Aim:

Tutorial
on
Alternative Fuels.

Biogas

as

A. Relevance:The economics of India depends to a large extent on the wheels of transport.

The specter of economy ruin due to depleted oil reserves has changed the
interest of scientist and research work towards alternative fuels for motor
vehicle. Viable substitute for motor spirit are gaseous hydrocarbons,
hydrogen gas, alcohol & electricity that run on hydrocarbon gas & electricity
are still in the experimental stage. While alcohol is used as a fuel chiefly in
Brazil, its feasibility as motor fuel depends on the successful cultivation &
processing of sugarcane. Gaseous hydrocarbons seem to be the best
immediate option presently available. These are mainly COMPRESSED
NATURAL GAS (CNG) & LIQUIFIED PETROLIUM GAS (LPG). LPG is being
imported whereas CNG is available in abundance in India. Till recently,
technology to permit conversion of vehicles from petrol burners to gas
burners had to imported, but now India is largest cattle breeding country;
there is abundance of raw material for producing biogas. Also municipal
sewage can be used for this purpose.
The use of methane separated from biogas as a fuel will substantially reduce
harmful engine emission and will help to keep the environment clean. Biogas
consists of approximately 55-60 % of methane. It is economical and slurry
can be used as organic manure. One of the alternate technologies Sulabh
propagates is the biogas plant that utilizes human excreta as its raw input. In
the last 20 years, it has setup a hundred such plants throughout India. The
plants? Twin outputs, similar to those of cattle biogas plants, are nutrient-rich
sludge and methane-rich biogas. The sludge is used primarily as manure,
and the biogas either as cooking fuel or as street-lighting gas.

B. The Technology:Biogas dates as far back as the 16th century, when it was used for heating
bath-water in Persia. It has been used in India for almost a hundred years.
The Indian government introduced large-scale biogas production in 1981
through the National Project on Biogas Development. Biogas is produced by

extracting chemical energy from organic materials in a sealed container

called a digester. 2 million biogas plants were in operation in 1995, and
about 10 million rural Indians were benefiting from the electric power and
cooking fuel the gas provided, and also from the rich agricultural fertilizer the
plant
produces
as
a
byproduct.
Central to the generation of biogas is the concept of anaerobic digestion,
also called biological gasification. It is a naturally occurring, microbial
process that converts organic matter to methane and carbon dioxide. The
chemical reaction takes place in the presence of methanogenic bacteria with
water an essential medium. The anaerobic digestion process, as the name
states, is one that functions without molecular oxygen. Ideally, in a biogas
plant there should be no oxygen within the digester. However, efforts to
completely remove it will be prohibitively expensive. Oxygen therefore exists
in the digester, dissolved mainly in water. Fortuitously, some microbes within
the digester are facultative anaerobes, i.e. they utilize oxygen and lower the
dissolved oxygen concentration to levels suitable for other anaerobic
microbes to perform their chemical reactions. Oxygen removal from the
digester is important for two main reasons. First, the presence of oxygen
leads to the creation of water, not methane. Second, oxygen is a
contaminant in biogas and also a potential safety hazard. Due to presence of
oxygen,
calorific
value
of
biogas
becomes
low.
First, cow dung, the primary raw input for almost all operating biogas plants
is widespread and easily available. India has more cattle than any other
country (450 million head, 19% of the world population). Second, the cow is
held in religious veneration and its products are considered purifying agents.
Hence, there is a universal acceptance of even its dung, which otherwise
would instinctively be thought of as repulsive. Dung is widely used in India
for house construction (as an infill material and external plaster), in religious
rituals, as composted fertilizer and as a cooking fuel (dung cakes). Dung
accounts for over 21 percent of total rural energy use in India, and as much
as 40 percent in certain states of the country. Third, only 27% of rural India
has access to electricity supplied by the national grid (ostensibly, 84% of all
villages are connected). Localized biogas plants obviate the dependency on
the grid by producing energy from a locally controlled and easily accessible
raw
material.

C. Present Theory and Practices

i. Biogas cars: -

Koges, Switzerland is developing a new fuel based on biogas which would be

eco friendly and cheaper than petrol. Wastage from kitchens and gardens are
collected, non-biodegradable matter removed and again put into
fermentation reactor. Here, in the anaerobic environment microorganisms
transforms the garbage into compost and biogas called kompogas. Gas
obtained from 100kg. Of waste can fuel a medium sized car up to 100km.
The engine runs more quietly on kompogas, vibrates less and the exhaust is
almost odorless. At the present 150 vehicles are running on kompogas.
ii. In India, some projects are undertaken in which diesel and biogas as dual
fuel for diesel pump.
iii. In Israel, biogas is used as a fuel for loaded vehicles.

