War. R~s. Vol. 24, No. 12, pp.

1SS1-1S54, 1990
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved

Copyright

0043-1354/90 S3.00 + 0.00

tC 1990 Pergamon Press pic

TECHNICAL NOTE
A NEW DEVICE FOR MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL
OF GAS PRODUCTION BY BENCH SCALE
ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS
M. C. VEIGA, M. SoTO, R. MENDEz* and J. M. LEMA
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-15706 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain

(First received November 1989; accepted in revised form May 1990)

Abstract-On the basis of an analysis, in terms of desirable characteristics and main sources of error, of
existing apparatus for measuring biogas production by laboratory anaerobic digesters, we have developed
a new device that is precise, inexpensive, easily constructed and capable of functioning autonomously for
long periods. A slightly costlier version suitable for usc in automatic control systems is also described.

Key "'ords-biogas, gas measurement, fermentation control

liquid ftow paths that may considerably decrease the

efficiency of digestion. (c) The equipment should be
easy to set up and use, and as inexpensive as possible.
(d) It is highly desirable for it to be easy to connect
the equipment to a computer data acquisition system
so as to allow automatic gas production monitoring,
possibly a part of automatic process control. (e) The
equipment should be as precise as possible, and the
influence of relevant factors on accuracy should be
determined so as to enable corrections to be made
if necessary, without which serious errors may be
incurred.

INTRODUCTION

Requisite characteristics of laboratory gas meter

Anaerobic digestion of high-COD industrial,
agricultural or domestic wastewater has become increasingly popular since the development of industrial-scale second-generation digesters affording high
purification rates with short hydraulic retention
times. Though the process is complex and can be
depressed by difficulties affecting any of the reactions
involved, a good broad indicator of its state is the
amount of biogas evolved as its final product.
Apparatus for measuring biogas production by
anaerobic digesters can be classified in two types:
industrial equipment suitable for measuring high gas
ftow rates (an example is the C.C.S.A. GL-G4, which
measures ftow rates of 0.4-6 m 3/h at 104 Pa); and
laboratory equipment, which must be more versatile
and capable of precise measurement of ftow rates of
between a few ml and severall/day. Other demands
placed on laboratory biogas meters tend to depend on
the nature of particular applications, and most
research teams have developed their own meters
because few commercial meters meet such demands,
which may include the following:
(a) The equipment should be capable of working
for long periods without there arising problems that
hinder routine measurement. A common problem is
the corrosion of metal parts by H 2S contained in the
biogas. (b) The equipment should not cause sudden
changes in pressure inside the digester, since such
changes can create gas stoppages and preferential
Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Accuracy and precision

The evaluation of accuracy and precision, correction for errors and comparison of different meters are
facilitated by referring gas volume to standard temperature (293 K) and pressure (101.325 Pa) with the
aid of the expression:
V=V
'

[P+98.t.h-P][~]
101.325
273 + T

(I)

where v, (I.) is the standardized gas volume, vm (I.)

is the measured volume actually occupied by the gas,
T (K) and P (Pa) are room temperature and pressure
at the time of measurement, P. (Pa) is the vapour
pressure of the liquid above which the gas is collected
and h(cm) is the head of liquid produced by the gas
(i.e. the difference between the levels of the liquid in
the two arms of the meter). Vm is easily obtained from
the geometry of the gas vessel, or better still from
prior calibration (Merkens, 1962), which allows the
error in Vm to be estimated. The second factor in
equation (I) takes into account variations in room
pressure (a change of 15 mm Hg, i.e. 2000 Pa, causes

1551

Technical Note

1552

at worst a 2% error), overpressure due to the head of

liquid (a 5 em head of water alters V, by no more than
0.5%) and vapour pressure, which if not taken into
account causes an error of about 3% at 25C when
the measuring liquid is water. The third factor of
equation (I) takes temperature differences into account; without it, a deviation of soc from the
standard temperature gives rise to an error of no
more than 2%. It should be noted that though the
above sources of variation have fairly small individual effects, their combined effect may give rise to
considerable error if equation (I) is not used for
correction.
LABORATORY BIOGAS METERS: A REVIEW

Continuous meters

In this type of meter, which is basically similar to

industrial meters, the passage of the gas through a
tube activates a mechanical counter. Dordrecht
Meterfabrieken and Schlumberger meters are of this
type, which has the disadvantages of relatively high
cost, poor sensitivity at low flow rates, and the
susceptibility of the metallic parts of the counters to
corrosion by moist biogas containing C0 2 and H 2S.
Batch meters

