1

CHAPTER NO.1

1. INTRODUCTION:

Presently, India is facing severe problem in the sector of Energy production, which may be more

serious in the coming decade or so the demand of fuel for cooking is growing day by day in our

country and because of this it is reaching a point of depletion. This problem is overcome by

using renewable sources.

India is going through the critical phase of population explosion and the growing population

demands more energy output. Therefore, there is a need of clean energy for India to satisfy this

excessive energy demand and at the same time it must be environmental friendly to meet

national developmental needs. Solar energy, wind energy, thermal energy and biogas are all

renewable sources of energy.

Biogas is different from these because of its characteristic feature like its uses, controlling and

collecting Organic wastes and at the same time producing fertilizer for use in irrigation and,

agriculture. It could provide the population with a decent standard of living. The Biogas plant is

a boon to Indian farmers and common households.

Biogas is a renewable energy source which is the mixture of different gases produced by the

breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can be produced from raw

materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green

waste or food waste, crops etc.[2]

The two major byproduct of Biogas plant are enriched compost matter and methane. Methane

which is an efficient fuel and compost manure acts as a fertilizer and provides to meet the

2

fertilizer requirement of farmers in agriculture in a most economic and adequate texture and

boost agriculture production. It may be in a demand stage for the time being but is capable of

vital development in future. Biogas is capable of replacing and turning the table round to

minimize the import of oil and pollution. This could be anticipated to secure and work as a best

alternative to Indias persistent energy requirement.

As the Kitchen waste is organic material having the high calorific value thats why efficiency of

methane production can be increased by using this waste as a feedstock. As a result of the higher

efficiency, the size and cost of this plant are also lower. And it occupies less space. It is an

extremely user friendly system, because it requires daily only a couple of kg feedstock. The

small amount of solid residue produced by the biogas plant makes a good fertilizer.

Why this type of plant?

The proper disposal of kitchen waste will be done in an eco-friendly and cost effective way.

While calculating the cost effectiveness of waste disposal we have to think more than monitory

prospects only. The dumping of food in places and making the places unhygienic can be taken

good care of; it adds to the value of such Biogas plants. Natural components like micro-

organisms, kitchen waste & biodegradable waste viz paper, pulp can be utilized.

Anaerobic digestion is a controlled biological degradation process which allows efficient

capturing & utilization of biogas (approx. 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide) for energy

generation.[4] Anaerobic digestion of food waste is achievable but affluent composition of

deferring food waste results in varying degrees of methane yields, and thus the effects of mixing

various types of food waste and their proportions should be scrutinize to determine on an

identical case to case basis.

3

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising method to treat the kitchen wastes. While anaerobic

digestion for treatment of animal dung is common in rural parts of developing countries,

information on technical and operational feasibilities of the treatment of organic solid waste is

limited in those parts. There are many factors affecting the design and performance of anaerobic

digestion. Some are related to feedstock characteristics, design of reactors and operation

conditions in real time. Physical and chemical characteristics of the organic wastes are important

for designing and operating digesters, because they affect the biogas production and process

stability during anaerobic digestion. They include moisture content, volatile solids, nutrient

contents, particle size, & biodegradability. The biodegradability of a feed is indicated by biogas

production or methane yield and percentage of solids (total solids or total volatile solids) that are

destroyed in the anaerobic digestion. The biogas or methane yield is measured by the amount of

biogas or methane that can be collected in the floater gas tank in our case.[4]

In recent times varied technological modifications and improvements have been introduced to

diminish the costs for the production of biogas. Different Methods have been developed to

increase speed of fermentation for the bacteria gas producers, reduction of the size of the

reactors, the use of starchy, sugary materials for their production, the modification of the feeding

materials for fermentation and the exit of the effluent for their better employment, as well as

compactness of the equipments to produce gas in a small space like back-yard, among others.

For Larger facilities, operating costs can be reduced, per unit; to the point that, in the current

economic framework, very large anaerobic digestion facilities can be profitable whereas small

ones may not, this is what that contrasts the economics of scale. If energy prices continue to rise

and the demand for local waste treatment, and fertilizers could be increased, this framework may

be real effective and could play a pivotal role to change.

4

1.1 COMPARISION BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL & PORTABLE BIOGAS PLANT :

Table 1.1

PARAMETERS CONVENTIONAL

BIOGAS PLANT

PORTABLE BIOGAS

PLANT

Design Digging required, large

construction

Digging not required,

simple and easy

construction

Nature of required feedstock Dung Any bio-degradable

material

Installation Requires huge land space Small household space

Reaction time for full utilization

of feedstock

40 days 42-78 hrs

For 500gm methane feedstock

required

40 Kg 2 Kg

Capital investment per unit

including stove

Rs. 20,000-40,000 Rs. 7,000-8,000

Maintenance Hard Easy

[Source: ARTI-Appropriate Rural Technology Institute]

1.2 BIOGAS:

Its a mixture of gases produced by the microorganisms during the anaerobic fermentation of

biodegradable materials. Anaerobic fermentation is a biochemical process in which a particular

kind of bacteria digests biomass in an oxygen-free environment resulting in production of CH4,

CO2, H2 and traces of other gases along with decomposed mass.[2]

5

1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF PORTABLE BIOGAS PLANT:

1. Fixed-dome Plants: A fixed-dome plant consists of a digester with a fixed, non-movable gas

holder, which sits on top of the digester.

