EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF ENERGY LOSSES OF A BIOGAS REACTOR IN THE ENVIRONMENT FOR MESOPHILIC MODE OF FERMENTATION

Abstract

The aim of the work is an experimental study of energy losses to the environment for the mesophilic mode of fermentation in order to increase the duration of substrate cooling and reduce energy costs for the process of biogas formation. To achieve the goals set, the following tasks have been solved: a methodological approach has been developed for conducting experimental studies; an experimental plant for a biogas reactor with an electrothermal-mechanical system with automatic control for mixing and heating the substrate was made; experimentally investigated energy losses to the environment for the mesophilic mode of fermentation; processing, analysis and comparison of the obtained experimental data were carried out. The working hypothesis of the research was that the use of an heating cable built into the stirrer paddles would provide a longer process of cooling the substrate to the heating switch-on temperature, which would reduce energy costs for the biogas formation intensification process. The most significant result of the study is to obtain the dependences of the change in the temperature of the heating cable, the substrate in the lower, middle and upper tiers of the reactor and the duration of the substrate cooling to the heating switch-on temperature in the operating biogas plant. The significance of the results of experimental studies lies in the fact that when placing a heating cable built into the stirrer paddles, the process of cooling the substrate to the heating switch-on temperature occurs later, on average, by 35 minutes, when the substrate is fermented in a biogas reactor with a volume of 40 liters. The implementation of the data obtained will increase the energy efficiency of the processes of intensification of biogas production and the profitability of further processing of biogas into heat and electricity.