CHAPTER NO.

1
1. INTRODUCTION:

Presently, India is facing severe problem in the sector of Energy production, which may be more
serious in the coming decade or so the demand of fuel for cooking is growing day by day in our
country and because of this it is reaching a point of depletion. This problem is overcome by
using renewable sources.
India is going through the critical phase of population explosion and the growing population
demands more energy output. Therefore, there is a need of clean energy for India to satisfy this
excessive energy demand and at the same time it must be environmental friendly to meet
national developmental needs. Solar energy, wind energy, thermal energy and biogas are all
renewable sources of energy.
Biogas is different from these because of its characteristic feature like its uses, controlling and
collecting Organic wastes and at the same time producing fertilizer for use in irrigation and,
agriculture. It could provide the population with a decent standard of living. The Biogas plant is
a boon to Indian farmers and common households.
Biogas is a renewable energy source which is the mixture of different gases produced by the
breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can be produced from raw
materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green
waste or food waste, crops etc.[2]
The two major byproduct of Biogas plant are enriched compost matter and methane. Methane
which is an efficient fuel and compost manure acts as a fertilizer and provides to meet the
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fertilizer requirement of farmers in agriculture in a most economic and adequate texture and
boost agriculture production. It may be in a demand stage for the time being but is capable of
vital development in future. Biogas is capable of replacing and turning the table round to
minimize the import of oil and pollution. This could be anticipated to secure and work as a best
alternative to Indias persistent energy requirement.
As the Kitchen waste is organic material having the high calorific value thats why efficiency of
methane production can be increased by using this waste as a feedstock. As a result of the higher
efficiency, the size and cost of this plant are also lower. And it occupies less space. It is an
extremely user friendly system, because it requires daily only a couple of kg feedstock. The
small amount of solid residue produced by the biogas plant makes a good fertilizer.
Why this type of plant?
The proper disposal of kitchen waste will be done in an eco-friendly and cost effective way.
While calculating the cost effectiveness of waste disposal we have to think more than monitory
prospects only. The dumping of food in places and making the places unhygienic can be taken
good care of; it adds to the value of such Biogas plants. Natural components like microorganisms, kitchen waste & biodegradable waste viz paper, pulp can be utilized.
Anaerobic digestion is a controlled biological degradation process which allows efficient
capturing & utilization of biogas (approx. 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide) for energy
generation.[4] Anaerobic digestion of food waste is achievable but affluent composition of
deferring food waste results in varying degrees of methane yields, and thus the effects of mixing
various types of food waste and their proportions should be scrutinize to determine on an
identical case to case basis.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising method to treat the kitchen wastes. While anaerobic
digestion for treatment of animal dung is common in rural parts of developing countries,
information on technical and operational feasibilities of the treatment of organic solid waste is
limited in those parts. There are many factors affecting the design and performance of anaerobic
digestion. Some are related to feedstock characteristics, design of reactors and operation
conditions in real time. Physical and chemical characteristics of the organic wastes are important
for designing and operating digesters, because they affect the biogas production and process
stability during anaerobic digestion. They include moisture content, volatile solids, nutrient
contents, particle size, & biodegradability. The biodegradability of a feed is indicated by biogas
production or methane yield and percentage of solids (total solids or total volatile solids) that are
destroyed in the anaerobic digestion. The biogas or methane yield is measured by the amount of
biogas or methane that can be collected in the floater gas tank in our case.[4]
In recent times varied technological modifications and improvements have been introduced to
diminish the costs for the production of biogas. Different Methods have been developed to
increase speed of fermentation for the bacteria gas producers, reduction of the size of the
reactors, the use of starchy, sugary materials for their production, the modification of the feeding
materials for fermentation and the exit of the effluent for their better employment, as well as
compactness of the equipments to produce gas in a small space like back-yard, among others.
For Larger facilities, operating costs can be reduced, per unit; to the point that, in the current
economic framework, very large anaerobic digestion facilities can be profitable whereas small
ones may not, this is what that contrasts the economics of scale. If energy prices continue to rise
and the demand for local waste treatment, and fertilizers could be increased, this framework may
be real effective and could play a pivotal role to change.

1.1 COMPARISION BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL & PORTABLE BIOGAS PLANT :

Table 1.1
PARAMETERS

Design

CONVENTIONAL

PORTABLE BIOGAS

BIOGAS PLANT

PLANT

Digging required, large

Digging not required,

construction

simple and easy

construction

Nature of required feedstock

Dung

Any bio-degradable
material

Installation
Reaction time for full utilization

Requires huge land space

Small household space

40 days

42-78 hrs

40 Kg

2 Kg

Rs. 20,000-40,000

Rs. 7,000-8,000

Hard

Easy

of feedstock
For 500gm methane feedstock
required
Capital investment per unit
including stove
Maintenance

[Source: ARTI-Appropriate Rural Technology Institute]

1.2 BIOGAS:
Its a mixture of gases produced by the microorganisms during the anaerobic fermentation of
biodegradable materials. Anaerobic fermentation is a biochemical process in which a particular
kind of bacteria digests biomass in an oxygen-free environment resulting in production of CH4,
CO2, H2 and traces of other gases along with decomposed mass.[2]

1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF PORTABLE BIOGAS PLANT:

1. Fixed-dome Plants: A fixed-dome plant consists of a digester with a fixed, non-movable gas
holder, which sits on top of the digester.
2. Balloon Plants: A balloon plant consists of a heat-sealed plastic or rubber bag (balloon),
combining digester and gas-holder. The gas is stored in the upper part of the balloon.
3. Floating type plant: It consists of a digester tank with a movable gas holder. The gas holder
is placed over the digester tank in inverted manner.[4]

Fig:1.1 Fixed dome type

Fig1.2Balloon type
[Source: Future Resource Development Group]

Fig 1.3 Floating type

Why floating type plant ?

