Biogas Development Research Articles

The health impacts of a community biogas facility in an informal Urban settlement: does training matter?

ABSTRACTCommunity biogas facilities are being implemented in many informal urban settlements across Africa, often funded by foreign aid. We measured the public health impacts of a facility in Ethiopia, particularly the effects of training, in the context of extreme poverty. Two waves of panel-data were generated by household surveys (N = 200 per wave), informed by participatory focus groups, and a propensity-score matching technique was applied. After controlling for household distance from the facility, training itself generated positive effects on health including use of improved sanitation facilities and self-assessed health. We conclude that training should be considered a key component in biogas development.

Evaluation of biogas upgrading technologies and future perspectives: a review

Biogas is acknowledged as one of the foremost bioenergy to address the current environmental and energy challenges being faced by the world. Commonly, biogas is used for applications like cooking, lighting, heat and power production. To widen the scope of biogas application, like transportation, natural gas grid injection and substrate for the production of chemicals and fuel cells, mainly CO2, H2S and other impurities need to be removed by various upgrading technologies. It is an important process to produce biomethane with above 90% methane. There are various physico-chemical (adsorption, absorption, cryogenic and membrane separations) and biological (in situ and ex situ) processes for biogas upgradation, and each process is site and case specific. The aim of the present paper is to thoroughly evaluate the existing and emerging biogas upgrading technologies. Analysis of each technology with respect to basis of operations, energy requirement, methane purity and recovery and cost economics has been carried out. A thorough analysis has been done on the major hurdles and the research gaps in this sector. For a wider and successful implementation of the biogas upgradation technology, the trends in research and development (R&D) such as development of efficient biogas upgrading technologies, adsorbents, reduction in cost and methane loss have been thoroughly evaluated.

Opportunities and Challenges for Biogas Development: a Review in 2013–2018

Biogas is a recyclable, renewable, and cleaning energy source that can be used directly as a fuel. Due to the rapid development of technology, progress in various aspects of biogas research has been greatly advanced. This study focus on the dynamic changes in the past 5 years, and the purpose is to provide reference for future biogas development. First of all, the article mainly reviewed the advantages of biogas development in three aspects, which fully reflected the positive impact of environment, society, and humanities. These include energy conservation and emission reduction. These include energy conservation and emission reduction, the conduction of guidance on great social atmosphere (the ecological livable social), and the digestate used as fertilizer. Then, the study summarized the risks in biogas development, including pollution and economic disadvantages, which would be the obstacles to biogas development. In response to these problems, this study further refines the advances in biogas purification and harmless treatment technologies in recent years. Finally, the article summarized the international policy background in recent years, and illustrated two typical cases of the developed and developing countries respectively: Germany and China. The results showed that the opportunities and challenges of biogas development were coexisting, but the advantage was extraordinary. Therefore, to maximize the advantages of biogas, not only the technology and policy should be improved, but also the difficulty of economic cost needs to be overcome.

Potential, environmental, and socio-economic assessment of biogas production in Ethiopia: The case of Amhara regional state

Bio-energy is a major energy source providing more than 80% of the energy demand in Ethiopia, particularly in the Amhara regional state. Biogas is the emerging bio-energy in the rural area of the region through biogas development program for potential households. The current biogas digesters are evaluated using onsite data collection in collaboration with the regional biogas program office. The emissions from each stage of the biogas production process are estimated using life cycle approach. The socio-economic benefits from the biogas implementation are addressed considering well-known socio-economic indicators like net present value, payback period, benefit cost ratio, and women's opportunity cost. The results show that there is a huge biogas potential in the region at 223 PJ per annum. Currently, there are about 4500 operational household biogas digesters in the region providing 0.13 PJ per year, only 0.058% of the total theoretical potential. The biogas digesters employed (4500) reduces about 1984 tonnes CO2eq of GHG emissions per year. In addition, other indoor pollutants like CO, NMOC, and PM10 are also reduced at 1517, 108, and 41 tonnes per annum, respectively. The benefit cost ratio of 1.8 and a short payback period (∼2 years) shows that the sector development is promising. The exhaustive utilization of the available cow manure potential will result in women's benefit of about 890,300 US$ per annum. Thus, the sector is very interesting and more efforts from the government and the households can improve the sector to maximize the benefits.

