Biogas: Its Applications and Advantages

 

Biogas, as the name indicates, denotes a gas which is produced in the absence of oxygen by the biological breakdown of organic matters. For example, if we want to generate electricity from any waste material methane gas and carbon dioxide is used which is produced by the fermentation or anaerobic digestion of biodegradable material such as plant material, sewage, biomass (are plant materials and animal waste used as fuel), green waste, crop waste, manure (is any animal or plant material used to fertilize land especially animal excreta usually with litter material), municipal waste and energy crops.

Biogas is basically a type of biofuel (any fuel derived from organic matter; it is renewable, unlike nuclear or fossil fuels) and is originated from biogenic material (a material produced by living organisms or biological processes). Another example of biogas is wood gas which is spawned by the use of biomass and is produced by gasification of wood or other plant and animal waste materials. Wood gas is primarily composed of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon monoxide, with some tincture of methane. Hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide are the gases which can be combusted or crumbled with oxygen.

Biogas used as a fuel:

As we know that air contains 21 % oxygen which means the energy that is released consents biogas to be used as a fuel. Generally, biogas is a renewable fuel. In any country, for cooking or heating purposes biogas can be used as a low-cost fuel.

Biogas used as a heat engine:

In modern waste management amenities, biogas can be used to run any type of heat engine in order to generate electrical or mechanical power. It can be compressed, like a natural gas, to control motor vehicles.


Advantages of biogas:

• It can generate enough electricity to meet up-to 3% of the continent's expenditure.
• It can help reduce global climate change.
• It can produce one hundred billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power millions of homes by converting cows manure into methane biogas through anaerobic digestion. Moreover, to generate 3 Kw hours of electricity, one cow can produce enough manure in one day.
• In china, 30 million rural households have biogas digesters and they have 12 enjoyable benefits.

1. Protection forests
2. Saving cooking time
3. Saving money
4. Saving fossil fuels
5. Saving time for collecting firewood
6. Using crops residues for animals fodder instead of fuel
7. Improving hygienic conditions
8. Producing high-quality fertilizer
9. Enabling local mechanization
10. Electricity production
11. Improving the rural standard of living
12. Reducing water and air pollution

Gas-grid: an injection of biogas

Gas-grid injection is basically an injection of biogas into the methane grid which is a natural gas grid. The use of grid is to transport the gas to customers. In anticipation, the invention of micro combined heat and power the energy formed by biogas power plants was vanished. This may result in a reduction of losses in the transference of energy. The range of energy losses in natural gas transportation system is from 1-2%. And the range of recent energy losses on a large electrical system is from 5-8%.