Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Biogas potential for electric power generation in Pakistan: A survey

Waqar Uddin a, B. Khan a,n, Neelofar Shaukat a, Muhammad Majid b, G. Mujtaba a,
Arshad Mehmood a, S.M. Ali a, U. Younas a, Muhammad Anwar b, Abdullah M. Almeshal c
a
Department of Electrical Engineering, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan
b
Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Telecommunication and Information Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila,
Pakistan
c
Electronics Engineering Technology department, College of Technological studies, Public Authority for applied Education and Training (PAAET), Kuwait

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: From last decade, Pakistan is facing the severe problems of energy deciency. Every year Pakistan's
Received 25 February 2015 government is spending more than 14.5 billion US dollars to import crude oil in order to fulll the energy
Received in revised form gap. Energy demand is increasing rapidly but exploration and use of renewable energy is not meeting the
1 June 2015
needs of requirements. The unavailability of power in Pakistan lasts for 1420 h per day. In this paper, the
Accepted 18 September 2015
potential of biogas is reviewed to meet the energy requirement of Pakistan. One cubic meter of biogas
can generate an electrical energy of 2.5 KWh. The annual growth rate of livestock sector is 4% in Pakistan
Keywords: and its dung can produce 35.625 million KWh of electric energy per day. We can overcome the energy
Biogas crisis by efciently using biogas as an alternative energy source. The installation cost of biogas plant is
Electric Power Generation
not only economical but also benecial in reducing respiratory and eye infections. PCRET has installed
Renewable Energies
4109 biogas plants across the country which saves average of Rs. 37.925 million per month in terms of
Biomass
kerosene oil, wood, liqueed petroleum gas and bio fertilizer.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2. Biogas generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3. Schemes for enhancing biogas production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1. Thermal scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2. Chemical scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3. Mechanical scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4. Biological scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4. Applications of biogas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1. Live stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2. Contributions of biogas in power generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3. Current and future prospects of biogas in Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5. Economic and environmental impact of biogas plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6. Biogas plant model applied in Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7. Conclusion and future prospects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

1. Introduction

Pakistan is facing a signicant challenge in energy sector and

n
Corresponding author. demand is growing at a rate of 1113% per year. The energy
E-mail address: bilalkhan@ciit.net.pk (B. Khan). requirement of Pakistan was 57.9 million tons of oil equivalent

