CHAPTER 3

BIO ENERGY
Introduction:
Biomass is organic matter produced by plants, both terrestrial and aquatic and their derivatives. It
includes forest crop and residues, crops grown especially for their energy content on energy farms
and animal manure. Unlike coal, oil and natural gas, which makes millions years to form, biomass
is considered to a renewable energy source because plant life renews and adds to itself every year.
It can also be considered a form of solar energy as the latter is used indirectly to grow these plants
by photosynthesis.
Difference between Biogas and Biomass:
Biogas Biomass
1. Biogas is slow burning gas produced by 1. Biomass is an organic matter produced by
digestion, pyrolysis or hydrogasification. plants
2. Biogas is clean and smokeless, it is 2. Biomass, wood and agricultural residue is
effectively used for cooking thereby reducing burnt directly to get the energy.
the demand for firewood.
3. Biogas is obtained when biomass is 3. Cattle dung, human waste, piggery waste,
fermented anaerobically. Biogas mixture poultry droppings, kitchen waste, paper waste,
contains 55-56% methane, 30-40% CO2 and etc are different types of biomass.
other impurities like H2, H2S and N2

Biomass conversion or bio conversion can take many forms (i) direct combustion such as wood
waste and bagasse (sugarcane refuge) (ii) thermochemical conversion and (iii) biochemical
conversion. Thermochemical conversion takes two forms: gasification and liquefaction.
Gasification takes place by heating the Biomass with Limited oxygen heating value gas or by
reacting it with steam and oxygen at high pressure and temperature to produce medium heating
value gas.
Biochemical conversion takes two forms. Anaerobic digestion and fermentation anaerobic
digestion involve the microbial digestion of biomass. Anaerobic is a microorganism that can live
and grow without air or oxygen, it gets its on oxygen by the decomposition of matter containing
it.
Fermentation is the breakdown of complex molecules in organic compounds under the influence
of a payment such as Yeast, bacteria, and enzymes, etc.
Wet processes
Anaerobic digestion. Biogas produced by the bacterial decomposition of wet sewage sludge animal
dung or green plants in the absence of oxygen. The natural decay process, 'anaerobic
decomposition' can be speeded up by using in thermally insulated, airtight tank with a stirrer unit,
heating system. The gas collected in the digester tank above the slurry can be piped off
continuously. At optimum temperature, complete decomposition of animal or human faces takes
around 10 days. The residue left after digestion is valuable fertilizer.
Fermentation: As stated, ethanol is produced by fermentation of sugar solution by natural yeasts.
After about 30 hours of fermentation the brew contains 6-10% alcohol and this can be removed by
distillation. The hydrolysis and distillation steps require a high energy input; for woody feedstocks
direct combustion or pyrolysis is probably more productive at present. Alcohol can be separated
from the brew by many methods which are now under intense development. These include solvent
extraction, reverse osmosis, molecular sieves and use of new techniques for alcohol dying.
Chemical Reduction: Chemical reduction is the least developed of the wet biomass conversion
process. It involves pressure – cooking animal wastes or plant cellulosic slurry with an alkaline
catalyst in the presence of carbon monoxide at temperatures in between 2500C and 4000C. Under
these conditions the organic material is converted into a mixture of oils with a yield approaching
50%. If the pressure is reduced and temperature is increased, the product is a high calorific value
gas.
Dry Processes
Pyrolysis: A wide range of energy rich fuels can be produced by roasting dry woody matter. The
material is fed into a reactor vessel in pulverized form and heated in the absence of air. As the
temperature rises the cellulose and lignin break down to simpler substances and becomes charcoal.
The end products of the reaction depend critically on the conditions employed. At low
temperatures around 5000, organic liquid and at high temperatures around 1000o a combustible
mixture of gases.
Liquefaction: Liquid yields are maximized by rapid heating of the feedstock to comparatively low
temperatures. The vapors are condensed from gas steam and these separate into two phase liquor;
the aqueous phase contains water soluble organic materials like acetic acid and methanol and non-
aqueous phase contains oils and tars.
Pyrolysis: It can also be carried out in the presence of small quantities of oxygen (gasification),
water (steam gasification) or hydrogen (hydrogeneation).
(i) Gasification: Pyrolysis of wet biomass produces fuel gas and very little liquid. An alternative
technique for maximizing gas yields is to blow small quantities of air or oxygen into reactor vessel
and to increase the temperature. Fuel gas from oxygen fed systems has medium calorific value.
This gas either can be burnt or converted into substitute natural gas.
(ii) Steam – Gasification: Methane is produced directly from woody matter by treatment at high
temperatures and pressures with hydrogen gas. The hydrogen can be added or generated in the
reactor vessel from carbon monoxide and steam. Net energy yields of 55% can be achieved
although higher yields are likely in future as technology is developed.
(iii) Hydrogenation: Under less severe conditions of temperature and pressure, carbon monoxide
and steam react with cellulose to produce heavy oils which can be separated and refined to
premium fuels.