D. Need
Till date, LPG, CNG has been used as fuel. But they have their own
limitations. LPG is explosive, CNG is expensive. Methane separated from
biogas is equivalent to CNG but economical than CNG. Now-a-days the whole
world is facing energy crisis. Available sources of liquid fuel will be depleted
after few years. In this situation biogas can serve as best alternative fuel.

E. Applications:1.
2.
3.
4.

Fuels for internal combustion engine.

Pump.
Electricity generation.
Domestic fuel for burners in kitchen.

PRESENT FUELS FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE:1. Gasoline.

2. Diesel.
3. Alcohol
4. LPG.
5. CNG.
6. Electricity.
7. Solar.
8. Producer gas.
9. Hydrogen.
Present Fuels and Limitations:There are so many fuels used in I.C. Engines, but they have certain physical
and chemical properties. In other words, fuels used in I.C. Engine redesigned
tom satisfy performance requirements of engine system, in which they are
used. The limitations of fuels that are used presently are as follows
1. Gasoline contains many impurities. It has low octane number. All
petroleum fuels oxidize slowly in presence of air. The oxidation of
unsaturated hydrocarbons result in formation of resinous materials called
gum and reduces its lubricating quality and tends to form sludge and
warmish on piston and rings. It has less knock resistance as well as energy
per unit mass. It has less efficiency compared to other fuels. It has high cost.

2. In alcohol, higher latent heat of vaporization reduced charge temperatures

before combustion. Alcohols suffer disadvantages of water absorption,
corrosive and lubricant incompatibility.
3. In LPG, it reduces volumetric efficiency due to its high heat of
vaporization. The road sensitivity is very high. It is very corrosive. Response
to blending is very poor. It has higher cost of transportation. It has higher
cost
for conversion kit,
installation
of
extensive.
4. In electricity, they use in initially generated power stations that use fossil
fuel of nuclear power. There are other problems too. The problem is with
batteries in these vehicles. These batteries are quite heavy and life of these
is
also
low.
Cost
of
replacing
these
batteries
is
high.
PREPARATION OF BIO-GAS
1. Micro Organisms and Mechanism of Bio-Gas Production
a. Micro Organisms-An organic waste consist of many organisms but the
organisms useful for biogas production are
i. Aerobic
ii. Anaerobic
b. Constituents of Organic Waste?
The organic waste contains many constituents such as cellulose,
Hemicelluloses, lignin, proteins, and starch, water-soluble, fats, Soluble etc.
c. Mechanism of biogas production: Stage 1:- It involves the decomposition of cellulose, hemicelluloses Lignin,
starch, protein, fats etc. Into simpler organic compounds like acids, alcohols
and gases like CO2, H2, and NH3, H2S etc. by aerobic and anaerobic Microorganisms.
Stage 2: - The anaerobic organism or methane bacteria utilize Simple carbon
compounds available from first stage and produce methane. This is biogas
production.
2. Bio-gas plants
There are two types of plantsi. Daily fed or continuous type.
ii. Batch fed or periodic type.
1). Daily fed or continuous type biogas plants: It consists of 5 m. deep underground tank of masonry construction. It is
known as digester or fermentation well. The inlet tank is connected to