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.09.083
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
26 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533
Electricity Generation From Different Sources
35.70%
35%
0.10%
Fig. 1. Shares of conventional energy sources for electric power generation in Pakistan [2].
(TOEs) in 2006 and it is estimated to reach 179 million TOEs in
2020. In 2012, Pakistan electricity crisis short falls to 8500 MW
during summer due to inductive loads and the entire country faces
1420 h load shedding per day. This shortfall conversely affects the
exports of Pakistan due to severe underproduction in industries as
electricity generation of Pakistan shrunk to half during past recent
years [1]. In order to fulll the energy requirement, Pakistan
imports crude oil of worth 1400 million US dollars that was just
530 million US dollar in 1996, which has negative impact in the
economic growth. Pakistan spent approximately 20 percent of
foreign exchange for the import of fossil fuels [2] and almost 14.5
billion US dollars for conventional energy resources that is 40
percent of total import of country [3]. Energy demand of Pakistan
is expected to be three times more by 2050. However, the growth
rate of energy production is far less than the demand [4,5].
Pakistan is currently dependent on only conventional energy
resources to meet its energy demand as shown in Fig. 1. However,
Pakistan is facing serious energy crisis from last decade. Therefore,
to mitigate the energy crisis we have to explore alternative green
energy resources along with conventional resources.
Due to natural endowment and location, Pakistan has potential
for alternative renewable resources like solar, wind, geothermal
and biogas. Mostly, solar and wind energy is used as alternative
sources for production of electricity. However, these two sources
are not enough to reduce the energy crisis of Pakistan. Therefore,
too fulll the country power needs, initiative is required for other
energy sources i.e. biomass, biogas, geothermal, micro, hydro and
biodiesel [6]. Shortfall of conventional energy resources is an
indication to increase dependency on renewable resources to
revive economic growth of Pakistan [3].
Pakistan is an agricultural country, which plays an important
role in economic growth and contributes 22% to Gross Domestic
Products (GDP) of Pakistan. It is further explained by economic
survey of 20122013, Pakistan livestock department contributes
56% to agriculture which is 12% of the GDP. During 20122013,
there are total of 72 million livestock animals that produce 1140
million tons of dung [3]. Currently all of this manure is stored in
outdoor place for decomposition, which leads to diseases,
unpleasant odors and air pollutions. According to Ref. [7], the
chemical composition of the livestock waste is discussed and
shows that the waste has gases like ammonia, hydrogen sulde
and some other dangerous gases which cause serious health pro-
blems. Ammonia also leads to the contamination of ground water.
In the light of aforementioned problems, efcient utilization of the
manure in the form of alternative renewable energy is required.
Biogas is a process in which livestock manure is converted to
methane gas [8,9] via anaerobic digestion, that is odorless [10] and
can be utilized as fertilizer [11]. So being a valuable fuel biogas can
be utilized in variety of applications like domestic, industrial,
heating, as a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) (by scrubbing pro-
cess) [12,13] and for electricity generation. One major advantage of
29%
Gas
Oil
Coal
Hydel, Nuclear, or imported
biogas is its utilization as a substitute of coal in power generation,
which helps in minimizing greenhouse gases, as coal is the pri-
mary cause of carbon dioxide emission [14].
Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET),
Pakistan Council for Appropriate Technologies (PCAT) and Pakistan
Renewable Energy Society (PRES) works for the research and
development of biogas in Pakistan. Currently 5357 biogas plants
are installed in different areas of Pakistan. The estimated biogas
potential is 1216 million m3/day [15]. These renewable energy
resources not only help in mitigation of the energy crisis but also
create new employment opportunities with positive impact on
environment. Therefore, Pakistan should introduce renewable
energy resources like biogas to fulll its energy demand to a sig-
nicant level. Pakistan is an agricultural country. Therefore, it is
rich in biogas resources. Comparative analysis of biogas to over-
come electrical energy problems is listed in Table. 1.
The main contributions of our survey are listed as:

We present the biogas as an alternative energy source and its
impact on Pakistan economy and health related issues. In the
aforementioned feature of the biogas power generation will
overcome the Pakistan energy crises.

We discuss in detail the biogas production from different sub-
strate and chemical decomposition.

We elaborate schemes of enhancing bio gas production from the
recently published literature in the eld of the biogas
production.

We also survey the applications of biogas power generation in
the prospects of Pakistan. Moreover, we quantitatively analyze
the current and future prospects of biogas generation in
Pakistan.

The survey also presents economic and environmental impact
of biogas plants. Moreover, different biogas plant models
applied in Pakistan are also surveyed.
The remainder of the survey is organized as follows. In Section
2, the biogas production from various substrate and chemical
decomposition is discussed. The different schemes of enhancing
biogas production are presented in Section 3. In Section 4, biogas
current and future generation prospects of Pakistan are analytical
analyzed. Economic growth and environmental impact of
biogas plants are reviewed in Section 5. In Section 6, different
biogas plant models applied in Pakistan are presented. Section 7
concludes the survey with brief summary and proposal for
future work.
2. Biogas generation
Biogas is the result of anaerobic bio-degradation process of
organic materials. Livestock wastes, agriculture biomass residue,
 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533 27

Table 1
Comparative analysis of biogas surveys for electric power generation in Pakistan.

Ref no. Renewable Installed Pretreatment/Control Cost analysis Power ow Case Biogas sources Country
comparison plants policies study

[16] Spent Wash Pakistan

[17] All Ethiopia
[18] Palm Oil Developing
[19] Animal Manure Pakistan
[20] Livestock Manure Pakistan
[21] All Nigeria
[22] Wood and Forest Pakistan
Residue
[23] PBD China
[24] Industrial Hemp Pakistan
[25] Organic Weight Thailand
[26] All Pakistan
[27] All Pakistan
[28] All Pakistan
[29] Grassland Pakistan
[4] Dung, crop residue Pakistan
[Our Survey] All Pakistan

Table 2 Hydrolysis is simple step of adding water to the livestock waste.

