UNIT-7

Energy from Bio-Mass

By

Mr. Niranjan Rai

Asst. Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Canara Engineering College Benjanapadavu
 INTRODUCTION

 Biomass is organic matter produced by plants, both terrestrial (those grown on

land) and aquatic (those grown in water) and their derivatives.
 It includes forest crops and residues, crop grown especially for their energy content
on energy farms and animal manure. Unlike coal, oil and natural gas, which makes
millions of years to form,
 biomass can be considered a renewable energy source because plant life renews
and adds to itself every year. It can also be considered a form of solar energy as the
latter is used indirectly to grow these plants by photosynthesis.

Solar energy photosynthesis Biomass Energy generation

 SOURCES OF BIOMASS

1) Solids:
wood, straw, municipal refuse.
2) Liquids:
alcohols(methanol and ethanol),
vegetable oil(sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, peanuts oil, palm oil, soybean oil).
3) Gases :
The biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide and is generated from
cow dung and agricultural wastes.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
 It is the biological conversion of suns radiant energy into sugars and starches which are
rich energy compounds.

 The green pigment chlorophyll of the plant absorbs suns energy and it is stored in the
chemical bond energy.

 It is possible to harvest and burn the plants with high photosynthesis efficiency to
generate steam which could be used to generate electricity as in thermal power plants.

 It is alternative method of an solar energy conversion but it is having 3% efficiency of

converting solar to electricity. from photovoltaic cells it is 10% hence this concept is
less attractive
 PHOTOSYNTHETIC OXYGEN PRODUCTION

 Photosynthesis is a complex process in which water and CO2 molecules are broken down in
sunlight and releases carbohydrate and pure oxygen

CO2 +H2O+sunlight +chlorophyll (H2CO)6+O2+chlorophyll

6CO2+ 12H2O C6H12O6+6O2

 The absorbed light is in the ultraviolet and infrared range. The chlorophyll absorbs visible light
and passes it energy on to the water molecules and releases an hydrogen atom.

 The hydrogen atom thus produced reacts with CO2 molecule to produce H2CO and O2 at high
temperature H2CO breaks to release energy.

H2CO+O2 CO2+H2O+112 Kcal/mol of energy

ENERGY PLANTATION When land plants are grown
 It is a means of extracting maximum solar energy by growing plants. The purposely for their fuel value,
by capturing solar radiation, it
plants are grown, especially for their fuel value and acts as solar collectors. is called energy plantation.
Plants act as collectors of
 They are economical, free from pollution and require no maintenance. solar energy.
Provide usable fuel
 In plant form the natural photosynthesis process stores ten times more throughout the year.
energy annually than consumed by the world. In India, the total forest area Termed as calorie plants.
Farm crops are
is around 25%. unsuitable.
Mature trees grow too
 Jojaba, Acacia, Tortilla, Albizzia, Lebbak, Prasois, Juliflora are some of the slowly.
Wild vegetation vary
tree species which have been identified for energy form in our country. greatly in form and
quantity.
 Indian institute of science, Bangalore running a program to grow
monoculture plantations of fast growing species and monitor the biomass
productivity. They also studied the economics of monoculture plantations
and developed an alternative forestry strategy to meet various village
needs.
BIOGAS GENERATION

 The decomposition of animal, plant and human wastes generates biogas and is a
mixture of methane (50 to 70%), carbon dioxide (30 to 40%), hydrogen, hydrogen
sulphide and nitrogen.

 The biogas is a clean slow burning gas with its calorific value ranging from 21000 KJ/Kg
to 23028 KJ/Kg (3813 KJ/m3). Biogas is mainly used for cooking applications. The
materials used for biogas generation retains its fertilizer properties and return to the
soil.

 The biogas is generated from cow dung, piggery waste, poultry droppings, algae, crop
residues, garbage kitchen wastes etc., the cellulosic organic material of animal or plant
origin forms raw material with high potential for biogas generation.
There are three methods by which biogas could be generated. They are digestion,
pyrolysis or hydro gasification.

