DESIGN AND INSTALLATION OF A BIOGAS PRODUCTION UNIT OPERATING WITH AUTOMATIC CONTROL SYSTEM

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Prof. of Farm power and tractors Eng., Ag. and Bio. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., EL-Shatby, Alex. U., Egypt.

2 Prof. of Farm power and machinery Eng., Ag. and Bio. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., EL-Shatby, Alex. U., Egypt.

3 Grad. Stud., Ag. and Bio. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., EL-Shatby, Alex. U., Egypt.

4 Assist. Prof., of Farm power and machinery, Ag. and Bio. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Ag., EL-Shatby, Alex. U., Egypt.

Abstract

The aim of this research is to design and construct a home biogas digester operating with automatic control system to improve gas production. A 72-liter home biogas digester with an automatic control unit was designed and built to control anaerobic fermentation factors. A mixing unit was used to mix and grind the waste before entering the digester. A stirring unit to control the stirring time and a heating unit to control the temperature as well as monitoring it inside the digester were added.  an automatic control system including fire detector for safety, temperature, and gas sensors, through mobile application for monitoring and some other components were used to make the unit more controllable, easier, and safe. To evaluate digester performance, the digester was run for three phases (each with 30 days retention time). The first phase (I) was done without using control system at ambient temperature which ranged between 24 ºC and 26 ºC, while the second and the third phases were done at two different temperature levels, mesophilic at 35ºC (phase ІІ) and thermophilic at 50ºC (phase ІІІ). The digester was continuously fed with 4 liters/day (2 liters waste + 2 liters water). Temperature, pH, and produced gas quantity were monitored daily (5 days a week). Cumulative gas quantities for phase І, phase ІІ and phase ІІІ were 165.92, 498.92 and 616.56 L, respectively. This means that, raising temperature from ambient to 35 and 50ºC increased gas quantities by 2 and about 2.71, folds respectively.

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References

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