digester
by
an
inlet
pipe
and
the
outlet
tank is connected to digester by the outlet pipe as shown in figure. The gas
holder collects biogas produced in digester. It can be taken for use through
gas
outlet
pipe.
The organic waste such as cattle dung is mixed with water in 1:1 Proportion
and poured in inlet tank every day. This material is usually known as
substrate. Substrate gets collected in the fermentation well through the inlet
pipe. The trapped air is removed from the digester through the gas outlet
and the gas holder is placed in the position. When the plant is commissioned,
an inoculation of the bacteria is brought from existing biogas plant and is
injected in the digester to accelerate the purpose of decomposition to
produce biogas at faster rate. Size of plant depends upon
1. The required amount of gas daily and
2 Available quantity of cattle dung daily.
After the digester is full of substrate within a weeks time, the digester start
coming out through the gas outlet pipe. It is displaced out. This gas cannot
burn. Initially high CO2 contained in the gas makes it unsuitable for use.
Within 4-8 weeks, the microorganism develops sufficiently and biogas is
generated. This stabilized gas burns continuously in the burner. The gas
outlet is covered with wire mesh to prevent a flame rushing into the digester.
The plant should be exposed to the sunlight and shielded from the wind to
accelerate the growth of bacteria. The substrate should not be added till the
steady flame of gas is obtained at the burner. The plant is operated at low
pressure for proper burning of gas and proper fermentation. The used out
substrate passing to outlet tank through the outlet pipe. The residual slurry
gets stored in this tank. The solid residue can be used for diluting the dung.
Sometimes mixture is used in the digester to help digestion. The digester
may be surrounded by water and heating coil to maintain temperature.
Advantages: 1. Continuous gas output.
2. Minimum space requirement
3. Suitable for individual family
Disadvantages: 1. Substrate of uniform quality is desirable
2. Daily attention is required
3. Daily feeding is necessary

3. Purification of Biogas:Biogas coming from tank contains?

Composition:
Methane (CH4) 50-68%
Carbon monoxide (CO2) 25-35%
Hydrogen (H2) 1-5%
Nitrogen (N2) 2-7%
Oxygen (O2) 0-.1%
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) Rare

Out of these CO2 does not help in combustion process but reduce the
calorific value of biogas. H2S is in minor quantity but it has corrosive action
on combustion chamber and also reduces calorific value of biogas. Also
traces of moisture are to be removing for better thermal efficiency. So
harmful gradients are removed and use only methane as a fuel.
PROPERTIES OF BIO-GAS
In its pure state, it is color less, odorless, tasteless. For safety reason, an
odorant is added so that any leak can be easily detected because of typical
smell. The composition of bio gas is never constant. Methane is by far the
largest component, its presence accounting for about 95% of the total
volume. Methane is a simple hydrocarbon, a substance consisting of carbon
& hydrogen. There are many of these compounds each has its own carbon &
hydrogen atoms joined together to for a particular hydrocarbon gas as fuel
gas. Methane is very light fuel gas. If we increase the number of hydrogen &
carbon atoms, we have got progressively heavier gases, releasing more heat,
therefore
more
energy,
when
ignited.
Specific gravity of methane is .55 which is less than petrol & LPG. This means
that biogas will rise if escaping, thus dissipating from the site of a leak. This
important characteristic makes biogas safer than other fuels. It does not
contain any toxic component; therefore there is no health hazard in handling
of fuel. The air to biogas (stoichiometric) ratio by volume for complete
combustion is 9.5:1 to 10:1. Biogas has a very slow flame velocity, only .290
m/s. at its highest. The range of flammability is 4 to 14% which can give
good
combustion
efficiency.
Biogas has very high octane number approximately 130. By comparison,
gasoline is 90 to 94 & alcohol 105 at best. This means that a higher
compression ratio engine can be used with biogas than petrol. Hence,

cylinder head of the engine is faced so that clearance volume will be reduced
& compression ratio can sufficiently increase. Thus volumetric efficiency &
power output are increased. Because of its high octane value the detonation
occur however high the compression may be. The Boiling point of biogas is
above 300 degree Celsius while the calorific value is 35.390 MJ/m3 one of the
promising renewable energy sources is biogas, which is compound gas
consisting mainly of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). It is normally
formed with the decomposition of organic substances. Because of its low
energy density, the gas is generally stored in high-pressure gas bomb. To
store it in a condition of high density, it is also attempted to store methane in
the form of clathrate. The clathration of methane requires normally high
pressure and low temperature. If the clathration of biogas and methane
could be achieved under the normal pressure and temperature, this would
make the gases a very useful energy source. In this study, the clathration of
methane under the normal pressure and temperature was first attempted by
using Tetrahydrofuran (THF) as additive. Further, to realize the higher storage
density of methane, CO2 must be removed beforehand because not only
methane but also CO2 form clathrate. To achieve CO2 removal, the
possibility of absorption method using Monoethanolamine (MEA) is
experimentally investigated, aiming efficient biogas utilization in final.
Advantages of Biogas:1) It is light fuel gas.
2) It mixes easily with the air.
3) It is highly knocked resistant.
4) Due to uniform distribution thermal efficiency is higher.
5) Biogas has a high octane number.
6) It reduces pollution.
7) Higher compression ratio can be used with biogas.
8) Plants capital cost is low.
9) Domestic fuels for burners used in kitchen.
10) No toxic to skin.