Classification of Biogas Plants

Biogas plants are mainly classified as:
(1) Batch Type
(2) Continuous type
a. Float drum (constant pressure)
b. Fixed dome (constant volume)

Batch Type
• Batch type plant is charged at 50-60 days interval. Once charged, it starts supplying the gas
after 8-10 days and continues to do so for about 40-50 days till the process of digestion is
completed.
• Afterwards it is emptied and recharged. A battery of digesters are charged and emptied one
by one in a synchronous manner to maintain regular supply of gas through common gas
holder.
• The installation and operation of such plants are capital and labor intensive, and are not
economical unless operated on large scale.
• Such plants are installed in European countries. These plants do not suit to conditions in
Indian rural areas.
Continuous Type
• The plant is fed daily with certain quantity of biomass. The gas produced is stored in the
plant or in a separate gas holder and remains available for use as required.
• The biomass while slowly passing though the digester is completely digested and the
digested slurry is rejected through an outlet.
• The period during which the biomass remains in the digester is known a “RETENTION
PERIOD”, which depends mainly on the type of biomass and operating temperature.
• The plant operated continuously and stopped only for maintenance or for removal of
sludge.
• A thin dry layer often formed at the top of slurry is known as “SCUM". The scum tends
to prevent the escape of gas from slurry. The layer is broken by slowly stirring the slurry.
• These types of plants are very popular in India and China.

Floating Drum (Constant Pressure)

• It has an inverted mild steel drum to work as gasholder. This is the most expensive part of
the plant.
• The digester is an underground masonry construction with a partition wall.
• The bifurcation of digestion chamber through partitioning wall provides, optimum
conditions for growth of acid formers and methane formers as the requirement of Ph values
for these bacteria are different.
• Therefore, this plant operates very well with good biogas yield.
Fixed Dome (Constant Volume)
• This plant is more economical as only masonry work is required.
• The slurry enters from inlet and the digested slurry is collected in a displacement tank.
Stirring is required if raw material is crop residue.
• There is no bifurcation in the digester chamber, and therefore, the gas production is
somewhat less as compared to floating point design.
• The gas produced is stored in the dome and displaces the liquids in inlet and outlet, often
leading to gas pressure as high as 100cm of water. The gas occupies about 10% of the
volume of the digester.
• As complete plant is constructed underground, the temperature tends to remain constant
and is often considerably higher than ambient temperature in winter.
Comparison of Floating Drum and Fixed Dome type plants
Constructional features of few Main Digesters:
The main biogas plant digesters are classified into two groups – one with the floating gas holder
and the other with a fixed dome digester. In floating gas holder plant, the gas holder is separate
from digester. But in the fixed dome digester, the gas holder and the digester are combined. The
family size biogas plants available today in India are broadly of two types. The khadi village
industries commission (KVIC) model and Janta model.
1) KVIC Digester:
Construction of the gas plant is shown in the figure. It consists mainly of two parts. 1) Digester or
pit. 2) Gas holder.