Biogas production from various substrates [31]. In Acidogenesis stage, the organic material decomposed to acid,
alcohol and sugar by fermenting bacteria. In acetogenesis, these
Substrate DMn Biogas Yield [m3 kg  1of TS]nn
(%) compounds are further decomposed into acetic acid, carbon
dioxide and hydrogen. Final decomposition is carried out by
Excreta from cattle (fresh) 2530 0.60.8 methane bacteria in the process of methanogenesis which produce
Excreta from sheep (fresh) 1825 0.30.4 methane and carbon dioxide [32]. Flow chart representing the
Excreta from poultry 1029 0.30.8
Blood liquid 18 0.30.6
production of biogas from different substrates is shown below. In
Rumen contents 1216 0.30.6 addition, there are also some traces of other compounds and gases
along with methane and carbon dioxide from methanogenesis
n
DM Dry matter. step which are presented in Table 3. In order to achieve desired
nn
TS Total solids.
goal of biogas production, the main parameters should be under
consideration are: (1) anaerobic (Absence of oxygen) atmosphere
Table 3 (2) Heat. Anaerobic fermentation is process of breakdown of
Composition of biogas [16,17]. organic material in absence of oxygen. On the other hand tem-
perature should be 3540 C for proper growth of bacteria to
Gases Percentage (%) generate biogas [6]. Monomers and Oligomers.
Methane (CH4) 5075
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 2550
Nitrogen (N2) 010 3. Schemes for enhancing biogas production
Hydrogen (H2) 001
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) 003
Due to some environmental factors the production of gas from
Oxygen (O2) 002
a biogas plant is insufcient. The production of biogas can be
increased by treating the raw material before use. In a biogas plant
the raw material on commercial scale is pretreated using various
Table 4
techniques i.e. thermal, chemical, thermochemical, mechanical,
Biogas production from various solid organic substrates.
ultrasonic, electronic beam pre-treatment and biological in order
Substrate Gas yields (Liters/kg VS) References to make rapid anaerobic digestion and hence enhance biogas
production [39].
Wheat straw 200300 [33]
Agricultural waste 310430
Sewage system 310740 3.1. Thermal scheme
Fallen leaves 210290
Algae 420500 Biogas plants are treated with heat that enhances the gas
Vegetable residue 330360 production and results in low amount of slurry [40]. Plant is most
Flax 360
Potato tops (greens) 280490
commonly treated with temperature range from 60 to 180 C.
Poultry droppings 310620 Biogas production efciency can be improved by applying
Cow dung 90310 70 C after each 9 h by means of thermophilic digestion of slurry
Municipal solid waste 200530 [3436] [41]. Microthermal treatment is also used to increase the biogas
Food waste 396 [37]
production by providing temperature up to 170 C [42].
Household waste 350 [38]

3.2. Chemical scheme

kitchen waste, animal waste and waste from industry are the
appropriate raw material for biogas production [30]. Biogas pro- Pretreatment with acid causes biodegradation of organic sub-
duction from various substrate is listed in Tables 2 and 3 [31] and stance which will be easily converted to biogas by further degra-
Table 4. dation through bacterial action. Lignocellulose substrate can also
28 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533

be degraded by using sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide. It is
benecial for the formation of smaller molecular compounds. On
the other hand it degrades carbon which increases the formation
of carbon dioxide [43]. Biogas yield can be improved by combine
action of heat and alkaline [44]. The thermochemical pretreatment
with applied temperature of 147 C and heating time of
25.3 min results in high methane production [45].
3.3. Mechanical scheme
Substrate size also matter in biogas production. Smaller the size
of the substrate, higher will be the rate of bacterial activity and
hence rapid production of biogas. On the other hand larger sized
substrate also leads digester blockage [46]. Smaller substrate size
can be achieved by milling which will convert larger substrate to
smaller pieces. Mechanical pretreatment diminishes digestion
time by 2359% mostly [43]. Ultrasonic pretreatment for
30 min increases methane production by 64% [46].
3.4. Biological scheme
Biogas production can also be increase by biological treatment
e.g. raped straw is mixed with substrate that increase biogas
production rate by 29.54% through the rapid break down of cel-
lulose, hemicellulose and lignin [47].
There are many merits and de-merits of pretreatment control
schemes for improvement in biogas production. Some important
schemes with their pros and cons are listed in Table 5.
4. Applications of biogas
Biogas can be used for different purposes i.e. for the production
of heat and electricity (cogeneration), heat only, electricity only,

Table 5
Merits and de-merits of anaerobic treatments processes for biogas plants.