BIOGAS in INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

1. S.I. Engines
The only adoption for a spark ignition engine is a gas (not gasoline!)
carburetor to work at the supply pressure (just like an LPG conversion, but an
evaporator would not be needed as the storage pressure is low). It is also a
good idea to scrub the H2S (as it causes corrosion) and to
derate the engine (unless you want to replace it each year if operating
continuously).
Modification of S.I. EngineS.I. engines can run completely on biogas, however, the engines are required
to be started on petrol at the beginning, conversion of S.I. engine for the
entry of biogas, throttling of intake air & advancing the ignition timing.
Biogas can be admitted to S.I. engine through the intake manifold & air flow
control valve can be provided on the air cleaner pipe connecting air cleaner
& carburetor for throttling the intake air
2. C.I. Engine
Diesel engines also need a gas carburetor and scrubbing, but require at least
10% diesel via the injectors for ignition (and cooling). The initial starting of
diesel engine is done on pure diesel
Modification of C.I. EngineC.I. engine can operate on dual fuel & the necessary engine modification
include provision for the entry of biogas with intake air, provision of
carburetor & system to reduce diesel supply, advanced injection timing. The
entry of biogas and mixing of gas with intake air can be achieved by
providing the mixing chamber below the air cleaner which facilitate through
mixing of biogas with air before entering into the cylinder. The arrangement
is shown in fig. is largely used in stationary engine commercially available in
India. The capacity of mixing chamber may be kept equal to the engine
displacement volume. The pilot injection of cycle is required to be advanced
for smooth and efficient running of engine on dual fuel. The admittance of
biogas into the engine at the initial stage increases engine speed and
therefore a suitable system reduces the diesel supply by actuating the
control
rack
needs
to
be
incorporated.
There is a wide range of thoughts on what treatments should these biogases
be subjected to before being used as fuel. Most operators simply remove the
water present in the biogas, leaving it to the engine manufacturers to design
engines which will cope with the impurities inevitably included in the biogas
(significant maintenance costs); other Operators are seriously evaluating

maintenance costs against initial investments in biogas clean up

technologies such as has been developed by Acrion Technologies (although
Acrion's technologies are mainly aimed at biogas contaminant removal and
separation into methane and carbon dioxide as feed stocks for a variety of
commercial applications).

PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES
To use the biogas as a fuel in SI engine there are some practical difficulties. It
is not possible to compress the methane, separated from biogas by available
method; because the gas could be liquefied through chilling below -161
0C.This process is adapted by installing the units required when their use of
methane separated from biogas as a fuel. Since gas cannot be compressed it
requires large space for storage.
PERFORMANCE
1. In purification method, by reducing CO2 and moisture along H2S
impurities in biogas, the engine performance is improved.
2. Effect of spark timing:Biogas is slow burning fuel. Hence in order to get optimum engine
performance, spark timing does not advance, and then combustion continues
in major part of the expansion stroke. This reduces effective work done. By
advancing, spark timing power is improved on low speed at partial throttle
condition as well as high speed at full throttle condition.

EXHAUST EMMISSIONS
The exhaust emission contains three specific substances which contribute
the air pollution, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide &oxides of nitrogen.
Hydrocarbons are the unburned fuel vapor coming out with the exhaust due
to incomplete combustion. Hydrocarbon also occurring in crankcase by fuel
evaporation. The emission of hydrocarbon is closely related to many design
&operating factors like induction system, combustion chamber design, air
fuel ratio, speed, load. Lean mixture lower hydrocarbon emission. Carbon
monoxide occurs only in engine exhaust. It is the product of incomplete
combustion due to insufficient amount of air in air- fuel mixture. Some
amount of CO is always present in the exhaust even at lean mixture. When
the throttle is closed to reduce air supply at the time of starting the vehicle,
maximum amount of CO is produced. Oxides of nitrogen are the combination
of nitric oxide & nitrogen oxide &availability of oxygen are the two main
reasons for the formation of oxides of nitrogen. The spark advance means
lower peak combustion temperature. It causes high NO concentration in the
exhaust. With biogas, co emission levels are low than that of gasoline.
Comparison of Exhaust Emission:METHANE Vs GASOLINE
Power Reduction 11%
CO Reduction 99%
HC Reduction 99%
NO Reduction 59%
ISFC Increase 19%