As the gas is produced it gets collect in the gas holder so the drum moves up, and when the gas is
utilized, the gas-holder goes down.

1.4 COMPOSITION OF BIOGAS:

Biogas is a mixture of different components and composition varies depending upon the
characteristic of feed material, amount of degradation etc. biogas consists of 50-70% of
methane, 30-40% of carbon dioxide and low amount of other gases.[2]

Table 1.2 : Composition of biogas

Sr.

Component

Symbol

percentage

no.
1

Methane

CH4

50-75%

Carbon dioxide

CO2

25-50%

Nitrogen

N2

0-10%

Hydrogen

H2

0-1%

Hydrogen Sulphide

H2S

0-3%

Oxygen

O2

0-0.5%

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas]

1.5 OBJECTIVE:
1. To design a biogas plant which is portable. And develop technologies & products that help to
improve our lives and the health.
2. To understand the working structure of portable biogas plant.
3. To use of the biogas produced from the plant as cooking fuel thus the use of other fuels for
cooking purposes can be reduced and thereby gain financial benefit.
4. To use the bio manure for agriculture so that the use of chemical fertilizers can be reduced and
the expenses for the manure can be saved. Quality vegetables and grains can be produced by the
application of bio manure.
5. To reduce the use of conventional energy sources so as to minimize its consumption and
problem related to their effective combustion, the growing demand to get access to the new
sources of renewable energy.

CHAPTER NO.2
2. AIM OF THE PROJECT:
The aim of project is to provide fuel for cooking purposes and organic manure to rural
household. As it is compact in design and uses waste food rather than dung/manure as feedstock
so that it can be easily installed anywhere in the society, terrace or ground. The design and
development of this simple, yet powerful technology for the people. Thus providing an option for
cooking purpose which can decrease the demand and the price of LPG gas. To mitigate drudgery
of rural women, reduce pressure on forests and accentuate social benefits. To improve sanitation
in villages by linking sanitary toilets with bio gas plants. Improve health conditions by isolating
wastes in a sealed container to reduce airborne pathogens from raw manure. Provide a fertilizer
from the digested waste.
So a portable biogas plant is planned to be implemented near the canteen of our college for
cooking purpose.

CHAPTER NO.3
3. LITERATURE REVIEW:

In this an overview of the literature related to the portable Biogas Plant by using kitchen waste is
presented. The reference includes videos, articles, links, books etc. They are as follows:-

ARTI Compact biogas plant (Anaerobic Digester) step by step Construction (Part 3)
- This video shows the easy construction of the portable biogas plant using locally
available material. Whole assembly is done step by step with proper care. This video is
also useful for anyone to construct a portable biogas plant.

ARTI, India, Biogas from food waste - Ashden Award winner-This video by Dr.
Anand Karve of ARTI( Appropriate Rural Technological Institute) have developed the
revolutionary approach to generate methane without the use of cow-dung. Thus city can
also get the benefits of the portable biogas plant.2000 are currently in use both in urban
and rural households in Maharashtra. With the use of just 2kg of starchy or sugary
feedstock 500g of methane can be produced. Also studied the system is 20times as
efficient as the conventional system.

Biogas-technology.blogspot-This site includes blogs, videos, articles, experiments, news

related to the biogas plant. Article provides present status of biogas in India and also
provides a detailed summary of biogas. In this they discussed the importance of biogas in
present life.
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Hollandia Power Solution-This article focuses on fabricating portable bio waste

treatment plant capable of treating the waste generated in house, for producing biogas and
gas manure. These plants are suitable for installation by replacing them from one place to
another according to the requirements and also suitable for installation in areas where
adequate space are not available.

Proposal for waste management 2014 by Tengeya In this article they have discussed
about the use of biogas technology to improve sanitation and mitigate climate change.
They proposed the construction of Biogas digester in Kenya schools and prisons to
contain waste and make biogas. This study shows the utilization of waste in a proper and
a portable manner.

Biogas from waste and Renewable Resource-2nd edition prof.Dr.-Ing Dieter

Deublein and Dipl-Ing Angelika Steinhauser Published online 27 Oct 2010(on Wiley
online library)This book contains the concepts of biogas, biogas components, biogas
comparison with other methane containing gases etc. It also provides the literature behind
the reaction involved in the formation of biogas.

