Biogas is a renewable fuel produced by the breakdown of organic matter comparable to food scraps and animal waste. It can be used in a variety of ways together with as vehicle fuel and for heating and electricity generation. Read on to be taught more.

What is biogas? How is biogas produced?

Biogas is an environmentally-pleasant, renewable energy source.

It’s produced when organic matter, resembling food or animal waste, is broken down by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen, in a process called anaerobic digestion. For this to take place, the waste materials needs to be enclosed in an atmosphere the place there is no such thing as a oxygen.

It may possibly happen naturally or as part of an industrial process to intentionally create biogas as a fuel.

What sort of waste can be utilized to produce biogas?

A wide variety of waste material breaks down into biogas, including animal manure, municipal garbage/ waste, plant material, food waste or sewage.

Which gases does biogas comprise?

Biogas consists primarily of methane and carbon dioxide. It may additionally embrace small amounts of hydrogen sulphide, siloxanes and some moisture. The relative quantities of those differ relying on the type of waste involved within the production of the resulting biogas.

What can biogas be used for?

To fuel vehicles – if biogas is compressed it can be utilized as a vehicle fuel.

As a replacement for natural gas – if biogas is cleaned up and upgraded to natural gas standards, it’s then known as biomethane and can be utilized in a similar way to methane; this can embrace for cooking and heating.

Biogas: 6 fascinating info

1. Biogas is a gas of many names

Biogas is most commonly also known as biomethane. It’s also sometimes called marsh gas, sewer gas, compost gas and swamp gas within the US.

Biogas is a naturally occurring and renewable source of energy, resulting from the breakdown of organic matter. Biogas is to not be confused with ‘natural’ gas, which is a non-renewable source of power.

2. Biogas and biomass: relatedities and differences

Biomass and biogas are each biofuels; they are often burnt to produce energy. However biomass is the strong, organic material. Biomass has been used as an energy source since people first discovered fire and burnt wood, plants and animal dung to create energy.

At this time, many power stations run by burning a biomass of compressed wood pellets – a by-product of timber and furniture-making. By changing fossil-fuel coal, biomass enables renewable electricity to be produced.

3. Biogas shouldn't be a new discovery

The anaerobic process of decomposition (or zielinski01 fermentation) of natural matter has been happening in nature for millions of years, even before fossil fuels, and continues to occur throughout us in the natural world. Right this moment’s industrial conversion of natural waste into energy in biogas plants is just fast-forwarding nature’s ability to recycle its useful resources.

The first human use of biogas is assumed to date back to three,000BC in the Middle East, when the Assyrians used biogas to heat their baths.

A 17th century chemist, Jan Baptist van Helmont, discovered that flammable gases might come from decaying organic matter. Van Helmont can also be accountable for bringing the word ‘gas’, from the Greek word chaos, into the science vocabulary.

The primary giant anaerobic digestion plant dates back to 1859 in a leper colony in Bombay.

An inventive Victorian engineer, John Webb from Birmingham, created the Sewage Lamp, which converted sewage into biogas to light street lamps. The only remaining Webb Sewer Lamp in London is now just off The Strand in Carting Lane – or as some wags would have it, Farting Lane.

Anaerobic digestion was used as a means to treat municipal wastewater, before chemical treatments. In the creating world the anaerobic process is still recognised as an inexpensive, natural alternative to chemical compounds and the reduction of dysentery bacteria.

And let’s not forget that in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome the post-apocalyptic settlement Bartertown, run by Tina Turner’s terrifying Aunty Entity, is powered by a pig-farm biogas system with biogas used to energy the desert-chasing vehicles.

4. Right now China leads the world in the usage of biogas

China has the largest number of biogas plants, with an estimated 50 million households using biogas. These are principally in rural areas and small-scale residence and village plants.