Barriers and opportunities to bioenergy transitions: An integrated, multi-level perspective analysis of biogas uptake in Bali

Renewable energy is expected to gain a larger share in the Indonesian energy mix by 2025. Biogas has not only the potential to contribute significantly to the country's renewable energy targets by mid-century, but also to provide a series of co-benefits to improve wellbeing of vulnerable rural communities. The challenge is to find pathways for biogas to overcome well-established technologies and practices in the current heavily fossil fuel based energy system. This paper focused on household-level biogas development in Bali, Indonesia, critically analysing four domestic biogas programmes that are currently under implementation. For our analysis, we adopted an integrated approach combining the multi-level perspective framework with a system-mapping exercise. Moreover, a series of semi-structured interviews as well as an interactive workshop was conducted which allowed us to place multiple stakeholder perspectives and experiences at the heart of the analysis to look at factors beyond the micro-system of the technology, and understand the broader socio-institutional context. Our analysis of enabling and hindering factors to biogas expansion identified opportunities for improving the design and implementation of policy, finance and technology measures. These findings are relevant not only for the Indonesian context, but also for other developing countries that are increasingly investing in transitioning to low-carbon energy futures.

Technical and technology aspect assessment of biogas agroindustry from cow manure: case study on cattle livestock industry in South Lampung District

Farm waste is one of the potential causes for environmental pollution if it is not handled properly. One effort is to utilize livestock waste in the form of animal waste, as raw material, for the biogas industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the appropriate type of biogas reactor and feasibility of cow manure agroindustrial biogas development in acattle fattening industries in South Lampung Regency in terms of technical and technological aspect. The results showed that based on the exponential comparison method the appropriate type of biogas reactor was Modified Lagoon Anaerobic Reactor Cover (CoLAR) with an MPE value of 5,701. The Modified CoLAR biogas reactor with capacity of 198,000 kg.day−1 cow manure would produce 1,663.2 m3..day−1of biogas that equivalent to 1,093 m3.day−1 of methane. Based on these results, it was known that the potential of electrical energy produced by the installation of biogaswas 5,136 kWh and 214 kW of electricity power.

Upgrading the development of Hubei biogas with ETS in China

The Chinese Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) program registers and trades CCER credits compatible with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) endorsed by many other countries. This example of an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has become a driving force for the regional expansion of the biogas economy in Hubei, China. Hubei is a notable case that demonstrates how China has begun to decentralize its policy approach to rural green-energy production. Hubei's rural energy agencies have taken a “learning-by-doing” approach to implementing projects under programs including CCER, which have provided both financial and technical support for implementing biogas solutions. This paper illustrates the potential of CDM tools to support the expansion of subnational biogas economies and highlights a pathway for international engagement in local projects that can provide funding, as well as the technological and human resources required for success.

A Review of Commercial Biogas Systems and Lessons for Africa

Many African countries have vast biomass resources that could serve as feedstock for methane production through the adoption of commercial biogas plants. However, due to many inhibiting factors, these resources are under-utilised. This article reviews commercial biogas systems that treat organic waste from municipalities, large livestock farms, large plantations/crop farms, food/beverage production facilities, and other industries, to identify essential lessons which African countries could use to develop/disseminate such biogas systems. The review identified the critical barriers to commercial biogas development to be high initial capital costs, weak environmental policies, poor institutional framework, poor infrastructure and a general lack of willpower to implement renewable energy policies and set challenging targets. In African countries where feed-in-tariffs, quota obligations and competitive bidding programmes have been instituted, implementation has been poor, and most state-owned utilities have been unsupportive. Using knowledge from more experienced countries such as Germany and China, some key lessons have were identified. Among the key lessons is the need to institute and enforce environmental management policies to ensure that waste from medium and large livestock farms and industries are not disposed of indiscriminately, a tool China has recently used to promote commercial biogas plants to a high degree of success.

