Written as a practical introduction to biogas plant design and operation, this book fills a huge gap by presenting a systematic guide to this emerging technology information otherwise only available in poorly intelligible reports by US governmental and other official agencies. The author draws on teaching material from a university course as well as a wide variety of industrial biogas projects he has been involved with, thus combining didactical skill with real life examples. Alongside biological and technical aspects of biogas generation, this timely work also looks at safety and legal aspects as well as environmental considerations.
Table of Contents
Preface. Abbreviations. Acknowledgement. Part I General thoughts about energy supply. 1 Energy supply - today and in the future. 1.1 Primary energy sources. 1.2 Secondary energy sources. 1.3 End-point energy sources. 1.4 Effective energy. 2 Energy supply in the future - scenarios. 2.1 Amount of space. 2.2 Potential yield from biomass. 2.3 Technical potential. 2.4 Economic potential. 2.5 Realizable potential. 3 History and status to date in Europe. 3.1 First attempts at using biogas. 3.2 Second attempts at using biogas. 3.3 Third attempts at applying biogas. 3.4 Status to date and perspective in Europe. 4 History and status to date in other countries. 4.1 History and status to date in China. 4.2 History and status to date in India. 4.3 Status to date in Latin America. 4.4 Status to date in the CIS states. 5 General aspects of the recovery of biomass in the future. Part II Substrate and biogas. 1 Biogas. 1.1 Biogas compared to other methane-containing gases. 1.2 Detailed overview of biogas components. 2 Substrates. 2.1 Liquid manure and co-substrates. 2.2 Bio waste from collections of residual waste and trade waste similar to domestic waste. 2.3 Landfi ll for residual waste. 2.4 Sewage sludge and co-substrate. 2.5 Industrial waste water. 2.6 Waste grease or fat. 2.7 Cultivation of algae. 2.8 Plankton. 2.9 Sediments in the sea. 2.10 Wood, straw. 3 Evaluation of substrates for biogas production. 4 Benefi ts of a biogas plant. Part III Formation of biogas. 1 Biochemical reaction. 2 Biology. 2.1 Bioreactions. 2.2 Process parameters. 3 Bacteria participating in the process of degradation . 3.1 Hydrolyzing genera. 3.2 Acidogenic genera. 3.3 Acetogenic genera. 3.4 Methanogenics. 3.5 Methanotropic species. Part IV Laws and guidelines concerning biogas plants. 1 Guidelines and regulations. 1.1 Construction of plants. 1.2 Utilized biomass. 1.3 Biomass to be used preferentially. 1.4 Distribution of the residues. 1.5 Feeding biogas to the gas network. 1.6 Risk of explosion. 1.7 Risk of fire. 1.8 Harmful exhaust gases. 1.9 Noise protection. 1.10 Prevention of injuries. 1.11 Protection from water. 2 Building a biogas plant. 2.1 Feasibility study. 2.2 Preliminary planning. 2.3 The construction process. 3 Financing. Part V Process engineering. 1 Parts of biogas plants. 1.1 Tanks and reactors. 1.2 Equipment for tempering the substrate. 1.3 Thermal insulation. 1.4 Piping system. 1.5 Pump system. 1.6 Measurement, control, and automation technology. 1.7 Exhaust air cleaning. 2 Area for the delivery and equipment for storage of the delivered biomass. 3 Process technology for the upstream processing. 3.1 Adjustment of the water content. 3.2 Removal of disturbing/harmful substances. 3.3 Comminution. 3.4 Hygienization. 3.5 Disintegration. 3.6 Feeding. 4 Fermentation technology. 4.1 Batchwise and continuous processes without separators. 4.2 Existing installations by different suppliers. 4.3 Installation with substrate dilution and subsequent water separation. 4.4 Installation with biomass accumulation. 4.5 Plants with separation of non-hydrolyzable biomass. 4.6 Residue storage tank and distribution. 5 Special plant installations. 5.1 Combined fermentation of sewage sludge and bio waste. 5.2 Bio waste plants. 5.3 Purifi cation of industrial waste water. Part VI Biogas to energy. 1 Gas pipelines. 2 Biogasholder. 2.1 Biogasholder types. 2.2 Gas flares. 3 Gas preparation. 3.1 Removal of hydrogen sulfide. 3.2 Removal of the carbon dioxide. 3.3 Removal of oxygen. 3.4 Removal of water. 3.5 Removal of ammonia. 3.6 Removal of siloxanes. 4 Liquefaction or compression of the biogas. 4.1 Liquefaction. 4.2 Compression. 5 Utilization of biogas for the generation of electric power and heat. 5.1 Supply of current to the public electricity network. 5.2 Heat. 5.3 Combined heat and power generator (CHP). 5.4 Lessons learnt from experience. 5.5 Economy. 5.6 CHP manufacturers. 6 Biogas for feeding into the natural gas network. 6.1 Biogas for feeding into the natural gas network in Switzerland. 6.2 Biogas for feeding into the natural gas network in Sweden. 6.3 Biogas for feeding into the natural gas network in Germany. 7 Biogas as fuel for vehicles. 7.1 Example project: "chain of restaurants in Switzerland". 7.2 Example projects in Sweden. Part VII Residues and waste water. 1 Residues. 2 Waste water. Attachment I Typical design calculation for an agricultural biogas plant. Attachment II Economy of biogas plants for the year 2007 (Calculation on the basis of the example of Attachment I). Literature. Index.
Author Biography
Dieter Deublein is Professor for Applied Biotechnology at the Munich Unversity of Applied Sciences (Germany). A graduate from the Technical University of Munich, he has more than two decades of professional experience in the large scale processing of natural resources, mainly from food and feed. Since 1992 he is a member of the Faculty of the Munich University of Applied Sciences, where he has established a strong teaching record in biotechnology and environmental management. He is a leading scientific authority on the technological aspects of biogas production, both in small-scale and large-scale operations.
