Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1SS1-1S54, 1990
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
Copyright
TECHNICAL NOTE
A NEW DEVICE FOR MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL
OF GAS PRODUCTION BY BENCH SCALE
ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS
M. C. VEIGA, M. SoTO, R. MENDEz* and J. M. LEMA
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-15706 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
INTRODUCTION
[P+98.t.h-P][~]
101.325
273 + T
(I)
1551
Technical Note
1552
Continuous meters
This group comprises conventional liquid displacement meters requiring periodic manual reset (Stafford
et a/., 1980). Two subgroups may be distinguished.
Type I. This type of meter requires periodic recording of the volume of liquid displaced by the gas in
a previously calibrated cylinder. Care must be taken
to use an acidified liquid in which the C02 of the
biogas does not dissolve, and, as we have seen,
pressure must be corrected for the head of liquid and
the vapour pressure of the liquid at the temperature
at which measurements are made. Simple, inexpensive equipment of this kind is adequate for short
experiments, but for studying the medium- and longterm performance of continuously operated digesters
it has four major disadvantages: (a) the apparatus
must be constantly supervised so as to ensure that
release of the accumulated gas is effected (usually by
means of a three-way stopcock "between the digester
and the meter) before the measuring liquid is displaced to the bottom of the measuring cylinder; (b)
the digester is periodically subjected to overpressures
of several em of water, which may cause the formation of gas pockets and preferential liquid flow
paths, thus reducing its efficiency; (c) increased gas
Control system
Sensor
Counter
Reference
Floating tank
Closed liquid circuit
Float with inductor
Float with inductor
Closed liquid circuit
The gas itself
Closed liquid circuit
Hydraulic valve
3-way electrovalve
2-way electrovalve
2-way electrovalve
Hydraulic valve
3-way electrovalve
Hydraulic valve
Mechanical
Electrodes
Induction detector
Induction detector
Photoelectric cell
Pressure transducer
Electrodes
Mechanic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electromechanical
Merkens {1962)
Moletta and Albagnac (1982)
Glauser~~ a/. (1984)
Gwatkin eta/. {1986)
Mala-Alvarez ~~ a/. {1986)
Beaubieu ~~ a/. (1988)
This work
Technical Note
1553
Fig. 2. Gas meter and control. I, gas inlet; 2, glass columns; 3, controller; 4, counter; 5,lamp; 6, electrical
switch; 7, a.c. (220 V).
Technical Note
1554
CONCLUSIONS