Commissioning of Reactor

Biogas holdup should not be emptied completely. About 3-4 days of storage is kept in the gas
holdup for recycle.
1. The manual trip valve for slurry outlet located at the outlet of the reactor is kept closed
and the bypass line for the removal of air is kept opened.
2. Slurry inlet line is opened and pressure inside the reactor is maintained at mostly
atmospheric pressure.
3. During filling, de-oxygenated air is purged through the recycle line to stop aerobic
digestion and settling of the slurry.
4. After filling up of the reactor with slurry for about four weeks, the reactor is de-
pressurized up-to 0.1 atm. abs. by vacuum pumps connected at the top of the reactor.
5. After reducing pressure, recycle line is purged with methane instead of de-oxygenated
air and pressure is allowed to reach atmospheric pressure.
6. Now, the reactor is allowed to operate and the pressure builds up over days in the
reactor.
7. pH controller and level controller is allowed to operate after almost half of the reactor
is filled with slurry.
Commissioning of buffer tank
1. Outlet trip valve is closed and the inlet line is opened. Air purge line of the buffer tank
is kept open.
2. After filling the buffer tank to about half level, pH controller and level controller is
operated.
3. The slurry is continuously recycled during filling up of the tank to stop settling of the
slurry.
4. After buffer tank is filled to desired level, the manual outlet trip valve is opened and
the level controller takes over for the automated operation.
Commissioning of purification unit
Purification units are filled with chemicals (FeCl3 and lime). After sufficient pressure is
developed in the reactor, outlet line for bio-gas of the reactor starts operating. After operating
pressure of the purification units are reached, outlet line of the purification unit is started.
Shutdown of the plant
Mechanical and hydro-mechanical pre-treatment units are shut-down and the buffer tank is
gradually emptied. After, the buffer tank is emptied, we stop the reactor. To stop the reactor,
impure bio-gas is taken out and the reactor is de-pressurized up-to 0.1 atm. As the bio-gas is
purged out, the slurry is also purged out and compressed air is purged from the recycle line to
stop settling of the slurry and the reactor is gradually emptied. As the impure bio-gas flow
stops, the purification units are also stopped and brought to atmospheric pressure and
compressed air is purged inside the purification units for cleaning of the units.