2. Balloon Plants: A balloon plant consists of a heat-sealed plastic or rubber bag (balloon),

combining digester and gas-holder. The gas is stored in the upper part of the balloon.

3. Floating type plant: It consists of a digester tank with a movable gas holder. The gas holder

is placed over the digester tank in inverted manner.[4]

Fig:1.1 Fixed dome type Fig1.2Balloon type Fig 1.3 Floating type

[Source: Future Resource Development Group]

Why floating type plant ?

As the gas is produced it gets collect in the gas holder so the drum moves up, and when the gas is

utilized, the gas-holder goes down.

6

1.4 COMPOSITION OF BIOGAS:

Biogas is a mixture of different components and composition varies depending upon the

characteristic of feed material, amount of degradation etc. biogas consists of 50-70% of

methane, 30-40% of carbon dioxide and low amount of other gases.[2]

Table 1.2 : Composition of biogas

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas]

Sr.

no.

Component Symbol percentage

1 Methane CH4 50-75%

2 Carbon dioxide CO2 25-50%

3 Nitrogen N2 0-10%

4 Hydrogen H2 0-1%

5 Hydrogen Sulphide H2S 0-3%

6 Oxygen O2 0-0.5%

7

1.5 OBJECTIVE:

1. To design a biogas plant which is portable. And develop technologies & products that help to

improve our lives and the health.

2. To understand the working structure of portable biogas plant.

3. To use of the biogas produced from the plant as cooking fuel thus the use of other fuels for

cooking purposes can be reduced and thereby gain financial benefit.

4. To use the bio manure for agriculture so that the use of chemical fertilizers can be reduced and

the expenses for the manure can be saved. Quality vegetables and grains can be produced by the

application of bio manure.

5. To reduce the use of conventional energy sources so as to minimize its consumption and

problem related to their effective combustion, the growing demand to get access to the new

sources of renewable energy.

8

CHAPTER NO.2

2. AIM OF THE PROJECT:

The aim of project is to provide fuel for cooking purposes and organic manure to rural

household. As it is compact in design and uses waste food rather than dung/manure as feedstock

so that it can be easily installed anywhere in the society, terrace or ground. The design and

development of this simple, yet powerful technology for the people. Thus providing an option for

cooking purpose which can decrease the demand and the price of LPG gas. To mitigate drudgery

of rural women, reduce pressure on forests and accentuate social benefits. To improve sanitation

in villages by linking sanitary toilets with bio gas plants. Improve health conditions by isolating

wastes in a sealed container to reduce airborne pathogens from raw manure. Provide a fertilizer

from the digested waste.

So a portable biogas plant is planned to be implemented near the canteen of our college for

cooking purpose.

9

CHAPTER NO.3

3. LITERATURE REVIEW:

In this an overview of the literature related to the portable Biogas Plant by using kitchen waste is

presented. The reference includes videos, articles, links, books etc. They are as follows:-

ARTI Compact biogas plant (Anaerobic Digester) step by step Construction (Part 3)

- This video shows the easy construction of the portable biogas plant using locally

available material. Whole assembly is done step by step with proper care. This video is

also useful for anyone to construct a portable biogas plant.

ARTI, India, Biogas from food waste - Ashden Award winner-This video by Dr.

Anand Karve of ARTI( Appropriate Rural Technological Institute) have developed the

revolutionary approach to generate methane without the use of cow-dung. Thus city can

also get the benefits of the portable biogas plant.2000 are currently in use both in urban

and rural households in Maharashtra. With the use of just 2kg of starchy or sugary

feedstock 500g of methane can be produced. Also studied the system is 20times as

efficient as the conventional system.

Biogas-technology.blogspot-This site includes blogs, videos, articles, experiments, news

related to the biogas plant. Article provides present status of biogas in India and also

provides a detailed summary of biogas. In this they discussed the importance of biogas in

present life.

10

Hollandia Power Solution-This article focuses on fabricating portable bio waste

treatment plant capable of treating the waste generated in house, for producing biogas and

gas manure. These plants are suitable for installation by replacing them from one place to

another according to the requirements and also suitable for installation in areas where

adequate space are not available.

Proposal for waste management 2014 by Tengeya In this article they have discussed

about the use of biogas technology to improve sanitation and mitigate climate change.

They proposed the construction of Biogas digester in Kenya schools and prisons to

contain waste and make biogas. This study shows the utilization of waste in a proper and

a portable manner.

Biogas from waste and Renewable Resource-2nd edition prof.Dr.-Ing Dieter

Deublein and Dipl-Ing Angelika Steinhauser Published online 27 Oct 2010(on Wiley

online library)This book contains the concepts of biogas, biogas components, biogas

comparison with other methane containing gases etc. It also provides the literature behind

the reaction involved in the formation of biogas.