Pemanfaatan Limbah Eceng Gondok Sebagai Energi Biogas Dengan Menggunakan Digester

Biogas is an alternative energy in the form of gas formed from the process of fermentation of organic materials. One of the most abundant organic materials is water hyacinth. This research aims to design the tool that will be used to process water hyacinth so that it can produce biogas energy. The main components of the equipment made consist of digester, water trap, gas container, and gas stove, each made 3 appliances. The experiment was conducted using 3 pieces of digester where each digester was filled with 10kg of water hyacinth and different starter. Digester A uses a 0.5 liter EM4 starter mixed with 4.5 liters of water. Digester B using starter 5 kg of cow dung mixed with water 3 liters. And digester C using starter 5 kg of cow dung mixed with 0.5 liters EM4 and 4, 5 liters of water. Then see the development of biogas during the fermentation process (35 days). From the results of this study can be obtained biogas pressure, temperature, acidity (pH) and the duration of the flame generated by the means of producing biogas using this digester and can be applied to the stove. The pressure change produced by digester C is greater than the pressure generated from digesters A and B. The temperature changes produced in digester C are greater than the temperature produced by digesters A and B. The initial pH value of mixing for digester A is pH 6.3, digester B with pH 7.5 and digester C with pH 5.5. The pH value after biogas was produced for digester A with pH 7.5, digester B with pH 7.5 and digester C with pH 7.6. This corresponds to a good pH for the growth of biogas-forming microbes, ranging from 6.4 to 7.8. The fire generated on the blue flame test, with the total length of the flame for each digester is 54 minutes 46 seconds.

PEMBERDAYAAN MASYARAKAT DALAM PEMBUATAN BIOGAS DARI KOTORAN SAPI

Agricultural and livestock products produce byproducts that have not received much attention, even considered as untreated waste. In general, the waste is used as manure. In fact, from agricultural waste and animal husbandry can be used as an alternative energy source, namely from biomass. One of the efforts to utilize livestock waste is to use it to produce fuel by using biogas technology. Biogas technology provides opportunities for rural communities, especially Rejomulyo Village, West District Magetan District which has a livestock business, both individual and group, to meet the needs of daily energy independently. The potential for biogas development in Rejomulyo village is quite large. That's because quite a lot of cows are kept by the community Rejomulyo village with the number of cows per 1 house about 1-2 tail. Each 1 cow / buffalo can produce approximately 2 m3 biogas / day. Implementation of biogas technology in areas that have farms can provide economic benefits if the design is appropriate in terms of technical and operational

Experimental study on flame stability of biogas / hydrogen combustion

The flame stability of biogas blended with hydrogen combustion was experimentally studied in the constant volume combustion bomb. The variations of characteristic parameters of flame instability and effect of pressure and fuel component proportion on flame shape were analyzed. The experimental results show that the flame instability increases with the decrease of equivalence ratio, and the global flame stability decreases with increase of CO2 fractions. With increase of initial pressure of biogas and hydrogen mixture, Markstein length decreases, hydrodynamic instability decreases, but the thermal mass diffusion instability has no effect. The effect of increase of the hydrogen ratio on flame stability is more obvious, with the increase of initial pressure and hydrogen ratio together, both hydrodynamic instability and thermal mass diffusion instability increase. This research can provide experimental basis for the design and development of biogas blended with hydrogen engines.

Business model for commercialisation the compressed bio-methane gas by substituting conventional fossil fuels in the thai industrial sector

Thailand has modified various anaerobic digestion technologies on a commercial scale since the start of biogas promotion campaigns in the late 1990’s. These include biogas from livestock farms, agro-factories and waste. Compressed Bio-methane Gas (CBG), which is considered the second-generation of biogas development, is deemed appropriate for the promotion scheme in the long-term operation. Through a technical field survey from 350 various types of factories, it was found that CBG reliability, price, and less boiler/engine modification are the most important factors for fuel substitution from the factory point of view. This study aimed to investigate the appropriate Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) to encourage CBG projects in the Thai market based on the fuel switching concept from fuel oil, natural gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to CBG in the industry sector. This was calculated by applying investment cost, fuel cost, operation and maintenance cost, and depreciation along with engineering approaches. A rate of return from 10 to 15 % was expected. It was found that the replacement of LPG by CBG required the most support, with 5.50 THB/kg of CBG. Natural gas required less support with 1.28 THB/kg of CBG. Policies and barriers to the implementation of the CBG subsidisation programme have also been presented and discussed.

