Developing a Family-Size Biogas-Fueled Electricity Generating System

The purpose of this study is to develop a family-size biogas-fueled electricity generating system consisting of anaerobic digester, bio-filter scrubber, and power generating engine. Biogas was produced from a pilot scale wet anaerobic digester (5-m3 capacity). The biogas was filtered using bio-scrubber column filled with locally made compost to reduce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) content. Biogas composition was analysed using a gas chromatograph and its H2S level was measured using a H2S detector. A 750-W four stroke power generating engine was used with 100% biogas. Biogas consumed by the generator engine was measured at different load from 100 to 700 W (13.3 to 93.3% of the rated power). Three replications for each load experiment were taken. Results showed that the total biogas yield was 1.91 m3/day with methane content of 56.48% by volume. Bio-filter successfully reduced H2S content in the biogas by 98% (from 400 ppm to 9 ppm). Generator engine showed good performance during the test with average biogas consumption of 415.3 L/h. Specific biogas consumption decreased from 5.05 L/Wh to 1.15 L/Wh at loads of 100 W to 700 W, respectively. Thermal efficiency increased with loads from 6.4% at 100 W to 28.1 at 700 W. The highest thermal efficiency of 30% was achieved at a load of 600 W (80% of the rated power) with specific biogas consumption of 1.07 L/Wh.Article History: Received Janury 16th 2017; Received in revised form 2nd June 2017; Accepted 18th June 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Haryanto, A., Marotin, F., Triyono, S., Hasanudin, U. (2017), Developing A Family-Size Biogas-Fueled Electricity Generating System. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(2), 111-118.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.2.111-11

Integrating microalgae production with anaerobic digestion: a biorefinery approach

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Uggetti, E. , Sialve, B. , Trably, E. and Steyer, J. (2014), Integrating microalgae production with anaerobic digestion: a biorefinery approach. Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref, 8: 516-529. doi:10.1002/bbb.1469], which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1469. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingIn the energy and chemical sectors, alternative production chains should be considered in order to simultaneously reduce the dependence on oil and mitigate climate change. Biomass is probably the only viable alternative to fossil resources for production of liquid transportation fuels and chemicals since, besides fossils, it is one of the only available sources of carbon-rich material on Earth. Over recent years, interest in microalgae biomass has grown in both fundamental and applied research fields. The biorefinery concept includes different technologies able to convert biomass into added-value chemicals, products (food and feed) and biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen). As in oil refinery, a biorefinery aims at producing multiple products, maximizing the value derived from differences in biomass components, including microalgae. This paper provides an overview of the various microalgae-derived products, focusing on anaerobic digestion for conversion of microalgal biomass into methane. Special attention is paid to the range of possible inputs for anaerobic digestion (microalgal biomass and microalgal residue after lipid extraction) and the outputs resulting from the process (e.g. biogas and digestate). The strong interest in microalgae anaerobic digestion lies in its ability to mineralize microalgae containing organic nitrogen and phosphorus, resulting in a flux of ammonium and phosphate that can then be used as substrate for growing microalgae or that can be further processed to produce fertilizers. At present, anaerobic digestion outputs can provide nutrients, CO2 and water to cultivate microalgae, which in turn, are used as substrate for methane and fertilizer generation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Experimental Investigation on Ash Mineralization and Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage to Meet Gas Grid Limits for Biogas

The present work deals with capture and storage of carbon dioxide from biogases by bond- ing to alkaline earth metals from power plant ashes. The aim is to achieve the feed-in standard in Germany for the natural gas grid by binding CO2 in a long-term stable and environmentally compatible manner. In addition, the ash quality is to be improved by reduced mobility of critical metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium, and calcium carbonate is to be recovered as a valuable material in addition to the biomethane. In several experimental setups from laboratory scale to pilot plant, it was shown that both carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide can be captured and stored in large quantities of ash residues. Both the use of a packed column to compensate for the poor absorption and reaction kinetics and the use of ammonium chloride as an extraction agent proved to be particularly effective for biogas upgrading to biomethane level. In contrast, both the absorption and reaction temperature, as well as gas-specific influencing factors such as carbon dioxide concentration and volume flow rate, had little to no influence. With regard to ash quality, an improvement of the landfill class from IV to 0 was achieved with respect to lead, from II to 0 for zinc and from III to I for cadmium. A significant improvement was also achieved for chlorine, but this did not result in a reduction of the landfill class. The ash quantity could be reduced by more than 50 %, among other things, by dissolving out the alkaline earth metals for the carbon dioxide reaction. As further research steps, it remains to further reduce the metal mobility with respect to the ash eluate in order to better optimize the process water quality. This could be achieved, for example, by a controlled pH value

