Biogas

Biogas is produced through anaerobic digestion of biomass, manure and municipal wastes, farm wastes, food wastes and sometimes even energy crops. The wet wastes are filled in a slurry form in digesters that are tightly closed to prevent oxygen access, triggering the growth of anaerobic microorganisms that would result in their fermentation releasing gases suitable for energy needs. Natural anaerobic environments like marshes and swamps and manmade environments like land fills are also sources of biogas.

Biogas is of two principle types viz; that which is produced by digestion of biomaterial that is made up of mostly methane and carbon-di-oxide and the wood gas that is produced by gasification of wood that is a mixture of nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and trace amounts of methane. Biogas generated from certain sources like landfills may have some , “silioxane,” due to the presence of soaps and detergents in the wastes. The burning of these would result in silicon dioxide deposits that does not interfere with energy production and is uncomplicated to tackle , being easy to remove either mechanically or chemically.

Biogas when in contact with oxygen burns to release energy and this energy can be utilized for all different types of energy requirements like heating, electricity generation, cooking and so on. Methane gas when compressed can be used as a clean fuel to power automobiles.

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Biogas is also an undesirable by –product of waste disposal in landfills and the gases emanating from them are inflammable when they come in contact with atmospheric oxygen. As the gas is explosive, limits have been set for the amount of dispersion into the atmosphere (5%-15%). Methane from biological sources is 20 times more potent than carbon-di-oxide and is therefore a more toxic green house gas. The EU and the US have strict laws that require the monitoring of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and the quantities on Non-methane Organic Compounds (NMOC) release from landfills. The US mandate is that the landfill owners would need to collect and treat landfill gases if there is an excess of 50 billion tones of emissions in one year. This treatment is usually effected through combustion.

As biogas utilizes wastes and is a clean and economic method of producing energy, it is very popular in many economically backward countries like India. In India, biogas is called gobar gas and utilizes cow manure as substrate. It is estimated that nearly 2 million gobar gas plants are operational in rural India. Much of these are captive units dedicated to single farm or family use and as this lessens energy burden on the government, there is a subsidy for embracing this technology. The gas is virtually free of odour and smoke and the residue left after gas extraction is used as field manure.

Biogas is produced wherever industrial waste treatment and rural resources meet in China . Nepal has 150,00 such plants while Vietnam has 20,000. By far the largest biogas plant is in Rwanda, where municipal wastes from a prison were converted into energy for cooking. In Columbia, biogas is experimented for use in generators to produce electricity and reduce power costs by 40%.

Among advanced countries, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland use compressed biogas widely for fuelling transport. Sweden has a biogas train service operating successfully since 2005.

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