BIOGAS GENERATOR

Seeing that the production of methane was successful and has many applications it
can be applied to the real world. Not only can it be used on commercial levels to
produce energy it can also be used as a personal generator that you could build in your
backyard.
(fig 10-1) This image shows an area where biogas is being generated.
Other advantages include the fact that biogas can be generated from other sources, if
you were to combine the gas from those sources with the gas from a biogas generator
you would be able to obtain far more gas than just using a generator alone.

Generation of Electricity
The methane produced from the
biogas generator can be used to
generate electricity. The simplest
way is burning it to heat water
which creates steam and than the
steam turns large turbines
producing electricity.
(fig 10-2) This image shows how
biogas can be used to produce
electricity with steam turbines.

Another way of producing
electricity is through a methane fuel cell.This method involves in separating the
carbon from the hydrogen in the methane. The methods which can be used are steam
reforming or Autothermal reforming. In steam reforming a hot gas heats tubes in
which the reaction takes place this converts the steam and methane into hydrogen and
carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide than further goes through a gas shift reaction and
creates more hydrogen and some carbon dioxide. Finally pressure swing absorption is
used to separate the other gases from the hydrogen leaving only pure hydrogen. After
you have got the hydrogen it can be used in a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity.
(fig 10-3) Typical hydrogen fuel cell.

Heating

Biogas can be used in your furnace to heat your house. Biogas is almost identical to
natural gas so it has many of the same uses. If you wanted to improve combustion you
could use a mix of your biogas with natural gas. Biogas can also be used for any
cooking from barbeques to everyday cooking on the stove. Once again it can be mixed
with natural gas here as well to improve combustion.

Fertilizer

Biogas has more use than just the methane it produces. After the production of biogas
slows down in the generator the material in it needs to be replaced with new manure
and water. The old manure or the waste you had in the digester afterwards can be used
as rich black soil and fertilizer because it still contains large amounts of plant material
and organic matter.