Anaerobic co-digestion of acetate-rich with lignin-rich wastewater and the effect of hydrotalcite addition

The methane potential and biodegradability of different ratios of acetate and lignin-rich effluents from a neutral sulfite semi-chemical (NSSC) pulp mill were investigated. Results showed ultimate methane yields up to 333 ± 5 mL CH4/gCOD when only acetate-rich substrate was added and subsequently lower methane potentials of 192 ± 4 mL CH4/gCOD when the lignin fraction was increased. The presence of lignin showed a linear decay in methane production, resulting in a 41% decrease in methane when the lignin-rich feed had a 30% increase. A negative linear correlation between lignin content and biodegradability was also observed. Furthermore, the effect of hydrotalcite (HT) addition was evaluated and showed increase in methane potential of up to 8%, a faster production rate and higher soluble lignin removal (7–12% higher). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies between 64 and 83% were obtained for all samples.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Viability for oxidation of H2S gas using low concentration solutions of H2O2 peroxide in applications for biogas purification.

This thesis is an examination of the viability of a low pH hydrogen peroxide scrubbing process for removing H 2 S acid gas present in typical biogas streams generated from dairy farm anaerobic digesters. Biogas ranges in composition based on the feedstock manure used in the anaerobic digestion process but typically consists of methane (50-60%), carbon dioxide (40-50%), and trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Hydrogen sulfide is of prime concern because it is an odorous, poisonous, and highly corrosive gas which can impede use in power generation applications for biogas such as boilers, internal combustion engines, microturbines, fuel cells, and stirling engines. Thus, removal of hydrogen sulfide is highly recommended. Desirable attributes for a gas purification system include low capital cost, low operational costs, minimal preventative maintenance, minimum energy inputs, and ease of use. H 2 O 2 is a highly selective oxidant that does not produce toxic and corrosive by-products and has been shown to be a convenient way of eliminating oxidizable pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide gas from air or other gas streams. Based on these criteria, an experimental approach was used to investigate the feasibility of using an acidic H 2 O 2 scrubber for the removal of H 2 S from synthetic biogas. Two test reactors were constructed, each setup with multiple configurations of packing volume, H 2 O 2 concentration, and liquid volume. Synthetic biogas was introduced into the reactors and data was collected including liquid pH, liquid oxidation reduction potential, and H 2 S concentration of exit gas during experiments. In total there were over twenty separate experiments conducted between the bench scale experiments, 1st scrubber trials, and 2nd scrubber trials. The results of these experiments demonstrate that a low pH H 2O 2 scrubbing system shows commercial viability for the removal of H 2 S from biogas. Functional oxidation of H 2 S was achieved with removal efficiencies of 99% in certain reactor configurations. Bench scale experiments indicate that highest oxidation reduction potential of hydrogen peroxide solutions occurs in the acidic pH range between pH 3-5. Key operating parameters observed for functional oxidation of H 2 S gas were the bubble diameter of inlet biogas and gas residence time. Increased residence times and smaller mean inlet bubble diameters led to maximum removal efficiencies. The research was conducted in the University of Louisville Food Processing Laboratory and used as proof-of-concept for claims made in United States Patent Application 20090130008. These initial results indicate that future work is warranted for examining suitability of using a commercial scale acidic hydrogen peroxide scrubbing vessel as an H 2 S removal technology in biogas purification

Low-cost filter media for removal of hydrogensulphide from piggery biogas

The presence of elevated concentrations of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in piggery biogas is problematic due to its corrosiveness and toxicity. At small scale, the cost of using iron or carbon-based commercial filter media to remove H2S can act as a barrier to the uptake of on-farm biogas technology. To identify cost-effective, alternative options, this study tested and compared H2S removal by the commercial iron-oxide H2S scavenger (cg5) with the alternative solid media: granulated steel furnace slag (GSFS), red soil, compost, composted beef feedlot manure, granular activated carbon (GAC) and biochar. Experiments measured single-pass H2S removal from a pre-humidified standard gas (2000 ppm H2S in nitrogen) onto solid media contained in a cylindrical plastic column (DN 25 mm, depth 110–147 mm). The commercial medium (cg5) performed considerably better than the other media, achieving sulphur removal of 143 g S/kg medium at breakthrough (>10 ppm outlet H2S). A red soil was the most promising alternative medium (2–12 g S/kg medium at breakthrough). The crystalline structure of the iron-oxide minerals appeared to strongly influence the H2S removal capacity of the red soils, and pressure drop was generally high. Bulking with ground sugarcane mulch (SCM) was effective at reducing pressure drop. Interestingly, H2S removal with red soil improved when the soil was regenerated by exposure to air, followed by reuse in the column. Overall, red soil may be a suitable low-cost option, especially for polishing biogas after initial biological H2S removal