Digester: Also called as fermentation plant, it is a sort of well of masonry work, dug and built
below the ground level. The depth of this well varies from 3.5 meters to 6 meters, and diameter
from 1.35 meters to 6 meters, depending upon the gas generating capacity and quantity of raw
material used each day. The digested well is divided into two semi cylindrical compartments
by means of a partition wall in the centre. The partition wall is lower than level of the digester
rim and hence it is submerged in slurry when the digester is full. Two slanting cement pipes
at the bottom of the well on either side of the partition wall. one pipe serves as the inlet and
the other as outlet. An inlet chamber near the digestive surface level serves for mixing dung
and water which is done mechanical or manually. The digester is designed to hold raw
material for 60 days. This ensures enough stay time of the input material for complete
digestion.
Gas Holder: It is a drum constructed of mild sheets, cylindrical in shape with a conical top and
radial supports at the bottom. It fits into the digester like a stopper. It sinks into the slurry die to its
own weight and rests upon the ring constructed for this purpose. As the gas is generated the holder
rises and floats freely on the surface of the slurry. The pressure varies between 709cms in column.
Since the gas must be dried before it is sent to oven for use, it is better to send gas through a vessel
filled with soda lime. This will help in better utilization of available calorific value. The floating
drum is metallic and it is given an anti-corrosive paint coating. ch
Maintenance of plant: The only maintenance required is the painting of gas collecter at regular
intervals. Many other materials like Ferrocement, fiber glass, reinforced polymer gas holders are
being tried instead of M.S but all of them are quite expensive. To avoid corrosion, a jacketed top
is suggested where a non-corrosive oil is filled once for all.

2. Janta Model:
The Chinese have designed a new model which is different from KVIC. The Chinese design
contains a fixed dome for collection of gas and hence the gas availability is at variable pressures.
This type of design is shown in figure.

The cost of design is very much low and construction is easier. The 2 cu mts plant of Chinese type
can be constructed at a cost of about Rs. 3000, where the KVIC may be around Rs. 6000 for the
same capacity.
Planning, Research and Action Division (PRAD) Lucknow has designed Janta plants modifying
the design of Chinese plants. As we know KVIC design of biogas manure plant with the floating
iron gas holder was the only popular design since 3 decades. Its limitations are of high initial cost
and maintenance of the expensive gas holder are well known. In last decade, local modifications
of fixed dome model called Janta Model is introduced in India. As we know the biogas is stored
under a fixed dome of brick masonry on RCC, requirement of skilled and trained masons is
difficult task in whole program. For the lack of necessary skill and precession, leakage of biogas
is observed from the gas portion of many fixed dome plants installed so far. The quality and correct
proportion of the raw materials during construction have to be maintained properly.

Biogas from Plant Wastes:

The subject of biogas production from fresh plant wastes is not new. Biogas production was a
common feature even 40 years ago. The biogas was used in kitchen oven, chicken hatching,
washing machine, automobiles and other IC engines, room heating devices, refrigerators etc. These
plants were essentially batch fermentation plants which had heating systems.
The process of biodigestion as already described is carried out generally in the following two
recognized systems:
1. Batch Fermentation
2. Continuous Fermentation
In batch fermentation, the feeding is between intervals. The plant is emptied once the process of
digestion is complete.
In continuous fermentation the feeding is done everyday and digested slurry equivalent to the
amount of feed overflows from the plant.
The continuous process may be completed in a single stage or separated into two stages.
(a) Single Stage Process: The entire process of conversion of complex organic compounds into
biogas is completed in a single chamber. This chamber is regularly fed with the raw materials
while the spent residue keeps moving out. Serious problems are encountered in a single stage
continuous process.
(b) Double stage process: The acidogenic stage and methanogenic stage are physically separated
into two chambers. This the first stage of acid-production is carried out in a separate chamber and
only the diluted acids are fed into the second chamber where bio-methanation takes place and the
biogas can be collected from the second chamber. Considering the problems encountered in
fermenting fibrous plant waste materials the two stage process may offer high potential of success.
However appropriate technology suiting to rural India is needed to be developed based on the
double stage process.