Flexible Methane Production Using a Proportional Integral Controller with Simulation‐Based Soft Sensor

Niloofar Raeyatdoost,Christian Wolf,Robin Eccleston

doi:10.1002/ceat.201900401

Niloofar Raeyatdoost, Christian Wolf + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201900401

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Abstract

AbstractAnaerobic digestion plants have the potential to produce biogas on demand to help balance renewable energy production and energy demand by consumers. A proportional integral (PI) controller is constructed and tuned with a novel tuning method to control biogas production in an optimal manner. In this approach, the proportional part of the controller is a function of the feeding rate and system's degree of stability. To estimate the degree of stability, a simulation‐based soft sensor is developed. By means of the PI controller, the requirement for gas storage capacity of the digester is reduced by approximately 30 % compared to a constant, continuous feeding regime of the digester.

Highlights

Limitations on fossil resources combined with the demand for eco-friendly power generation have motivated more investments in renewable energy resources [1, 2]
Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are weatherdependent and uncontrollable, which leads to a divergence between required and produced energy [1]
Since anaerobic digestion plants have the potential to produce biogas on demand, they can play a significant role in balancing power production and consumption [3]

Summary

Introduction

Limitations on fossil resources combined with the demand for eco-friendly power generation have motivated more investments in renewable energy resources [1, 2]. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are weatherdependent and uncontrollable, which leads to a divergence between required and produced energy [1]. Since anaerobic digestion plants have the potential to produce biogas on demand, they can play a significant role in balancing power production and consumption [3]. An advantageous strategy for flexible production of biogas is managing the feeding regime to produce biogas based on demand instead of installing large gas storage capacities [4, 5]. Variations in feeding regime can be a threat to system stability [1], results of full-scale experiments in [2] demonstrated that long-term stability of the system can be maintained during flexible feeding and that the gas storage requirement can be reduced

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Conclusion