Biogas Generator Research Articles

Experimentation on Biogas Motor Generator Valves

The sudden switchover from the fossil-fuel energy machineries to renewable energy would throw 13% of the work force into joblessness. It would take close to two decades to reintegrate existing energy players in developing countries to renewable energy option. In this research we proposed a green solution where existing energy player can be integrated into renewable energy option at no cost. The biogas motor generator was proposed so that the poorest homes could afford it. The technicalities of the biogas motor generator was discussed i.e., considering the vital role of control valve in sending 52% methane into the generator. It was observed that a valve of cross-sectional area 0.8 mm2 would withstand the anomalies of designing a biogas generator without the purifier chamber.

Optimal Design and Techno-economic Analysis of Off-grid Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Remote Rural Electrification: A Case Study of Southwest China

Demand for electricity in remote areas is a key bottleneck for development of these areas. Challenges of grid extension to remote areas have been identified, such as difficult terrain for construction and vast investment. Fast development of decentralized renewable energy production technologies provides opportunity for tackling the challenges. The study aims to demonstrate the techno-economic feasibility of off-grid hybrid renewable energy system for sustainable remote rural electrification via a case study of a village in Southwest China. In order to determine the most cost competitive configuration whilst ensuring a reliable power supply for residential, community and agricultural demand of the village, different combinations of PV panels, wind turbine and biogas generator are modelled and optimized in HOMER. Daily and seasonal characteristics of energy supply and demand sizes and patterns of remote rural areas are considered. Comparison of grid extension and an off-grid hybrid power system has been carried out. Results show that a hybrid power system comprising solar, wind and biomass is a reliable and cost-effective option for remote rural electrification whilst achieving environmental benefits.

Optimal design and techno-economic analysis of a solar-wind-biomass off-grid hybrid power system for remote rural electrification: A case study of west China

Demand for electricity is a key bottleneck for the development of remote areas. Grid extension to remote areas has previously been constrained due to difficult terrain for construction and vast investment. Fast development of decentralized renewable energy production technologies provides opportunity for tackling the challenges. The study aims to demonstrate the techno-economic feasibility of off-grid hybrid renewable energy system for remote rural electrification, via a case study of a village in West China by performing simulation, optimization and sensitivity analysis. Daily and seasonal characteristics of energy supply as well as demand sizes and patterns of remote rural areas are considered. Different combinations of PV panels, wind turbine and biogas generator are modeled and optimized in Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER). The most cost competitive configuration is determined whilst ensuring a reliable power supply featuring residential, community, commercial and agricultural demand of the village. Comparison of the off-grid hybrid power system and grid extension has been carried out. Results show that a hybrid power system comprising solar, wind and biomass is a reliable and cost-effective option for sustainable remote rural electrification whilst achieving environmental benefits.

Improving the Quantity and Quality of Biogas Production in Tehran Anaerobic Digestion Power Plant by Application of Materials Recirculation Technique

Tehran anaerobic digestion power plant has been built on the eastern margin of the urban district by the purpose of processing the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. One of the most suitable methods for the treatment of organic matter is the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) process, which in addition to significant reduction of organic solid wastes, will produce valuable energy. Contributing to maintain the environment, improve urban health, saving on fossil fuels and producing rich fertilizer for agricultural use are important advantages of anaerobic digestion. The plant has been set up in 2014 with a nominal acceptance capacity of 300 tons of organic solid wastes per day and the nominal power generation of 2000 kWe. This system has been faced with considerable challenges in terms of quantity and quality of biogas during operation. The high concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in produced biogas and the lack of appropriate technologies in the plant for biogas refining are critical for the biogas generator engine deployed in the complex. The purpose of this article is to investigate the factors affecting the quality and quantity of Tehran's AD plant biogas using various H2S reduction approaches and selection of appropriate implementing technologies. The results showed that the recirculation of the digester slurry increased the methane content by more than 30% and reduced H2S by more than 98%.