Treatment processes Advantages Disadvantages References

Aerobic Ponding
Cheap, stable and simple design
Large land area is required [48]
System
Sludge production and nutrients requirements are low
H2S and CO2 directly release in atmosphere

Large amount of digested POME can be handled
Control is difcult due to size and structure

Biogas and emission of CH4 are low

This contain long startup and HRT

Aerobic Filtration
Suspended solids can be removed efciently
Constant source of water is required [49]

Small reactor volume can handle larger loads
Long start up time is required

Low construction, operation and maintenance cost
Incompatible for high suspended solids

AFBR
At long SRT, it maintain high biomass concentration
High energy requirement [50]

Large surface area for biomass transfer
Inappropriate for high suspended solids

Less sludge production
Unable to capture produced biogas

UASB
CH4 emission rate is high
High dependency on sludge concentration [51]

Minimum nutrients requirements
Biogas quality is low due to poor separation between bio-

High degree of waste stabilization mass and efuent

Biomass washout is prominent at lower HRTs
Large start up time is required

EGSB Efuent recirculation is possible At high up ow velocity, removal of particulate organic matter [52]
Removal of suspended solids is directly proportional to the up is difcult
ow velocity It is used to treat low strength wastewater
Separation of sludge is possible Active biomass is needed for anaerobic sludge

ABR
High cell retention time can be achieved
Recycling is required for reactor stability [53]

Simple and economical structure
Nutrients stability is required

High degree of waste stabilization

ASBR
Low cost and energy demand
Nutrient supplementation is required to improve treatment [54]

Produce less environmental emissions of the wastewater

Flexible and simple operation and no separate classier
Low efciency at high OLR
is needed
Shapes of reactor impose extra pressure on biological

High biomass retaining reactor components of biomass

CSTR
Cheap, simple and has more biogas production
At low HRT, it is less efcient [55]

Less biomass retention

It is well controllable therefore large heat transfer areas can be
Extra added reactant effects the quality
installed. It has low maintenance

UASFF
At low HRT CH4 emission is high
Pretreatment of suspended solids is needed for incompre- [56]

Higher biomass retention and less clogging hensive solids

Able to tolerate shock loading
Poor separation
 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533 29