11

CHAPTER NO.4

This chapter includes block diagram and description of portable biogas plant and its required

components. It consists of two parts 1.Digester Tank (where the fermentation takes place), 2.Gas

Holder Tank (where the evolved gas is collected) and further components are explained in

section 4.2

4.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM:

Fig.4.1: Block diagram of floating type portable biogas plant.

12

4.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION:

1. DIGESTER TANK- The digester tank is a tank in which the process takes place. The digester

tank is filled with 50% of water and 50% of cow dung for the 1st time. Afterwards the digester

can intake any bio degradable material viz. paper, waste material, kitchen waste.

2. GAS HOLDER- The gas holder collects the produced gas evolved by the digester tank. The

gas holder tank lifts upward as it collects the gas.

3. INLET PIPE (FEEDSTOCK) - It is the inlet which is given to the digester tank. It has a

funnel like structure.

4. OUTLET PIPE (SLURRY) - Once the biogas is produce the leftover material after the

process is ecofriendly which can also be used as high grade fertilizer and water is given out as

Slurry.

5. GAS OUTLET - From this the gas is released and used for required purpose.

6. OUTLET FOR MAINTENANCE - For maintenance purpose this block is used.

13

4.3 COMPONENTS REQUIRED:

The components required for manufacturing and fabrication of portable biogas plant are given as

below

Fig:4.2 Gas Holder Fig:4.3Digester Tank

Fig:4.4 Gas Stove Fig:4.5 Gas pipe

[Source:Google Images]

14

Fig:4.6 Fitting for Outlet Fig:4.7 Maintenance Pipe

Fig:4.8 T Shape Joint Fig:4.9 Elbow Joint

Fig:4.10 Gas Outlet Fig:4.11PVC Pipe

[Source:Google Images]

15

4.4 DIMENSIONS:

Table: 4.1

COMPONENT DIAMETER HEIGHT

MM INCH MM INCH

DRUM 750 LITRE 1030 41 1100 43

DRUM 500 LITRE 910 36 960 38

PVC PIPE FOR INPUT 152.4 914.4

PVC PIPE FOR SLURRY 63 609.6

PVC PIPE FOR MAINTENANCE 63 304.8

ELBOW JOINT 63

COCK FOR MAINTENANCE 63

MT & FT 63*2

MT & FT 152.4

NOTE: These are approximate dimensions

16

CHAPTER NO.5

5. ADVANTAGES:

Portable biogas plant is more efficient and economical than conventional biogas plant. It

overcomes the difficulties that come in conventional biogas plants. It has the following

advantages which are essential for human kind. They are as follows:

1. Portable in size

2. Provides a non-polluting and renewable source of energy.

3. Efficient way of energy conversion (saves fuel wood).

4. Saves women and children from drudgery of collection and carrying of firewood,

exposure to smoke in the kitchen.

5. Produces enriched organic manure, which can supplement or even replace chemical

fertilizers.

6. Leads to improvement in the environment, and sanitation and hygiene.

7. Provides a source for decentralized power generation.

8. Leads to employment generation in the rural areas.

9. Household wastes and bio-wastes can be disposed of usefully and in a healthy manner.

10. The technology is cheaper and much simpler than those for other bio-fuels, and it is ideal

for small scale application.

11. Dilute waste materials (2-10% solids) can be used as in feed materials.

12. Any biodegradable matter can be used as feedstock.

13. Environmental benefits on a global scale: Biogas plants significantly lower the

greenhouse effects on the earths atmosphere. The plants lower methane emissions by

entrapping the harmful gas and using it as fuel.

17

CHAPTER NO.6

6. LIMITATIONS:

From our research we have found that there are some limitations for the production of a portable

biogas plant. These include: time constraints, lack of organic waste in order to make it profitable,

not enough interest and information among public. Firstly, time constraints are an issue because

of production gas.

Another limitation to the project is the lack of organic waste accumulated on campus. All the

Organic Wastages are collected from nearby residence.

Biogas contains some gases as impurities, which are corrosive to the metal parts.

18

CHAPTER NO.7

7. FUTURE SCOPE:

1. Generation of electricity from Slurry.

2. Generation of electricity from Biogas Plant.

3. Slurry can also be used as Fertilizer.

4. Scaling of a project for implementation in large scale.

19

CHAPTER NO.8

8. CONCLUSION:

The effective implementation of portable biogas plant for production of biogas by decomposing

kitchen waste offers a relevant resource development solution and a rigid waste management

system. Its low cost and its independent working conditions under suitable considered

parameters prove that it is economical. It is a technology that can be surely assured for

processing organic kitchen waste using a portable biogas plant. It has suddenly experienced a

significant positive vibe in the recent go and is a strong contender in becoming the next

renewable energy source.

This plant is more employable in urban region as more amount of organic waste is generated in

urban region due to larger population. Where as it is worth mentioning that it can also influence

rural regions as this regions are deceived from sufficient fuel supply. In the long run it could

reduce the consumption of LPG and thus curb dependence on imported fossil fuel.

20

REFERENCE:

1. http://biogas-technology.blogspot.in/2013/10/homemade-medium-size-biogas-plant-

for.html

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas

3. ARTI (APPROPRIATE RURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE)

4. Kitchen waste to biogas fuel (PDF)