no gas is left in it. It helps in preventing the gas inlet being choked. It also guides the
gas bubbles rising from the side of the plants into the gas bolder.
● In some plants slurry is fed at the bottom and removed at the top. When the digester diameter
exceeds 1.6 m, a partition wall is provided in the digester to prevent short circuiting of slurry
flow and increasing its retention period. In case of fixed dome plants, the volume of digester
comes to between 1.5 times to 2.75 times the gas produced per day. Here, the higher the plant
capacity, the lesser becomes the ratio of digester volume to gas produced per day.
 2.Gas Holder Design

● The design of a gas holder is influenced by the digester dia­meter and distribution of gas use
during the day. For domestic plants, the gas holder capacity is kept at 60% of a day's gas
production and in case of laboratories, it is kept at 70% of the day's gas production.
● In a floating drum plant, the gas holder diameter is 15 cm, less than the diameter of the digester
and accordingly the other dimensions are decided. The gas holder can be given a rotary
movement around its guide to break the scum formation at the top.
● In a fixed dome plant the dome angle is kept between 17° and 21° and it gives a pressure upto
100 cm. of water. Due to higher pressure, the diameter of gas pipelines can be re­duced and the
gas can be taken to greater distance. In this plant, care should be taken to provide an earth
pressure equivalent to 100 cm of water column from the top of the dome. Always use 'A' class
bricks in the domes for better stability.
3. Inlet Tank

Before the dung is fed into the plant, it is mixed with water in a tank to give a solid content of 7.5
per cent to 10 per cent in the slurry. This tank also helps in removing grass and other floating
materials from the raw materials to prevent excessive scum formation in the plant. This tank is
connected to the digester by an asbestos cement pipe. The floor of the mixing tank is given a
slope opposite to the direction of inlet pipe to help heavy inorganic solid particles to settle and
get separated from the slurry.
 Types of Biogas Plants in India

A total of seven different types of biogas plant have been officially recognised by the MNES.
These are-

1. The floating-drum plant with a cylindrical digester (KVIC model)

2. The fixed-dome plant with a brick reinforced, moulded dome (Janata model)
3. The floating-drum plant with a hemisphere digester (Pragati model)
4. The fixed-dome plant with a hemisphere digester (Deenbandhu model)
5. The floating-drum plant made of angular steel and plastic foil (Ganesh model)
6. The floating-drum plant made of prefabricated reinforced concrete compound units
7. The floating-drum plant made of fibre-glass reinforced polyester.
 Floating-drum plant with a cylindrical digester (KVIC model)

This mainly consists of a digester or pit for fermentation and a floating drum for the collection of gas.
Digester is 3.5-6.5 m in depth and 1.2 to 1.6 m in diameter. There is a partition wall in the center,
which divides the digester vertically and submerges in the slurry when it is full. The digester is
connected to the inlet and outlet by two pipes. Through the inlet, the dung is mixed with water (4:5)
and loaded into the digester. The fermented material will flow out through outlet pipe. The outlet is
generally connected to a compost pit. The gas generation takes place slowly and in two stages. In the
first stage, the complex, organic substances contained in the waste are acted upon by a certain kind of
bacteria, called acid formers and broken up into small-chain simple acids. In the second stage, these
acids are acted upon by another kind of bacteria, called methane formers and produce methane and
carbon dioxide.
KVIC floating-drum plant biogas digester
KVIC Model Biogas Plant
 Fixed-dome plant with a brick reinforced, moulded dome (Janata model)