bio methane up gradation for gas grid, fuel for vehicles, high tech
process energy and in chemical industry as a raw material [5759].
Biogas has many advantages for the producer, society and the
environment because it doesnt contribute to global warming. The
wastes used as feeding material decrease risk of diseases and
become useful after being processed in the digester i.e. animal
waste become a good fertilizer after being handled in biogas plant
[59]. Carbon dioxide released from biogas can be used by plant for
the process of photosynthesis; hence the production of carbon
dioxide is again used for the formation of organic compound in
plants [60].
4.1. Live stock
In rural areas of Pakistan most of the people are self-employed
by adopting livestock animals. About 3035 million people get
their 3040% of their income from livestock [61]. It can be clearly
observed from the census reports of livestock for the year 1996
and 2006 that the populations of cattle increased by 44% while the
populations of buffalo is increased by 34% [62]. In year 2011 live-
stock contributes 55.3% to agriculture and 11.9% to the GDP of the
country. This ratio is increased in subsequent year to 55.4% and
12.1% respectively which results into an increase a cost from Rs.
735 billion to Rs. 756 billion [3]. In year 20122013 there are total
of 172.2 million livestock animals that produce 652 million kg
dung per day and can be used for the production of biogas. Table 4
shows the population of livestock animals in Pakistan from 2010 to
2014 provided by Ministry of National Food and Security Research
[3]. Livestock contributes in fertilizer industry in the form of bio
fertilizers. Around 21 million tons of biofertilizer is produced per
year from livestock sector [4].
Apart from animal dung biogas can be also produce from
wastage of slaughter houses, paper industry, street waste, banana
stem waste and poultry waste [31,63]. A cow/buffalo can produce
15 kg average dung per day. 1 m3 can be produced from 6 kg of
dung, so an average of 2.5 m3 biogas can be produce by single cow/
buffalo in a day [64]. Poultry waste is considered ideal substrate
for production of Biogas [65]. Poultry sector in Pakistan also has a
robust growth of 78% annually [3].
4.2. Contributions of biogas in power generation
percentage of electricity produced in Pakistan by different energy
sources. It can be seen that the share of hydel (35.7%) and oil (35%)
is very high as compared to other sources. Conventional energy
sources cost a lot more as compared to non-conventional which
are not used in Pakistan on large scale for generation of green
energy. A step towards generating electric power from biogas has
already taken by installing biogas plants of 10 M3, 15 M3, 20 M3 in
Sialkot, Narowal, Jhang and other places that are producing
enough electricity to run a tube wells. Currently PCRET has
installed 92 Biogas plants for generation of electric power ranging
from 5 KW to 100 KW [67]. The details of the biogas plants
installed greater than 5 M3 is given in the Tables 6 and 7 below:
A biogas plant with the aid of New Zealand is under con-
struction in Karachi which with initial capacity of generating
250 KW of electric power that will be modied to achieve the limit
of 30 MW [68]. Alternative energy development board (AEDB) is
planning to setup a biogas plant for generation of 9 MW electric
power at Pak Ethanol (Pvt.) Limited Sindh. Biogas from sugar mills
are generating 700 MW of electric power although 3000 MW of
electric power can be generated through biogas generation from
85 Sugar mills [3,69]. In Punjab 4 MW electric power is being
generated from biogas [70].
An already mentioned assumption in [6] that 2.5 KWh energy
is generated from 1 m cube of biogas. Using that assumption
51.3625 MWh/day energy can be generated from biogas in Paki-
stan with the help of currently installed plant by PCRET, while
35.625 million kWh/day energy can be generated by utilizing the
total potential of dung.
Besides electrical power generation biogas can also play an
important role in providing energy in other sectors of country.
Fig. 3 shows the energy consumption of the country from different
sources. It can be seen that natural gas is providing major portion
of energy. Biogas can also be used in this way to provide energy on
almost daily basis at negligible cost as compared to other sources
[3]. In order to meet the shortage of electricity and gas PCRET us
initiating a mega project of installing 25,000 biogas plants across
the country.

People of Pakistan are currently facing the worst energy crisis 72.20% 75.60%
in the history of country. Although there is improvements in 80%
power generation but still demand of power is exceeding the 60%
supply limit after every passing year [3]. In May 2011, demand
40%
exceed the generation by 7000 MW [2]. Load shedding recorded in 13.40%
8.70% 11.70%
cities is up to 14 h/day while in rural areas load shedding is up to 20% 4%
8.70%
5.70%
20 h/day [66]. To overcome these crisis National Transmission and
0%
Dispatch Company (NTDC) has planned to establish 6100 MVA, Severe Moderate Minimal No Pollution
500/220 KV grid in coming two years and similarly connecting
Pollution Before Use of Biogas PollutionAfter Use of Biogas
6400 MVA, 220/132 KV grid to power system in till 2015. But the
estimated demand by that time is around 56% in the coming 10 Fig. 3. Level of pollution before and after use of bBiogas [81].
years [3]. With current electricity sources it is not possible to
overcome the demand using natural gas, oil, coal, hydel, and
Table 6
nuclear energy as source to produce electricity. Fig. 3 shows the Live stock population in Pakistan from 2010 to 2014.

