Bioenergy Meet 2020

Biogas

Biogas is a gaseous renewable fuel similar to natural gas. Natural gas is formed alongside fossil fuel by the geological process over millions of years from decomposing organic matter whereas Biogas is formed by anaerobic digestion of organic waste by bacteria. Biogas is primarily composed of methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and minute amounts of nitrogen and hydrogen. Animal waste and landfill waste serve as a source of biogas, which is produced in anaerobic digesters. Methane is the primary flammable component of Biogas; it is also an excellent greenhouse gas, which is 21 times greater than carbon dioxide. Therefore, collecting this gas from the landfills and other dumping sites is beneficiary to the environment. Household anaerobic digesters are used in countries such as Africa and China for lighting and cooking in rural areas. Large-scale digesters are utilized to produce biogas on a commercial scale. These digesters use manure slurry from farm animals. Therefore, are typically located adjacent to large animal farms. Another source of biogas production are landfills, where the Biogas is accumulated within the soil covered waste within a period of one year and can be extracted using a series of interconnected pipelines. The gas collected can be channeled to a furnace or a thermal power plant to generate steam and electricity via a steam turbine. Collection of Biogas from landfills reduces chances of explosions within the landfill and also prevents the leakage of greenhouse effect causing methane into the environment