Waste measurement for biogas generation to fulfill the electric energy demand of IUBAT: a case study

For the depletion of fossil fuels, the world is facing an energy crisis. Therefore, a major concern for stakeholders around the world is the need to search for renewable alternative energy. Biogas is a type of bio-fuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. The main objective of this study is to design a biogas generator for utilization of cow dung, kitchen waste, rice waste, paper waste, tissue waste to generate biogas. This produced biogas can be used for generation of electricity for fulfilling the electricity demand of IUBAT—a private organization. Biogas plant is a new source of energy and is suitable for the future needs. This paper reflects the modeling, different types of wastes’ pH measurement and finds out the best waste materials of biogas production digestion process from organic waste and high moisture food processing waste. In Bangladesh, the waste amount is increasing day by day. It is harmful for both our environment and life. So this waste can be a good potential, if it can be used for some valuable purposes. From this view, it can be said that working on Biogas is very important issue for understanding the potentiality of waste.

Design of 3 kW integrated power generation system from solar and biogas

Energy/Power is an important element of social and economic development. Without availability of energy at a reasonable price, there is little prospect of developing the country's economy and people's living conditions. A quarter of Pakistani population have no access to electricity, and currently a shortage of 5.0–7.0 GW power supply causes load shedding/blackout problems. In Pakistan, most of the power is generated from non-renewable sources like natural gas etc. Pakistan receives almost 15.525 × 1014 kW-hour of solar energy per year and sunshine duration is normally 8.0–10.0 h per day. Animal/farm wastes are readily available in Pakistan. Residues from these sources produce 103.0 billion m3 of biogas per year that is equivalent to 63.20 TWh. The objective of this study is energy production by using easily available indigenous resources. In this study a 3.0 kW integrated solar/biogas power generation system consist of 2.84 kW solar system and 4.0 m3 biogas system is designed and installed. This paper also present simulation model of system. A hybrid inverter is used to convert DC power of photovoltaic modules and the battery bank in to AC power and combines with the output power of biogas generator. Performance of the hybrid system are analysed from May 1, 2018 to June 15, 2018. During the test maximum power produce by the integrated system is 1.10 kW in morning, 2.14 kW in noon and 1.16 kW in afternoon.

A New Architecture of Energy Hubs for Animal Farms with Distributed Energy Resources

Abstract This paper presents a new architecture of energy hubs for animal farms considering the availability of energy resources in the farm such as biogas, solar, etc. It is proposed to combine three energy carriers: biogas, heat and electricity into an aggregate system to improve the energy efficiency of the farm. The problem is to determine the optimal allocation of distributed energy resources such as biogas generators, photovoltaics, battery and electric grid, etc. with the objective function is minimizing the total cost of energy hubs, i. e. life cycle cost while subjected to the constraint of heat, electricity and gas demands. The uncertainty of renewable energy is taken into account not only with the daily and monthly variation of the resource but the forecasting error as well. In addition, the sensitivity of the life cycle cost with respect to the price of electricity is analysed in different scenarios. The problem is examined in a case study of a typical pig farm in Northern Vietnam in both cases: with and without the ability to sell the surplus electricity to the grid. The simulation result shows the effectiveness of the proposed energy hub compared to other approaches.

Techno-Economic Analysis of Standalone Solar Photovoltaic-Wind-Biogas Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Community Energy Requirement

Integrated renewable energy system (IRES) is integration of different energy sources to provide uninterrupted and viable solution for electrification especially for areas not connected to main grid due to difficult terrain and economic reasons. IRES has many advantages like non-depleting, non-polluting nature, better load matching and better renewable energy utilization. In the present study, mathematical modelling, size optimization and techno-economic analysis of standalone IRES have been carried out. Hybrid system is modelled to have maximum contribution from wind and solar energy with minimum net present cost (NPC) of system to meet electric load demand of CRC building, IIT Madras, India (13.01°N and 80.24°E). The results show that most feasible system configuration consists of 12 kW Photovoltaics, 3 kW wind turbine and 15 kW biogas generator with NPC and cost of energy equal to $ 117,098 and $ 0.09/kWh respectively. The IRES generates 71,826 kWh of energy to meet AC load of 64,396 kWh per year. The capacity factor and percentage contribution of PV, wind turbine and biogas generator are 17.8%, 6.57%, 39.1% and 26%, 2.4%, 71.6% respectively. The paper also presents sensitivity analysis of hybrid system with variation in capital cost of different components.