This group comprises conventional liquid displacement meters requiring periodic manual reset (Stafford
et a/., 1980). Two subgroups may be distinguished.
Type I. This type of meter requires periodic recording of the volume of liquid displaced by the gas in
a previously calibrated cylinder. Care must be taken
to use an acidified liquid in which the C02 of the
biogas does not dissolve, and, as we have seen,
pressure must be corrected for the head of liquid and
the vapour pressure of the liquid at the temperature
at which measurements are made. Simple, inexpensive equipment of this kind is adequate for short
experiments, but for studying the medium- and longterm performance of continuously operated digesters
it has four major disadvantages: (a) the apparatus
must be constantly supervised so as to ensure that
release of the accumulated gas is effected (usually by
means of a three-way stopcock "between the digester
and the meter) before the measuring liquid is displaced to the bottom of the measuring cylinder; (b)
the digester is periodically subjected to overpressures
of several em of water, which may cause the formation of gas pockets and preferential liquid flow
paths, thus reducing its efficiency; (c) increased gas

production may mean changing to a larger measuring

cylinder or using several cylinders in parallel; and (d)
there is a risk of the acidified measuring liquid
reaching the digester, where it may seriously interfere
with the digestion process.
A variant of this kind consists of a counterweighted
floating bell rising as the gas enters it.
Type II. In this type, based on the traditional
Mariotte flask, the quantity of gas produced is determined from the quantity of liquid forced out of the
flask, which must periodically be topped up. The
liquid used may be either acidified, as in Type I
meters, or alkaline, in which case it is CH 4 production
that will be measured and not total biogas production. In spite of having practically the same
disadvantages as Type I meters, Type II meters
have proved useful in studies such as the measurement of methanogenic activity (de Zeew, 1984), and
computerized recording of the cumulative gas production curve has been achieved by means of an
ingenious device that converts discrete volumes of
liquid outflow into an electric signal sent to a data
acquisition interface.
Semicontinuous meters

These meters are based on the automatic recording

of a signal determined by the volume of gas produced
in the digester. Table I lists the chief characteristics
of some of these instruments.
One of the earliest meters of this kind, developed
by Merkens (1962), consists of a hollow float in which
the gas produced penetrates and is retained until,
upon reaching a certain volume, it activates a mechanical counter and is discharged through a hydraulic
valve. Unfortunately, this ingenious device only
works satisfactorily if gas is produced at quite a
steady rate. Glauser eta/. (1984) and Gwatkin et a/.
(1986) developed meters based on floats bearing
metallic inductors that trigger induction detectors
located at the highest and lowest levels that the gas
should reach in the tank. When the high point
detector is triggered, an electronic counter is activated
and the gas is released into the environment
(Gwatkin) or a storage tank (Glauser) through a
2-way electrovalve.
In the instrument described by Moletta and Albagnac (1982), a liquid is displaced round a closed circuit
between two communicating vessels, into one of
which the gas enters via a 3-way electrovalve through
which it is also discharged when the electrodes connected to the counter sense that a given volume has

Table I. Semicontinuous meter characteristics

Moving part

Control system

Sensor

Counter

Reference

Floating tank
Closed liquid circuit
Float with inductor
Float with inductor
Closed liquid circuit
The gas itself
Closed liquid circuit

Hydraulic valve
3-way electrovalve
2-way electrovalve
2-way electrovalve
Hydraulic valve
3-way electrovalve
Hydraulic valve

Mechanical
Electrodes
Induction detector
Induction detector
Photoelectric cell
Pressure transducer
Electrodes

Mechanic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electronic
Electromechanical

Merkens {1962)
Moletta and Albagnac (1982)
Glauser~~ a/. (1984)
Gwatkin eta/. {1986)
Mala-Alvarez ~~ a/. {1986)
Beaubieu ~~ a/. (1988)
This work

Technical Note

accumulated. This kind of meter has been successfully

used to control the feed of fermenting alcohol plants
on the basis of the rate of gas production (Mota eta/.,
1987).
Another design in which an electrovalve is used
is that of Beaubieu et al. (1988), in which gas
production is measured by a simple pressure
transducer. Beaubieu et a/. helpfully supply details
of how to programme a suitable data acquisition
system for automatic recording of the gas production
data.
In our experience, the chief failing of semicontinuous meters with electrovalves is that the latter, unless
made of costly resistant material, are prone to undergo rapid corrosion, either because of the presence
of H 2S in the gas or because the saline solution
accidentally gets into the valve. To avoid this problem, Mata-Alvarez et al. (1986) designed an instrument featuring a hydraulic valve similar to that used
by Merkens (1962) and, as sensors, a system of
photoelectric cells detecting light transmitted through
coloured liquid. Our experience of using this meter in
our laboratory has shown its chief drawbacks to be
its sensitivity to vibration and, in long experiments,
the errors caused by variation in the light source
and/or the optical characteristics of the coloured
liquid.
A NEW METER DFSIGN