Monthly Savings by Using Biogas Energy Resources Species 201011 201112 201213
[VALUE]
[VALUE] [VALUE] Cattles 35.6 36.9 38.3
60 Buffalo 31.7 32.7 33.7
Rs. (Million)

40 Sheep 28.1 28.4 28.8

[VALUE] Goat 61.5 63.1 64.9
20 Camels 1 1 1
Rs.(Million) Horses 0.4 0.4 0.4
0
LPG Kerosene Oil Wood Fertilizer Asses 4.7 4.8 4.9
Mules 0.2 0.2 0.2
Fig. 2. Monthly saving of money in term of LPG, kerosene oil, wood and fertilizer.
30 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533

4.3. Current and future prospects of biogas in Pakistan 14.25 million meter cube per day [68]. The plants are installed in
two phases. In 1st Phase, 1596 plants were installed in four pro-
Biogas can be used as an alternative source of energy to over- vinces including Islamabad, while in 2nd phase the number of
come the current energy crisis of Pakistan. First biogas plant was plant installed in country including AJK & Islamabad were 2513.
installed in the country in 1959 in Sindh [71,72]. In 1974 Gov- Most of these plants are used for cooking purpose. For the year
ernment of Pakistan gave attention to biogas plant and 21 plants 20142015 PCRET have submitted Project under the name
were installed across the country by Pakistan Council for Appro- Installation of Biogas, A substitute of natural gas and chemical
priate Technology (PCAT) followed by 10 units installed in Azad Fertilizer with cost of 481.66 million whose objective is to install
Jammu & Kashmir. In the same year a project was launched by 10,100 Biogas plants throughout Pakistan that provide cheaper
Directorate General of New and Renewable Energy Resources with energy. Details of biogas plants installed in the country are given
the aim to establish 4000 biogas plants by 1986. Later in year 2000 in Table 8.
Biogas Support Program (BSP) was launched in order to install
1200 biogas plants in that year and 10,000 plants were expected to
be established till 2006. Pakistan Dairy Development Company 5. Economic and environmental impact of biogas plant
(PDDC) also took a part in biogas plant installation and 556 plants
are installed under this program by 2009 [46]. 14,000 biogas According to PCRET report a 5 m3 of biogas plant saves 64 kg of
plants with the cost of Rs. 356 million are installed by Rural LPG, 93 l of kerosene oil and 800 kg of wood monthly. This cal-
Support Program Network (RSPN) starting from 2009 [3]. PCRET is culation is based on the assumption made by PCRET [67]. Savings
contributing in overcoming the energy crisis in Pakistan through in terms of cost are listed in Tables 8, 9 and 10. Estimated cost on
installing different renewable energy technologies. Since 2002 conventional fuel i.e. wood, dung cakes, LPG, chemical fertilizer
and health maintenance cost are Rs. 3550 and Rs. 1000. Chemical
PCRET installed 4016 biogas plants across the country. The dis-
fertilizer is substituted by bio slurry for amount of Rs. 600 [73].
cussed biogas plant installed by PCRET is producing 20,545 m3/day
10 m3 biogas plant can save Rs.92,062/- per year instead of buying
gases [67]. The total potential of biogas available in the country is
other fuels for daily use [74]. Due to high caloric value 6 kWh/m3
that is equivalent to 20 MJ biogas is best option as compared to
Table 7 other conventional biomass fuel [75,76]. 1 m3 of biogas result in
Biogas plant producing electric power in Pakistan [67]. 1278 kg reduction in re wood hence reduces the rate of defor-
estation [72,77,78]. People using biogas can save 2.5 hours per day
Size of biogas No of Generated power Applications
in m3 plants KW/ plant
that can be utilized in other activities rather than collecting wood
and spending more time on cooking [77,79].
1012 33
Generator, Tube well As earlier, it is stated that, Pakistan is heavily dependent on the
1415 36
Commercial Cooking conventional energy sources. Therefore, Pakistan has to invest
2022 4
Commercially use for
huge cost to import petroleum product to fulll energy demand.
Restaurant
25 8 50 However, Pakistan can save money by using biogas energy
30 2 5 resources as depicted in Fig. 2.
40 3 100 The survey held in Bangladesh in 2010 clearly reveals that
60 1 5
biogas plant reduces air pollution and diseases. The smoke
120 1
150 1
180 1 25
200 2 60 Table 10
Total 92 790 KW Cost comparison and monthly saving of biogas plants PCRET [40].