Digestion is a biological process which occurs in the presence of anaerobic

organisms at atmospheric pressure and temperature of 35 t0 700C and in the
absence of oxygen.
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION:
 It is the method of generating biogas through fermentation or bio digestion of different types
of wastes by a number of anaerobic and facultative organisms. Facultative organisms are
bacteria which grow with or without oxygen.
 Bacteria are classified into two groups, they are: Aerobic-which grow in presence of oxygen.
Anaerobic-which grow in absence of oxygen.
 The biodegradation or decomposition of the organic matter by fermentation process through
anaerobic digestion results in the formation of biogas.
 The anaerobic digestion produces sugar, alcohols, pesticides and amino acids by breaking
organic matter. This results in the formation of methane by another type of bacteria.
 The phases of anaerobic digestion are:

1) Enzymatic hydrolysis: in this phase, the fats, starches proteins present in the cellulose biomass are
converted into simple compounds.

2) Acid formation: in this phase, the complex organic compounds converted into simple organic
acids. The acids and volatile solids are formed by hydrolysis and fermentation from microorganism
of facultative and anaerobic group and together called acid formers. This stage may last about two
weeks and this phase results in the formation of large amount of carbon dioxide.

3) Methane formation: in this phase the acids produced from previous phase converted into
methane (CH4) and CO2 by anaerobic bacteria which are also known as methane fermenters. For
digestion process to be efficient, these acid formers and methane fermenters must be in a state of
dynamic equilibrium. The variation in PH value, will affect the methane formers as they are sensitive
to PH variations. For fermentation and biogas generation, a PH value of 6.5 to 8 is suitable.
It is also to be noted that, the digestion at high temperature is faster than that at
lower temperature. For every 50C raise in temperature, the gas yield rate increases
twice. The temperature ranges that influence the bacteria are

- Psicrophilic, about 200C

- Mesophilic, about 350C

- Thermophilic, about 550C

Advantages of anaerobic digestion:

1) The anaerobic digestion produces biogas which has a calorific value. Hence this gas could
be successfully used to produce steam or hot water.

2) A smaller quantity of excess sludge is produced during anaerobic digestion of organic

matter.

3) The running cost is very less when compared to equivalent aerobic system.

4) The Odour is less.

5) The use of biogas in industries reduces the consumption of coal and also reduces air
pollution.

6) The nutrient requirement is less due to low production of bacterial solids.

CLASSIFICATION OF BIOGAS PLANTS:

Biogas plants are classified into

1) Continuous and batch type

2) The fixed dome and floating drum type

 Continuous Plant

In this type, the raw material is fed into a single digester and the process is carried
out without interruption. In the continuous plant the size of the digester is small and
takes lesser time for digestion process. The biogas generation is continuous and
encounters lesser problems compared to batch type.

 Batch plant

In this type, after digestion process, the digester is emptied. The urea lime etc. are
fed into a number of digesters which produces gas for 40 to 50 days. As these digesters
are charged and emptied one by one in a synchronous manner, the gas will be
continuously supplied through a common gas holder. The system uses a number of
digesters and gas generation is intermittent. It is expensive and encounters more
problems.
Fixed dome digester (janata model or Chinese plant)
Advantages:
1) No moving parts, therefore no maintenance problems.
2) Longer working life.
3) No corrosion problems.
4) Low cost.
5) Amount of gas produced is higher than movable drum type.
6) Low operating cost.
7) Space above the plant can be used for other purposes.
Disadvantages:
1) Require skilled masons for construction.
2) Variable gas pressure.
3) Problem of scum formation.
Floating drum digester (KVIC- khadi village industries commission)
Advantages:
1) Constant gas pressure.
2) No problem of gas leakage.
3) Higher gas production.
4) Scum problem is less.
5) Pressure is naturally equalized.
6) No danger of mixing between biogas and external air.
Disadvantages:
1)Higher cost.
2)High maintenance cost.
3)The outlet pipe should be flexible. It requires regular attention.
4)Heat is lost through gas holder.
Comparison between floating drum and fixed dome type plant