Biogas: Developments and perspectives in Europe

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the development and perspectives of biogas in and its use for electricity, heat and in transport in the European Union (EU) and its Member States. Biogas production has increased in the EU, encouraged by the renewable energy policies, in addition to economic, environmental and climate benefits, to reach 18 billion m3 methane (654 PJ) in 2015, representing half of the global biogas production. The EU is the world leader in biogas electricity production, with more than 10 GW installed and a number of 17,400 biogas plants, in comparison to the global biogas capacity of 15 GW in 2015. In the EU, biogas delivered 127 TJ of heat and 61 TWh of electricity in 2015; about 50% of total biogas consumption in Europe was destined to heat generation. Europe is the world's leading producer of biomethane for the use as a vehicle fuel or for injection into the natural gas grid, with 459 plants in 2015 producing 1.2 billion m3 and 340 plants feeding into the gas grid, with a capacity of 1.5 million m3. About 697 biomethane filling stations ensured the use 160 million m3 of biomethane as a transport fuel in 2015.

KAJIAN POTENSI PEMANFAATAN BIOGAS SEBAGAI SALAH SATU SUMBER ENERGI ALTERNATIF DI WILAYAH MAGELANG

The increasing consumption of fossil-based energy especially LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) that is not balanced with the availability of energy source, required a development of alternative energy with abundant amount and environmentally friendly. One of alternative energy source feasible to develop is the one from biomass waste that is livestock manure. Magelang becomes one of potential area in Central Jawa as biogas development. Biogas is produced by using digester anaerobically. Magelang has livestock about 142.127 with potency of gas production about 86.690 m3. The resulted biogas production equals to 43.345 kg of LPG or 14.448 of LPG 3 kg which is can fullfill the cooking needs for about 278 households in one year.

Feasibility Study on the Production of Biogas in Dairy Farming

The purpose of this study was to evaluate feasibility study on the development of biogas in dairy farming. In short of the production process, the biogas was produced by utilizing waste from dairy farming industry (i.e. cow’s manure and cassava peel). The production of biogas was analyzed from engineering perspective with several economic evaluation parameters, including gross profit margin, internal rate return, payback period, net present value, and so on. The engineering analysis result showed that the production of biogas is prospective using current technologies. Mass balance calculation showed that 1 kg of cow’s manure supported with 0.30 kg of cassava peal waste from cows’ leftover can be converted into near to 0.20 kg of biogas. Assuming 1700 kg of cow’s manure per month, the production of more than 300 kilograms of biogas can be obtained, showing the excellent prospect for solving the environmental issues in dairy farming industries. In the economic evaluation, the result showed that direct conversion of biogas is not profitable. To confirm the potentiality of the biogas project for being applied in industrial uses, three types of projects were compared, including production of “biogas only”, “fresh milk production only”, and “combination of biogas and fresh milk production”. The result suggested that to get project profitable, the biogas production must be applied with the dairy farming such as milk production. Moreover, the profitability analysis of this “combination between biogas and fresh milk production” is higher than that of “fresh milk production only”. Since the biogas production can give excellent benefit on both profit and solving environmental issues in dairy farming industries, further developments from this study must be done.

Biogas as an alternative energy source in Ukraine and Israel: current issues and benefits

An increasing number of countries develop and promote renewables which influence their economy. This paper analyses and evaluates the energy potential of biomass in Ukraine as a whole and in the agricultural sector in particular. The benefits for energy (biogas from manure), environment and economy are analysed. The economic effect of implementing a biogas installation plant in Ukraine is addressed. Biogas development should occur according to the main principles of sustainable development. The main practical steps of establishing a Ukrainian biogas market are described.