Having tried most of the above types of meter in

our laboratory, we have developed a new design in
which we have attempted to incorporate the best
features of each. The result (Fig. I) is an inexpensive
meter that has performed reliably during 2 years'
uninterrupted use. Like Merkens (1962) and MataAlvarez et a/. (1986) we avoid corrosion problems by
using a hydraulic valve, and like Moletta (1982) we
use electrodes as sensors, but we have reduced the
cost of the electronics by connecting the electrodes to
the mains via a simple electromechanical counter and
dispensing with more complicated circuitry.
The meters used with our laboratory digesters
consist of two 20-cm-high glass columns of i.d. 3 em
whose lower ends are connected directly and whose
central regions are connected by a hydraulic valve (a
J-tube of i.d. 0.5 em, the long arm emerging from

1553

Fig. 1. Gas meter diagram. I, Gas inlet; 2, glass columns;

3, counter; 4, a.c. (220 V).

Column I and the short arm from Column II). The

columns contain liquid whose initial level is slightly
below a level half-way between the two mouths of the
J-tube, and which is displaced by gas entering the top
of Column II from the digester. Two stainless-steel
electrodes at different heights in Column I are connected in series with an F.M. Mod.CI851 (220 V lOi/s
3VA) electromechanical pulse counter that clocks up
one unit every time the liquid in Column I connects
the two electrodes (the use of alternating current
avoids electrolysis problems). A short time later, the
level of the liquid in Column II falls below the lower
mouth of the J-tube, with the result that the gas in
Column II is discharged to the environment via
Column I, the level of liquid in Column I falls and the
counter circuit is broken. The cost of this equipment
is about US $20.
A typical meter of this kind currently operating in
our laboratory measures 50.4 0.4 ml per counter
unit (i.e. with an error of approx. 0.8%) and in its
present location 5-30 units (252-1512 ml) per day,
though it could easily handle greater flow rates. The
most critical points of the construction of these
meters are the diameter of the J-tube, which should
be at least 5 mm, and the initial level of the liquid,
which should be as specified above.
Figure 2 shows a version of our meter in which a
DNS CL 9035 level controller has been incorporated.
This makes the device about US $26 more expensive,
but enables automatic control to be simply and
cheaply implemented by allowing feed pumps,
sampling devices or automatic analysers to be connected and disconnected in any phase of the gas
measuring process.

Fig. 2. Gas meter and control. I, gas inlet; 2, glass columns; 3, controller; 4, counter; 5,lamp; 6, electrical
switch; 7, a.c. (220 V).

Technical Note

1554
CONCLUSIONS

In view of our experience with most of the other

meters discussed above, the equipment described in
this article has been designed with the following
features:
(1) In order to minimize corrosion problems due
to H2S in the biogas or to the measuring
liquid, it has no moving metal parts.
(2) It is less expensive than commercial continuous meters, and more precise at small ftow
rates.
(3) Like fully continuous meters, it is superior to
batch meters in that it requires no special
periodic attention by laboratory staff, and
also overcomes the other problems arising
with batch meters.
(4) It is superior to other semicontinuous meters
in not using floats (which in practice tend to
jam), electrovalves (which become badly corroded when the gas measured contains H 2S),
or photoelectric level detectors (which tend to
become uncalibrated).
(5) Counting is implemented with an inexpensive
commercial pulse counter of suitable precision.
The equipment described is inexpensive and has
proved reliable for continuous measurement over

long periods of time, and is now used systematically

in our laboratory.
Acknowledgement-This work was supported by a grant
from the Spanish CA YCYT (Contract No. PR84-0466).
REFERENCES

Beaubieu A., Jolicoeur C. and Alary J. F. (1988) Automated

high sensitivity gas metering system for biological processes. Biotechnol. Bioengng 31, 105-109.
Glauser M., Jenni B. and Aragno M. (1984) An inexpensive,
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Meth. 2, 159-164.
Gwatkin P., Drewill-Smith D. and Lane A. G. (1986) An
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Mala-Alvarez J., Martinez-Viturtia A. and Torres R. (1986)
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