Hybrid System that Integrates the Lost Energy Recovery on the Water-Water Heat Pump Exhaust Circuit

Exceeding intermitence and the stochastic character associated with most renewable energy sources in order to maintain the balance between generation and consumption require the most efficient energy storage methods. This balance is important to maintain the quality of the power supply by adjusting the frequency and voltage of the grid. Storage is the capture of the energy produced at a given time for later use. It is known that electricity cannot be stored directly unless it is stored in condenser batteries or in superconducting coils. Other methods of electricity storage presuppose the conversion of these into other forms of energy: mechanical storage, electrochemical storage. The optimization of RES operation and, implicitly, of the energy system implies the choice of a suitable conversion / storage system that must take into account a number of factors, such as: capacity and minimum storage time, loading and unloading conditions, minimum number of cycles download loading, power supply required by the storage system, system lifetime. It is not to be neglected the space required for the installation of the storage systems and their impact on the environment during their exploitation as well as during the post-use and recycling period. There are RES that contain natural storage systems (hydro-electric power plants and biomass and biogas generators). The article proposes an analysis of how to store electricity by approach a Pelton water-water-turbine hybrid system. The heat pump consumes electrical energy for action, producing a thermal effect. By integrating a system with Pelton water storage tank and turbine on the heat pump outlet circuit, the lost hydraulic energy can be recovered. The experimental hybrid system was made to develop HRES optimization models. Hybrid systems may exceed the limits of individual generators in terms of efficiency, economy, reliability and flexibility. An energy storage system can alleviate the problems associated with uncertainties and fluctuations from renewable sources. The large number of random variables and parameters in a hybrid energy system requires optimization to increase the efficiency of hybrid system components to achieve economic and technical benefits.

Optimal design and technical analysis of a grid-connected hybrid photovoltaic/diesel/biogas under different economic conditions: A case study

Supplying energy to small villages, which are far from the grid or are located in remote areas, due to the high cost of installing and maintenance of transmission lines, has become a challenge for governments around the world. Since many villages, which are already connected to the grid, suffer from frequent blackouts especially during peak hours of load demand, using a hybridization of renewable resources with regard to the potential in the region is a suitable solution for having more reliable energy and reducing emissions. This paper investigates the use of a hybrid photovoltaics, biomass and diesel to meet the energy needs of a grid-connected village, located in east of Iran. Because of unstable economic conditions and rapid changing of the economic factors in Iran, several possible rates of inflation and discount rates were considered to find an optimal scenario. Before identifying an optimal scenario, a comparison was made to determine which way of installing photovoltaic panels, as centralized plant or top-roof, will be more beneficial in the region. It was concluded that, when the inflation is 10% and discount rate is equal to 18% (most recent economic condition of Iran), the best scenario includes 63 kW photovoltaics, 10 kW biogas generator and 10 kW and 15 kW diesel generator, which could produce energy with 0.193 $/kWh. It was also concluded that with the changes in fuel prices, interest rates, and inflation rates within the reasonable range of expected economic conditions for the project lifetime, the energy cost of the optimal system will vary from 0.085 to 0.238 $/kWh.

Optimal design and implementation of solar PV-wind-biogas-VRFB storage integrated smart hybrid microgrid for ensuring zero loss of power supply probability

