Renewable Energy Resources - Bio-gas

Bio-gas

Bio-gas is naturally produced when any organic matter decomposes under anaerobic conditions (in the absence of oxygen). The gas consists mainly of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in approximately 3:2 ratio. Methane is the important component, as it is a highly flammable gas that can be utilized as fuel for cooking, lighting, water heaters and, if the sulphur is removed, it can be used to run bio-gas-fuelled generators to produce electricity.


Bio-gas can be produced under controlled circumstances in specially designed biogas digesters. There are many types of digesters that are being used throughout the world. In countries such as Germany, biogas technology is highly advanced and applied primarily to produce green electricity in the megawatt range. In other developing countries such as India and China, a more basic technology is used to provide energy primarily for cooking purposes. India for instance, has more than a million digesters producing all the cooking energy for thousands of villages using human (sewerage) and animal (manure) waste in the process. One of the major spin-offs of using a biogas digester, is that the spent material is in the form of organic compost that can then be used to increase the yield of planted crops.








The Benefits of Bio-gas

As a combined sewerage management/bio-gas producing system, any new house, guest house, lodge, development, golf estate, clinic, hotel, etc. can install a biogas digester system. It can be their primary sewerage system, or a source of alternative and sustainable energy in the form of bio-gas. The digested can be applied directly as organic compost, or the water can be recycled through a wetland.


Commercially bio-gas digester systems can be installed at dairies, piggeries, chicken farms, abbotoirs or any other type of industry where waste containing organic material is produced, to generate green sustainable electricity.


A biogas digester has the following advantages:

  • It produces methane gas that can be used for cooking purposes, lighting, water heating and to generate electricity.
  • It digests organic waste (from the kitchen, garden, sewerage, animal manure, etc.).
  • It prevents methane gas from entering the atmosphere (methane gas is 20 times more harmful to the environment than CO2).
  • It produces organic compost as waste product (in liquid, slurry or solid form).


@rakesh