Biogas Production from Rice Husk Waste by using Solid State Anaerobic Digestion (SSAD) Method

An effort to obtain alternative energy is still interesting subject to be studied, especially production of biogas from agriculture waste. This paper was an overview of the latest development of biogas researches from rice husk waste by Solid State Anaerobic Digestion (SSAD). The main obstacle of biogas production from rice husk waste was the lignin content which is very difficult degraded by microbes. Various pretreatments have been conducted, either physically, chemically as well as biologically. The SSAD method was an attractive option because of the low water content of rice husk waste. The biogas yield by SSAD method gave more attractive result compared to Liquid Anaerobic Digestion (LAD) method. Various studies were still conducted in batch mode laboratory scale and also has not found optimum operating conditions. Research on a larger scale such as bench and pilot scale with continuous systems will be an increase trend in the future research.

Biogas Utilization as Renewable Energy to Achieve National Energy Security (Study of Wonolelo Village, Bantul, Yogyakarta)

The utilization of renewable energy in Indonesia is considerably low. To respond this issue, the Indonesian government creates several policies to increase the renewable energy utilization to 23% in 2025. One of several attempts in implementing these policies, the Indonesian government aims to build renewable energy developments, especially on biogas construction to produce energy up to 48 KWh. Biogas practically has already been used by the people in the Village of Wonolelo, Bantul, Yogyakarta since 2015 as fuel for stoves. It signifies that the acceptability of biogas utilization as renewable energy has already begun. Based on this reason, researchers of this study seeks to determine the potential of biogas development based from cow dung as a renewable energy source and also the potential of biogas utilization from cow dung as an effort to improve the economy of the local society in efforts to achieve national energy security, through using mixed methods research. This research found that firstly cow dung has big potentials for renewable energy purposes. These potentials are the utilization of cow dung could produce up to 108 m3 of biogas that is equivalent to 49.68 kg of LPG or equal to 66.96 litres of kerosene; improve biogas utilization up to 26.15% for 3 years and mostly applied for cooking purposes; highly effective for cooking purposes (reaching up to 90%) but relatively low effectiveness for lighting purposes (reach up to 10%); its utilization could be used by the community in the event of a disaster and to support local manufacturers of kitchen appliances because the production of biogas will have increased every year. Secondly, biogas utilization from cow dung could improve the economy of the local society because through the used of biogas, they can save up their money every year with an equivalent of the total income from the district minimum wage up to 16,200,000 IDR; reduce the amount of unemployment in developing biogas utilization and production; and improve energy sufficiency to achieve national energy security.

Barriers to biogas dissemination in India: A review

Biogas has emerged as a promising renewable technology to convert agricultural, animal, industrial and municipal wastes into energy. Biogas development can be integrated with strategies to improve sanitation as well as reduce indoor air pollution and greenhouse gases. Currently, the total biogas production in India is 2.07 billion m3/year. This is quite low compared to its potential, which is estimated to be in the range of 29–48 billion m3/year. Hence, this study aims to identify both technical and non-technological barriers impending biogas dissemination in India. Biogas dissemination is affected by various waste, renewable energy, and urban policies. Barriers were therefore identified individually for rural and urban biogas systems existing in India using decomposition analysis. The results show that type and importance of barriers vary strongly between biogas systems due to the difference in technology maturity, feedstock availability and quality, supply chain, awareness level and policy support.

The biogas development in the Indonesian power generation sector

Climate change, pollution, and energy insecurity are currently critical worldwide problems. To improve worldwide energy security and supply, new policies regarding renewable energy and new infrastructure should be developed. Since 2006, Indonesia’s dependency on oil imports has been increasing significantly. Recent policies on renewable energy have been issued to cope with the issue. This study focuses on describing the feasibility of using biogas for energy production in Indonesia. Biogas contains 50–70% methane and 30–50% carbon dioxide and has a calorific value of 21–24MJ/Nm3. Therefore, it can be potentially altered to contain 97% methane prior to injecting into natural gas networks. The prospective derivation of biogas from cattle, pig, and chicken waste in Indonesia could reach approximately 79 Trillion Watt-hours (TWh). In order to use biogas for power generation, two scenarios were created. The electricity demand, the environmental impact and the reduction of GHG emissions were considered over the next 20 years. The first scenario depended on current energy policy and the second scenario depended on biogas as a substitute for the fossil fuel that is still used for generating power. The carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were estimated for each scenario. A resource analysis of the biogas derived from animal wastes was estimated and the economics of biogas production were described. Finally, the most recent renewable energy policies were described to promote the development of this sector.