Biogas Plant

1. Summary
Biogas plant is going to be constructed mainly to manage the solid wastes produced from
different plants in the industrial park and use it to produce analternative source of renewable
energy. The technology is very clear and simple; the equipments required to construct this
plant are simple and available in the local market. Moreover, the by-product of this plant is
environmentally friendly and can be used as natural fertilizer for agriculture.
2. Product description and application
In the industrial park, there are dry and wet solid wastes from vegetable and fruit, meat, milk,
cereal, poultry and egg processing plants. An approximately 210kg/day (750 tons per annual)
municipal wastes are going to be produced in the Integrated Argo-Processing Industrial Park.
Here, it is obvious that a huge investment is required to managed and dispose away these
solid wastes from the park. Moreover, disposing these wastes to the environment is not
advisable as it is harmful to the community and nearby habitants. Instead of disposing these
wastes to the environment, a biogas plant with a digester volume of 250m 3 will be
constructed. This plant will consume 0.7m3 (210kg) of solid wastes per day to produce
renewable biogas energy of 21–23MJ per kilogram of solid wastesand natural fertilizer as a
by-product. The biogas produced from this biogas plant will be installed to a small boiler or
pre-heater in the industrial park to boil and rise the temperature the waterwhich enters to the
main boiler of the park. Therefore, the biogas produced from this process is used for pre-
heater heating application.
The produced biogas has the following properties:
- The energy value obtained in the range of 21 –23MJ/kg
- The energy generation velocity – 0.2m/s
- Air demand to generate the energy – 6.14m3
- The air with pressure range of 75 – 250mm H2O
- The air with density of 1.2kg/m3 andspecific weight of 0.9
3. Consumption
S/N Item description Qty.
1 Dry and wet solid waste or municipalitywaste consumption 210kg/day
 2 Water consumption 0.35 m3/day
4. Technology and Engineering
Biogas is produced by the anaerobic digestion or fermentation of biodegradable materials.
The solid wastes from the industrial park are the basic raw materials used for the generation
of a renewableenergy which is the biogas. Anaerobic treatment is the use of biological
processes, in the absence of oxygen, for thebreakdown oforganic matter and the stabilization
of these materials, by conversion to methane and carbon dioxidegases and a nearly stable
residue. Anaerobic biodegradation process for the production of biogas involves different
groups of bacteria that act upon complex solid wastes in four stages. These stages are
hydrolysis (breakdown of complex solid waste into simpler compounds like sugars and
lipids), fermentation (simple organic compounds, are fermented to alcohols, hydrogen and
carbon dioxide), acidogenesis (acid forming stage in which bacteria catabolize stage into fatty
acids and acetates) and methanogenesis (conversion of fatty acids and acetates into methane
by bacteria called methanogens). The methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide gasescan be
combusted or oxidized with oxygenand produce heat to boil the water in the small boiler.
5. Equipment required for the plant
The primary expected equipments which are required for the biogas plant are the following.
i. Digester
The digester of the biogas plant would be constructed from mild steel with thickness of
1.2mm and painted with black paint and fully sealed to avoid any gas leakage to the
environment. The mild steel will be cut into required sizes (250m3) for the cylindrical and
conicalpart. Using abending machine, the cylindrical part will be bent and tacked at different
pointsusing a stainless-steelelectrode. The cylindrical part is therefore welded together.
Thetruncated conical part is tacked andwelded to the cylindrical part. A 2’’plug and socket
valve will be welded along the length of the digestercreating both inlet and outlet for the
slurry since it will be a horizontal digester. A 2mm steel rod will be welded toboth ends of
the digester to providesupport and a stirring arm for the digester. Both sides are going to
passthrough two journals bearingbolt the angle steel in the form of a table for stability with
wheels attachedfor easy transportation. A typical biogas digester is shown in figure below
with its components.
 ii. Gasholder
The gasholder made of stainless steel is connected with 1/2” pipeline to both the digester and
gas burner.
iii. Control valve
There are three control valves in the biogas plant that controls the gas going into the
gasholder, gas burner and from the digester.
iv. Gas Burner
The gas delivery is determined from rated theme heat of small boiler gas burner.
v. Gas line
This is a gas hose and gas pipeline used to transport the biogas from the digester to the gas
burner in the pre-heater. In addition, the gas hose and pipeline are used to transfer the gas
from the digester to the gas holder
vi. Pre-heater
It is a small boiler which is used to heat the water and rise its temperature before it enters to
the main boiler as a pre-heater.

6. Bill of Quantity
The table below shows the expected equipment and quantity required for the biogas plant in
the industrial park.
S/N Description Qty.
1 Digester 1
2 Gasholder 1
3 Control valve 3
4 Gas burner 3
5 Gas line 200m
6 Pre-heater or small boiler 1
7. Biogas plant layout in the industrial park
The expected layout of the biogas plant in the industrial park is proposed as shown below.

Main Boiler of the

Industrial Park
Pre-heater
Small Boiler
Gas burner
Heat exchanger

Solid waste
(municipal waste) Biogas Plant Digester Gasholder
Collector