Abstract Uninterrupted access to electric power has become the basic need of today’s world. Rural parts of many countries still do not have access to electricity or have electric power access to weak distribution grids with inadequate transmission and distribution system infrastructure. However, the countries where there is an abundance of solar radiation, a good potential of bio-degradable waste and average availability of wind source, access to electricity for those remote areas can be managed by distributed power generation. Considering the fact that the renewable energy sources (Solar, Wind etc.) are intermittent in nature, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other reservoirs like biogas energy sources are the potential candidates to be integrated with the renewable sources to ensure continuous access to electricity and energy security. In this paper, a unique combination of Solar PV, Wind, Biomass and Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) storage integrated hybrid Microgrid has been modeled and implemented practically for the first time. The capacity selection of different renewable sources for satisfying daily energy demand and their techno-commercial optimization has been performed through HOMER simulation. Further, the peak load shaving that is a limitation of HOMER model, has been established through PSCAD simulation by providing the real life data of different renewable sources, VRFB storage and the load profile as input to the model. The simulation model performances have been validated by a practical 10 kWP solar PV, 1 kW wind and 15 kVA Biogas generator integrated with 1 kW 6 h VRFB storage based Microgrid installed at India Institute of Engineering Science and Technology campus, India. In addition to these, zero loss of power supply probability (LPSP) has been ensured by implementing smart scheduling and controller considering the intermittency of the renewable sources. As a part of the financial analysis, project Investment on Return (IRR) and pay back has been calculated considering initial investment, operation and maintenance cost and revenue of generation.

A community-scale hybrid energy system integrating biomass for localised solid waste and renewable energy solution: Evaluations in UK and Bulgaria

Growing pace of urban living is expected to simultaneously aggravate both the waste and the energy crises. This study presents feasibility assessment of a community scale hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) utilising biomass to serve the local energy needs while reducing the household solid waste volume. A modelling framework is presented and evaluated for a biomass HRES, comprising of a Wind turbine-PV Array-Biogas generator-Battery system, applied to two European cities - Gateshead (UK) and Sofia (Bulgaria) - accounting for their distinct domestic biowaste profiles, renewable resources and energy practices. Biogas generator is found to make the most substantial share of electricity generation (up to 60–65% of total), hence offering a stable community-scale basal electricity generation potential, alongside reduction in disposal costs of local solid waste. Net present cost for the biomass-integrated HRESs is found within 5% of each other, despite significant differences in the availability of solar and wind resources at the two sites. Based on a survey questionnaire targeting construction companies and energy solution developers, project costs and planning regulatory red tapes were identified as the two common implementation challenges in both the countries, with lack of awareness of HRES as a further limitation in Bulgaria, impeding wider uptake of this initiative.

Techno-economic optimization of an off-grid hybrid renewable energy system using metaheuristic optimization approaches – Case of a radio transmitter station in India

Development of hybrid renewable energy system has become a challenging task considering the intermittencies of renewables and multi-dimensional designing aspects (for example technical and economic aspects) of such hybrid systems. Although there are many investigations on the development of hybrid renewable energy systems, the investigations of useful models or effective methods are only a few. Metaheuristic algorithms are gaining much popularity in the optimization of complex systems like hybrid renewable energy system for their ability to give quick, accurate, and optimal solution. The objective of the present study is to obtain a techno-economic optimal design of an off-grid hybrid solar photovoltaic/biogas generator/pumped hydro energy storage/battery system with the help of metaheuristic optimization techniques for a radio transmitter station in India. Performances of two such techniques – water cycle algorithm and moth-flame optimization that have become popular in recent time are evaluated and compared with Genetic Algorithm, which was used as a benchmark metaheuristic in previous studies on hybrid renewable energy system. The objective function is a minimization of total net present cost subject to design constraints. A detailed modeling strategy has been elaborated for the optimization problem. A sensitivity analysis based on loss of load probability type reliability criteria is carried out to investigate the feasibility of the proposed design. The results show that both the considered metaheuristics are effective in finding the optimal design; however, water cycle algorithm has marginally better design solution than the other two algorithms. The optimal configuration by the water cycle algorithm is found to have solar photovoltaic panel area of 548.67 m2 (size 69.2 kW), biogas generator size of 16 kW, battery bank of 21 units, converter size of 30 kW, and upper reservoir volume of 2081.5 m3 with a total net present cost of $0.813 million. Further, on comparing the results with literature, it is found that the present metaheuristic optimization has resulted in an effective hybrid renewable energy system design with a lower techno-economic cost.

