An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust

Patrick Mukumba; Golden Makaka; Chipo Shonhiwa

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust

Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa

Published in International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering (Volume 4, Issue 2)

Received: 5 December 2014 Accepted: 11 December 2014 Published: 16 February 2015

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Abstract

Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.

Published in	International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering (Volume 4, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
Page(s)	24-31
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Digester, Cow Dung, Temperature, Biogas, Insulation, Methane

References

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[3]	J. Patil, M.A. Lourdu, , R. Antony and C.C. Gavimath: Study on effect of pre-treatment methods on biomethanation of water hyacinth, International Journal of Advanced Biotechnology and Research, Vol. 2(2011), pp. 143-147.
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APA Style

Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. (2015). An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 4(2), 24-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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Patrick Mukumba; Golden Makaka; Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int. J. Energy Power Eng. 2015, 4(2), 24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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AMA Style

Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int J Energy Power Eng. 2015;4(2):24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12,
  author = {Patrick Mukumba and Golden Makaka and Chipo Shonhiwa},
  title = {An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust},
  journal = {International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {24-31},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  abstract = {Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.},
 year = {2015}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust
AU - Patrick Mukumba
AU - Golden Makaka
AU - Chipo Shonhiwa
Y1 - 2015/02/16
PY - 2015
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
DO - 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
T2 - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
JF - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
JO - International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering
SP - 24
EP - 31
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2326-960X
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12
AB - Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.
VL - 4
IS - 2
ER -

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Author Information

Patrick Mukumba

Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa
Golden Makaka

Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa
Chipo Shonhiwa

Physics Department, University of Fort Hare, P. Bag X1314, King Williams Road, Alice, 5700, South Africa

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APA Style

Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. (2015). An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 4(2), 24-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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ACS Style

Patrick Mukumba; Golden Makaka; Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int. J. Energy Power Eng. 2015, 4(2), 24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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AMA Style

Patrick Mukumba, Golden Makaka, Chipo Shonhiwa. An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust. Int J Energy Power Eng. 2015;4(2):24-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12,
  author = {Patrick Mukumba and Golden Makaka and Chipo Shonhiwa},
  title = {An Assessment of the Performance of a Biogas Digester When Insulated with Sawdust},
  journal = {International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {24-31},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepe.20150402.12},
  abstract = {Biogas is mixture of gases, predominantly methane and carbon dioxide, produced by anaerobic digestion. In biogas production temperature of slurry is an important parameter that affects the rate of biogas production. The biogas digester was fed with cow dung before it was insulated. Ambient, biogas and slurry temperatures were measured. The temperature sensors were connected to the CR1000 data logger. Results were collected and compared before the construction of the second wall of the digester for the insulation. There was a strong positive relationship between slurry and ambient temperatures (R2 = 0.882). The results showed the interdependence of slurry, biogas and ambient temperatures. The magnitude of biogas temperatures was slightly different from slurry temperatures because of the differences in the thermal conductivity properties of concrete and brick wall. The biogas was in contact with concrete dome with a thermal conductivity of 0.2 W/ (m.K) while the digester slurry was in contact with the brick wall with a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/ (m.K). The biogas digester that was not insulated produced biogas of average methane yield of 38%. The second wall for the biogas digester was constructed and sawdust with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/ (m.K) was put in the gap between the inner and outer walls of the biogas digester. The sawdust insulated digester produced average methane yield of 50% when fed with cow dung. The results showed that insulation of the surface digester improves methane yield. However, insulation does not give 100% slurry temperature stability even if the digester is built underground.},
 year = {2015}
}

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