International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering

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An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust

Received: 5 December 2014    Accepted: 11 December 2014    Published: 16 February 2015
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Abstract

Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
Published in International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering (Volume 4, Issue 2, April 2015)
Page(s) 24-31
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Digester, Cow Dung, Temperature, Biogas, Insulation, Methane

References
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[2] I.N. Budiyano, Widiasa, S. Johari. and Sunarso, The kinetic of biogas production rate from cattle manure in batch mode. International Journal of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering, Vol. 2 (2010), pp. 39-44.
[3] J. Patil, M.A. Lourdu, , R. Antony and C.C. Gavimath: Study on effect of pre-treatment methods on biomethanation of water hyacinth, International Journal of Advanced Biotechnology and Research, Vol. 2(2011), pp. 143-147.
[4] R.K. Dhaked, P. Singh, and L. Singh, Biomethanation under Psychrophilic conditions, Biotechnology Division, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior 474002, India (2010).
[5] W. Chen: (Sensitivity Analysis for a Plug-Flow Anaerobic Digester. A Master of Engineering Project, University of Cornell (2007).
[6] D. Fulford: Running a Biogas Programme, (ITDG Publishing, UK. 2001).
[7] B.T. Nijaguna: Biogas Technology (New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers, New Delhi 2002).
[8] M. H. Gerardi: The Microbiology of Anaerobic Digesters, (John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey 2003).
[9] A. Davidsson: Increase of biogas production at waste water treatment plant- Addition of urban organic waste and pre-treatment of sludge, Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Sweden (2007).
[10] U. Balasubramaniyam, L.S. Zisengwe, N. Meriggi, and E. Buysman: Biogas Production in Climates with long cold Winter, Wageningen: Wageningen University (2008).
[11] T. Liu and S. Sung: Ammonia inhibition on thermophilic aceticlastic methanogens Water Science & Technology Vol. 45, (2002), pp .113–120.
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  • APA Style

    Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. (2015). An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 4(2), 24-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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    ACS Style

    Patrick Mukumba; Golden Makaka; Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int. J. Energy Power Eng. 2015, 4(2), 24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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    AMA Style

    Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int J Energy Power Eng. 2015;4(2):24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12,
      author = {Patrick Mukumba and Golden Makaka and Chipo Shonhiwa},
      title = {An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust},
      journal = {International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering},
      volume = {4},
      number = {2},
      pages = {24-31},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepe.20150402.12},
      abstract = {Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust
    AU  - Patrick Mukumba
    AU  - Golden Makaka
    AU  - Chipo Shonhiwa
    Y1  - 2015/02/16
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
    T2  - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
    JF  - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
    JO  - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
    SP  - 24
    EP  - 31
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2326-960X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
    AB  - Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa

  • Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa

  • Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa

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