Environmentally Friendly Power Generation Technology with Solar PV-Biogas in Rural Areas of Eastern Java

Increasing human activity has an impact on energy needs. Electrical energy is the most dominant type of energy used daily. the increase in electricity demand in East Java was due to an increase in industrial activity in several cities in East Java, such as Surabaya, Mojokerto, Sidoarjo. Meanwhile, the electrical energy needs of several rural areas in East Java, such as in Bodowoso, Bangkalan, Sumenep have not been fulfilled due to geographical factors. The solution to fulfillment of electricity in rural areas can utilize the potential of alternative energy, such as solar energy and biogas. The high potential of solar energy and biogas can be used as an energy source for solar PV-biogas hybrid power plants. The aim of the study was to study the application of a solar PV-biogas power plant model in rural areas. The research method of the solar PV-biogas hybrid power plant is carried out in several stages to assess the potential for the application of hybrid power plants in rural areas in eastern Java. The research method uses a 100 Wp solar PV hybrid system model and 1 KW biogas generator set by analyzing the potential of electricity produced on average per day. The results of the study of the analysis of the potential application of solar PV-biogas power plants show the configuration of the power plant model of generating solar PV-biogas generators produced by solar PV electric power 1.260 kW per day and 0,379 kW KW biogas generator with a total electrical energy of 1,639 kW / day. Electric energy consumption per family head is an average of 1 kWh / day. the application of a solar PV-biogas hybrid power plant still with a surplus of 0,639 KW. the model of solar PV-biogas generator has a good effective and efficient to be applied in rural Java east.

Predicting Biogasification Potential of Urban Wastewater Using Multiparameter Aggregated Index of Influent

Municipal wastewater treatment plants have sufficient organic loading and can be utilized as reliable biogas generator. Prediction of biogasification potential is essential to maintain regularity in biogas supply and maximum utilization for energy recovery. Many attempts have been carried out to predict biogas using computational and logical models. Although due to uncertain characteristics of wastewater throughout the year, mathematical formulation of biogas found difficult. This research article has a novel approach to predict biogas using multi‐parameter aggregated index (MPAI), which has overcome the limitation of uneven characteristics. Indices for raw wastewater (MPAIinf) and digester feedstock (MPAIdig) were calculated. The correlation of biogas generation with R‐square value of 0.92 with MPAIinf and that of 0.87 for MPAIdig was found. A linear equation was established using the most significant parameter; BOD and these indices. Biogas prediction was found easy in all seasons with a precision of 93% when tested on site. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13119, 2019

Potential of Off-grid Solar PV/Biogas Power Generation System: Case Study of Ado Ekiti Slaughterhouse

In Nigeria, some economically important facilities are not functioning optimally due to lack of/inadequate electricity from the national grid. To solve this problem, these facilities result to using diesel generators which are mostly uneconomical and environmentally unfriendly. Improving comparative economic advantage means that Renewable Energy Sources (RES) with reduced emission and long term cost of energy is a viable alternative. This work describes the potentials of using solar PV/biogas power system to supply the slaughterhouse located in Ado Ekiti, South West Nigeria through an optimal design and techno-economic analysis. With an annual average daily radiation of 4.93 kWh/m 2 /d, the facility slaughters an average of 25 cows daily to yield a biomass supply of about 1150 kg/day. Simulation results from HOMER software present an optimal PV/biogas generator/battery/converter system that is able to supply the 164 kWh daily load requirement of the facility. The PV system supplied 38% of the annual total electricity production which stood at 76,384 kWh/yr. Cost analysis also indicates that the system has levelized cost of energy of $ 0.236/kWh and a Net Present Cost (NPC) of $ 92,988. 60% of this cost is shared equally between the PV and battery storage system while the biogas generator and digester and converter cost make up 25% and 15% respectively.