Sl no Floating drum plant Fixed dome plant

1 The cost is high The cost is low
2 It requires more maintenance No maintenance
3 Gas production per cubic meter Gas production per cubic meter
of digester volume is high of digester volume is less

4 The pressure of the gas is The gas pressure is variable

constant
Advantages of Biomass:
1) The initial investment is low and costlier equipment are not used.
2) The use of biomass as fuel reduces environmental hazards.
3) The technology is best suited for rural areas of developing countries like India.
4) The byproducts can be fully recycled.
5) Less polluting, suitable for domestic purposes.
6) Easy transportable to consumers.
Disadvantages of Biomass:
1) The plant uses larger land area.
2) The efficiency of biological energy conversion is very less.
3) In centralized power generation system, the cost of energy production is higher.
4) Collection and transportation of biomass is expensive.
5) When compared to LPG cylinders, it is difficult to store the gas, as it cannot be
liquefied ordinarily.
 Factors affecting on biogas generation

1) PH or Hydrogen ion concentration: in the digester a suitable PH ranges is to be maintained to

provide constant supply of the gas that is 6.5 to 7.5, microorganisms will be very active and bio-
digestion will be very efficient. The addition of some material to the digester causes variations in
the PH value and results in the imbalance of bacteria population. For sewage solids PH is from 7 to
7.5

2) Total solid content of feed material: in order to get total solid content of 8 to 10%, the cow dung
is to be mixed in the range of 1:1 by weight. Around 80-82% of moisture is present in raw cow
dung and remaining 18-20% is called total solids. The adjustment made in total solid content
increases the bio-digestion rate.
3) Loading rate: the amount of raw material supplied to the fermentation tank (digester) per day per
unit volume is known as loading rate. For municipal sewage treatment plants, the loading rate
ranges from 0.5 to 1.6 Kg/m3/day. The optimum range of loading rate ranges from 1.2 to 5.3
Kg/m3/day. High loading rate results in the formation of acids and thus fermentation stops.

4) Temperature: the temperature range from 35 to 38 degree results in better methane formation.
The gas generation starts decreasing at 20 degree and ceases completely at 10 degree. For every
50C raise in temperature, the gas yield rate increases twice. The temperature ranges that influence
the
60
bacteria are

50
period of digestion

40

30

- Mesophilic, about 350C

20
Mesophilic
Thermophilic
10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Temperature
- Thermophilic, about 550C
5) Seeding: seeding is nothing but the increase in number of methane formers by artificial means, it uses
digested sludge which is rich in methane formers. But higher seeding is also not desirable as gas
production decrease beyond certain limits due to reduction of total solid contents of the cow dung.

6) Uniform feeding: in order to provide good fermentation in the digester, a control over quality and
quantity of raw material supplied to the digester is essential. Therefore all the time uniform feeding of
digester is necessary.

7) Carbon to nitrogen ratio of the input material: for an optimal digestion rate, a carbon nitrogen
ratio of 30:1 is necessary. High carbon in raw material slows down the digester. High nitrogen content
of the raw material may stop the fermentation process. The ammonia formed due to nitrogen and
hydrogen may kill methane producers

8) Diameter to depth ratio: it was investigated that the maximum gas production rate occurs with
diameter to depth ratio of 0.66 to 1.0 but the effect of temperature at different depths also plays
important role in deciding this ratio.
9) Nutrients: in digester, the bacteria always require C, H2, O2, P and S. out of these nutrients, the
supply of N2 and P are always small. In order to compensate this extra raw material which is
rich in phosphorus and N2 must be added to increase the gas generation rate.

10)Mixing or stirring of slurry: in digester, a proper mixing of slurry is required to improve the
fermentation process. Slight mixing results in good fermentation.

11) Retention period: the temperature and feed stocks influence the retention period of the
material for biogas generation. Usually the retention period is kept from 30 to 45 days.

