Design and testing of mini-size biogas plant

Abstract

Biogas is a renewable source of energy which is developed to fulfill the energy needs of the society. Two important aspects of the biogas itself is biogas plant and starter. This research aims to design a mini-sized biogas plant which can be use effectively to produce the alternative energy, and also to examine the difference quality of biogas which is produced from slurry which was given starter and slurry which was not given starter. In this study, a mini-sized biogas plant has been designed, and tested for two different types of slurry. Ratio of cow dung : water : starter of the first slurry is 3 : 2 : 0.003 (The starter which was used in this study is Green Phoskko), and for the second type of slurry, ratio of cow dung : water is 3 : 2, but in this second type, the slurry was not given a starter. Cattle dung used in this study is stored in advance for one week, two weeks, and three weeks, before use. Result of this study showed that the first type of slurry produce biogas in a faster time than the second type of slurry. Also, the amount of gas obtained from the first slurry is more than the second type of slurry. It can be seen from the length of time which is takes to burn the gas produced from the first slurry much longer than the second type of slurry.