Термодинамический анализ плазменной газификации отходов сельского хозяйства

Most of the agricultural waste (AW) comes from poultry farms and livestock farms mainly in the form of bird droppings and cattle dung. Irrational use of large volumes of such waste negatively affects the environment. Modern technologies allow utilizing agricultural waste to produce energy gas. Plasma recycling of waste from the agro-industrial complex allows intensifying the process of obtaining energy gas consisting mainly of synthesis gas (СО+Н2) and a 150–200-fold increase in the gas productivity of the plasma gasifier compared with biogas generators. This article is devoted to the thermodynamic modelling of AW plasma-processing. The thermodynamic analysis of the waste plasma processing was performed using the universal program of thermodynamic calculations TERRA. In the work under the AW means the excrement of farm animals (manure). For research, dried mixed manure (dung with 30% moisture content) from cattle is used. Thermodynamic calculations showed that during plasma gasification and pyrolysis of AW, high-calorie combustible gas is produced with a synthesis gas yield of 65.2 and 68.5%, respectively. No harmful components were detected. Plasma gasifier will allow to effectively process various types of AW into high calorific energy gas, consisting mainly of synthesis gas, and into neutral slag. The technological scheme of AW plasma processing has been developed. Using proposed plasma plant that implements this scheme, depending on the composition of the AW, up to 1.7 m3 of dry energy gas can be obtained from 1 kg of AW. At the same time, its caloric content will vary from 8500 to 300 MJ/Nm3. The composition of the energy gas will be following, vol.%: H2 - 35-39, CO - 29-31, CO2 - 4-6, N2 - 10-14, H2O - 13-18. Such gas can be used as a working medium of highly efficient electric generators of a new generation, including solid oxide fuel cells or as a raw material for the production of synthetic motor fuels (methanol, dimethylether)

Techno-economic analysis of on-grid biomass renewable energy power station: A case study in Caribbean region of Colombia

In this article a techno-economic study of an Electric-Biomass on-grid power plant is presented, in order to compare the performance and the operating annual cost under some types of biogas produced from poultry, bovine and porcine manure, and solid urban organic waste, using the Homer® software to develop many solutions. Certainly, the best set up had the maximum combined renewable energy with a minimum electric consumption from the grid. The scheme was integrated by two 500kW biogas-powered electric generator on grid to supply an average energy of 1401.6kW, with an annual operating cost of $2.09 million when the energy supply is electric. Results presented a significant operational cost reduction when the biogas generator is operating on grid, finding an 8.61% of cost decrease using biogas generated from poultry, bovine and porcine manure, and a 10.53% of cost decrease using biogas from solid urban organic waste from centers and grocery market places at Caribbean Region of Colombia.

Options for an autarkic operation of a communal power grid using a battery and renewable energies

With a growing share of renewable energy, the structure of the electrical power grid structure should reflect their distributed nature. A cellular grid structure would meet this demand. In case of global blackout each cell would even be able to operate autarkic. Then, still a minimum level of supply would be possible. An innovative community in the north of Germany aims to pursue such a concept. The local energy provider, Versorgungsbetriebe Bordesholm, is planning to install a large battery (12 MWh / +/ 8 MW) to provide control power during daily operation. In case of a global blackout it should supply the community in combination with available energy sources. However, the supply consisting of two biogas generators with 800 kW each and several photovoltaic systems are not sufficient for an infinite autarkic supply. Therefore, this publication investigates the possible operation time for such an autarkic operation. Typical self-supply times for this community range from 3 to 20 hours.

An islanded microgrid energy management controller validated by using hardware-in-the-loop emulators

A novel microgrid emulator used to test multiple microgrid configurations and energy management control strategies is presented. The system includes Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) emulators for geothermal and biogas energy sources. It also includes actual photovoltaic energy together with a lead acid battery bank for storage and it is controlled by a two level control system. The control system consists of a primary level voltage-reactive power and frequency-active power and a secondary level energy management algorithm based on the balance between the power produced by the renewable energy generators, state of charge of the battery bank and the loads. The energy management control strategy is based on cycle-charging the batteries at a reference value in order to efficiently use the available resources. The primary energy source is considered the geothermal energy, while the most cost effective one is the photovoltaic energy. A buffer zone is kept in the battery bank in order to store as much energy produced by the photovoltaic system as possible. The presented microgrid, used for testing the energy management strategies, employs emulators for the geothermal and biogas generators; however, the results are relevant and can be scaled for a real-life microgrid.