Biogas Source Equivalent Estimated cost Cost (  106) Rs/

energy (ZMK) month
Table 8
Biogas plant Installed by PCRET in Pakistan. 20022012 [67]. 1 Kerosene oil 0.67 L Kerosene (4109)  93  (Rs 45
oil 120)
Province Bio gas plants installed Bio gas plants installed (2007 Wood 5.5 kg wood (4109)  800  (Rs 57
(200207) 12) 17.6)
LPG 0.55 kg LPG (4109)  64  (Rs 44
Islamabad 258 30 170)
Punjab 820 1700
KPK 194 155
Sindh 264 300
Baluchistan 60 80
AJK 00 50 30% 23%
22.70%
Total 1596 2513 19.10%
17.70% 16.70%
20%
11.70%
9.40%
Table 9 8% 6%
10% 5.40% 4.70%
Competitive cost analysis of 1 m3 biogas [80]. 4%

Biogas (m3) Equivalent energy Estimated cost (ZMK) 0%

Typhoid
Eye infection

Tuberculosis
Respiratory in

Diarrhea

Gastro-Intestinal

1 3.47 kg Firewood 3500

fection

0.52 L Diesel 2600

4.70 KWh Electricity 4700
0.80 L Petrol 4570
1.40 kg Charcoal 5000 Before After
0.62 L Kerosene 3100
Fig. 4. Percentage decrease in diseases before and after biogas use [81].
 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533
Fig. 5. Floating drum model biogas plant.
Fig. 6. Fixed domed model biogas plant.
produced from burning of wood, dung etc. result in increase in
pollution in the kitchen. Use of biogas showed signicant reduc-
tion in smoke and pollution that can be clearly observed
from Fig. 3 [81].
Moreover smoke cause's severe problem of eye infection as
well as respiratory diseases. Drastic decrease in diseases has been
observed after use of biogas as a fuel in kitchen instead of wood or
other fuel. The percentage reduction of various diseases is shown
in Fig. 4 [81].
6. Biogas plant model applied in Pakistan
The selection of model is based on different factor i.e. climate
condition, affordability, usage and existing model performance
[71]. Biogas plants used worldwide have different shapes and
models i.e. Chinese xed dome model, Nepalese model, Floating
Drum model and Deenbandhu model, while in Pakistan moveable
gas holder, balloon type and xed dome are commonly used [67].
The Floating Drum type is used for maintaining constant gas
pressure while on the other side its metal gas holder is prone to
rusting [82]. Floating Drum model and xed domed model is given
in Figs. 5 and 6 respectively. Nepalese xed dome is constructed
underground with afxed dome on the earth surface. Due to its
underground construction it is well-organized and less exposed to
damage or failure. Since 2002 PCRET is installing 3 m3 and
5 m3 biogas plants in all region of country due to their maximum
efciency and better performance [67]. Size of plant is indirectly
related to efciency, smaller the sizes better the efciency and vice
versa. Water and dung ratio is also having signicant effect on the
31
efciency of plant i.e. 1 l water with 1 kg dung is optimal value to
achieve maximum efciency [26].
7. Conclusion and future prospects
Unlike non-renewable energy resources, biogas is providing
greener energy and has no contribution to global warming. Keeping
in view the current situation of energy shortage it becomes
necessary to fully utilize biogas potential in Pakistan to fulll energy
demand in the country. Study shows that biogas is economical in
term of expenses and having positive environmental impact.
Farmers should be educated to the use and benets of biogas in
order to reduce burden on non-renewable energies and animal
excretes should be used properly to make it useful for producing
biogas and bio fertilizer. The biogas provides greener energy which
will keep the planet green and will help to stabilize ecosystem.
Biogas plant should be installed on commercial scale for generation
of electricity to overcome shortfall of electric power and production
of bio fertilizer. Pretreatment techniques should be adopted to
improve the efciency of biogas plant on commercial scale.
There are various domains in biogas power generation which
are still open for the research community to work. One such
domain is related to the available biogas potential i.e. how this
potential will be used to supply energy to various loads, such as
residential and farm? Further study and simulation will be con-
ducted for biogas generation system with grid interface to balance
demand-supply management. The aforesaid research work is open
for incorporating power system issues e.g. the quality of service,
synchronization etc. More surveys will be carried out for the
32 W. Uddin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54 (2016) 2533
biogas plants installation at different locations that must support
electrical utility.
Acknowledgment
The authors are highly grateful to Yasir Mehmood for providing
valuable comments and suggestions for improving the contents of
our survey.
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