12) Pressure: the fermentation process is also influenced by the pressure acting on the slurry
surface. Lower pressure gives better fermentation process.
 Thermal gasification of biomass

The conversion of solid fuel in to producer gas by under going a series of thermochemical processes
Like drying, pyrolysis, oxidation and reduction.
A typical gas composition is as fallows:
 Carbon monoxide - 18-22%
 Hydrogen - 13-19%
 Methane - 1-5%
 Hydrocarbons - 0.2-0.4%
 Carbon dioxide - 9-12%
 Nitrogen - 45-55%
 Water vapour - 4%
 Classification of gasifiers

1) According to the direction of gas flow:

down draught(draft) ,
up draught
Cross draught
2) According to generation capacity:
small size(10KW)
medium size(10KW-50KW)
large size(50KW-300KW)
3) According to type of bed:
fixed bed gasifier
fluidized bed gasifier
Updraft gasifier
Down draft gasifier
Cross draft gasifier
 Reactions in a gasifier

C+O2 CO2+393800 KJ/Kg mol (Combustion)

C+H2O CO+H2 -131400 KJ/Kg mol (water gas)

CO+H2O CO2+H2+41200 KJ/Kg mol (water shift reaction)

C+CO2 2CO-172600 KJ/Kg mol (boudouard reaction)

C+2H2O CO2+2H2-78700 KJ/Kg mol

C+2H2 CH4+75000 KJ/Kg mol (methane reaction)

 producer gas

mixture of flammable gases (principally carbon monoxide and hydrogen) and

nonflammable gases (mainly nitrogen and carbon dioxide) made by the partial combustion
of carbonaceous substances, usually coal, in an atmosphere of air and steam.

Producer gas has lower heating value than other gaseous fuels, but it can be manufactured
with relatively simple equipment; it is used mainly as a fuel in large industrial furnaces.
 PROBLEMS INVOLVED WITH BIO-GAS PRODUCTION
 Handling of effluent slurry is major problem if the person is not having sufficient open space or
compost pits to get the slurry dry. Use of press filters and transportation is expensive and out of reach
of poor farmers. For a domestic plant.
 The gas forming-methanogenic bacteria are very sensitive towards the temperature compared to
those of non-methanogenic. Many methods have been suggested to overcome this temperature
problem, and some methods are
 Use of solar heated hot water to make a slurry of influent but the temperature of water should not
exceed 60oC otherwise the methanogenic bacteria will die.
 Circulation of hot water obtained either from solar heater or I.C. engine heat exchanger, through
pipes inside the digester.
 Addition of various nutrients for bacteria.
 Converting the biogas plant by straw bags during night hours.
Due to lack of proper training to the bio-gas plant owners for the operation of plant, a lot of problems
arises. It has been noticed that many persons increase the loading rate and some also do not try to
mix the cattle dung with water, keeping in mind more gas production. Due to this, the flow of slurry
from inlet towards outlet is very slow or even stops. This may cause accumulation of volatile fatty
acids and drop in pH and then failure of digester.
Some persons add urea-fertilizer in large quantities due to which toxicity of ammonia nitrogen may
cause a decrease in gas production.

pH and volatile fatty acids play an important role in anaerobic digestion and should remain under
optimum range otherwise this may cause upsetting of digester and even its failure.

Leakage of gas from gas holder especially in case of Janata type biogas plants is a major and very
common problem. When there is quite enough gas in a gas holder, the leakage should be checked by
using water and the points marked and then get repaired.
 APPLICATION OF BIO-GAS IN ENGINES

1) Application of Biogas in Diesel Engines

2) Biogas in Dual Fuel Engine applications
Limitations:
 The dual fuel engine cannot operate without the supply of diesel fuel for ignition.
 The fuel injection jets may overheat when the diesel fuel flow is reduced to 10% or 15% of its
normal flow. Larger dual fuel engines circulate extra diesel fuel through the injector for cooling.
 To what extent the fuel injection nozzle can be affected is however a question of its specific design,
material and the thermal load of the engine, and hence differs from case to case. So, there is a
proper checking and servicing of the injector nozzle after 500 hours of operation in dual fuel is
recommended.
3) Biogas in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Engine applications