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CHAPTER NO.4
This chapter includes block diagram and description of portable biogas plant and its required
components. It consists of two parts 1.Digester Tank (where the fermentation takes place), 2.Gas
Holder Tank (where the evolved gas is collected) and further components are explained in
section 4.2
4.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM:

Fig.4.1: Block diagram of floating type portable biogas plant.

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4.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION:

1. DIGESTER TANK- The digester tank is a tank in which the process takes place. The digester
tank is filled with 50% of water and 50% of cow dung for the 1st time. Afterwards the digester
can intake any bio degradable material viz. paper, waste material, kitchen waste.
2. GAS HOLDER- The gas holder collects the produced gas evolved by the digester tank. The
gas holder tank lifts upward as it collects the gas.
3. INLET PIPE (FEEDSTOCK) - It is the inlet which is given to the digester tank. It has a
funnel like structure.
4. OUTLET PIPE (SLURRY) - Once the biogas is produce the leftover material after the
process is ecofriendly which can also be used as high grade fertilizer and water is given out as
Slurry.
5. GAS OUTLET - From this the gas is released and used for required purpose.
6. OUTLET FOR MAINTENANCE - For maintenance purpose this block is used.

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4.3 COMPONENTS REQUIRED:

The components required for manufacturing and fabrication of portable biogas plant are given as
below

Fig:4.2 Gas Holder

Fig:4.4 Gas Stove

[Source:Google Images]

Fig:4.3Digester Tank

Fig:4.5 Gas pipe

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Fig:4.6 Fitting for Outlet

Fig:4.8 T Shape Joint

Fig:4.10 Gas Outlet

[Source:Google Images]

Fig:4.7 Maintenance Pipe

Fig:4.9 Elbow Joint

Fig:4.11PVC Pipe

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4.4 DIMENSIONS:

COMPONENT

Table: 4.1
DIAMETER

HEIGHT

MM

INCH

MM

INCH

DRUM 750 LITRE

1030

41

1100

43

DRUM 500 LITRE

910

36

960

38

PVC PIPE FOR INPUT

152.4

914.4

PVC PIPE FOR SLURRY

63

609.6

PVC PIPE FOR MAINTENANCE

63

304.8

ELBOW JOINT

63

COCK FOR MAINTENANCE

63

MT & FT

63*2

MT & FT

152.4

NOTE: These are approximate dimensions

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CHAPTER NO.5
5. ADVANTAGES:
Portable biogas plant is more efficient and economical than conventional biogas plant. It
overcomes the difficulties that come in conventional biogas plants. It has the following
advantages which are essential for human kind. They are as follows:
1. Portable in size
2. Provides a non-polluting and renewable source of energy.
3. Efficient way of energy conversion (saves fuel wood).
4. Saves women and children from drudgery of collection and carrying of firewood,
exposure to smoke in the kitchen.
5. Produces enriched organic manure, which can supplement or even replace chemical
fertilizers.
6. Leads to improvement in the environment, and sanitation and hygiene.
7. Provides a source for decentralized power generation.
8. Leads to employment generation in the rural areas.
9. Household wastes and bio-wastes can be disposed of usefully and in a healthy manner.
10. The technology is cheaper and much simpler than those for other bio-fuels, and it is ideal
for small scale application.
11. Dilute waste materials (2-10% solids) can be used as in feed materials.
12. Any biodegradable matter can be used as feedstock.
13. Environmental benefits on a global scale: Biogas plants significantly lower the
greenhouse effects on the earths atmosphere. The plants lower methane emissions by
entrapping the harmful gas and using it as fuel.
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CHAPTER NO.6
6. LIMITATIONS:
From our research we have found that there are some limitations for the production of a portable
biogas plant. These include: time constraints, lack of organic waste in order to make it profitable,
not enough interest and information among public. Firstly, time constraints are an issue because
of production gas.
Another limitation to the project is the lack of organic waste accumulated on campus. All the
Organic Wastages are collected from nearby residence.
Biogas contains some gases as impurities, which are corrosive to the metal parts.

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CHAPTER NO.7
7. FUTURE SCOPE:

1. Generation of electricity from Slurry.

2. Generation of electricity from Biogas Plant.
3. Slurry can also be used as Fertilizer.
4. Scaling of a project for implementation in large scale.

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CHAPTER NO.8
8. CONCLUSION:
The effective implementation of portable biogas plant for production of biogas by decomposing
kitchen waste offers a relevant resource development solution and a rigid waste management
system. Its low cost and its independent working conditions under suitable considered
parameters prove that it is economical. It is a technology that can be surely assured for
processing organic kitchen waste using a portable biogas plant. It has suddenly experienced a
significant positive vibe in the recent go and is a strong contender in becoming the next
renewable energy source.

This plant is more employable in urban region as more amount of organic waste is generated in
urban region due to larger population. Where as it is worth mentioning that it can also influence
rural regions as this regions are deceived from sufficient fuel supply. In the long run it could
reduce the consumption of LPG and thus curb dependence on imported fossil fuel.

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REFERENCE:

1. http://biogas-technology.blogspot.in/2013/10/homemade-medium-size-biogas-plantfor.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas
3. ARTI (APPROPRIATE RURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE)
4. Kitchen waste to biogas fuel (PDF)

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