The design of this plant is of Chinese origin but it has been introduced under the name “Janata biogas plant” by
Gobar Gas Research Station, Ajitmal in view of its reduced cost. This is a plant where no steel is used, there is
no moving part in it and maintenance cost is low. The plant can be constructed by village mason taking some
pre-explained precautions and using all the indigenously available building materials. Good quality of bricks
and cement should be used to avoid the afterward structural problems like cracking of the dome and leakage of
gas. This model have a higher capacity when compared with KVIC model, hence it can be used as a community
biogas plant. This design has longer life than KVIC models. Substrates other than cattle dung such as municipal
waste and plant residues can also be used in janata type plants. The plant consists of an underground well sort
of digester made of bricks and cement having a dome shaped roof which remains below the ground level is
shown in figure. At almost middle of the digester, there are two rectangular openings facing each other and
coming up to a little above the ground level, act as an inlet and outlet of the plant. Dome shaped roof is fitted
with a pipe at its top which is the gas outlet of the plant. The principle of gas production is same as that of
KVIC model. The biogas is collected in the restricted space of the fixed dome, hence the pressure of gas is
much higher, which is around 90 cm of water column.
Janata model Biogas Plant
 Fixed-dome plant with a hemisphere digester (Deenbandhu model)
Deenbandhu model was developed in 1984, by Action for Food Production (AFPRO), a voluntary organization
based in New Delhi. Schematic diagram of a Deenabandhu biogas plantentire biogas programme of India as it
reduced the cost of the plant half of that of KVIC model and brought biogas technology within the reach of
even the poorer sections of the population. The cost reduction has been achieved by minimizing the surface
area through joining the segments of two spheres of different diameters at their bases. The cost of a
Deenbandhu plant having a capacity of 2 m3/day is about Rs.8000-00. The Deenbandhu biogas plant has a
hemispherical fixed-dome type of gas holder, unlike the floating dome of of the KVIC-design is shown. The
dome is made from prefabricated ferrocement or reinforced concrete and attached to the digester, which has a
curved bottom. The slurry is fed from a mixing tank through an inlet pipe connected to the digester. After
fermentation, the biogas collects in the space under the dome. It is taken out for use through a pipe connected
to the top of the dome, while the sludge, which is a by-product, comes out through an opening in the side of
the digester. About 90 percent of the biogas plants in India are of the Deenbandhu type.
Deenbandhu Biogas Model
Deenbandhu Biogas Plant
Shakthi - Surabhi - Biogas plant for households

Shakthi-Surabhi is a kitchen waste based biogas plant.

It works on similar principles of a traditional biogas
plant, but has been modified to suit urban
requirements also. The unit consists of an inlet waste
feed pipe, a digester, gas holder, water jacket, a gas
delivery system and an outlet pipe. It is developed by
the Vivekananda Kendra, Natural Resources
Development Project (Vknardep), Kanyakumari,
Tamil Nadu.
In what way does this unit promise to be a better alternative to the conventional biogas plants?

● Cattle dung is a major input for the conventional plants. And everyday the dung should be
mixed as slurry and poured into the gas tank. But for Shakthi-surabhi, cattle dung is required
for initial charging. Later on, kitchen and other wastes (leftover cooked food (veg and non-
veg), vegetable wastes, material from flour mills, non edible oil seed cakes (neem, jatropha
etc)) alone are sufficient for producing the required gas.
● The unit comes in two attractive colours in capacities from 500 to 1,500 litres.
● It is easy to fix or relocate and can be installed either at the backyard (if it is an independent
house) or in the terrace or sunshade in flat structures.
● Required feed materials
 Performance

About 5 kg of waste is required for a 1 cubic metre plant which is equal to 0.43 kg of LPG. It is
estimated that 100 cubic metres of biogas could produce 5 KW of energy to meet a 20-hour
power requirement of a house The process is hygienic and is devoid of odour and flies. The unit
also helps in controlling climate change effects and arrests greenhouse gases, and the digested
outlet slurry of the unit acts as good organic manure.

Cost- Per Unit cost of Shakthi Surbhi could cost Rs 20,000- 40,000.
 Nutrient status of Biogas slurry

N P2O5 K2O

Biogas Slurry 1.4 1 0.8

Farm Yard 0.5 0.2 0.5

Manure(FYM)

Town Compost 1.5 1 1.5

Thank You