Influence of the characteristics of biogas generated in the leather industry on combustion quality

Abstract

The treatment of protein waste in the leather industry also includes transfor-mation into biogas through anaerobic digestion. A pilot plant producing biogas with a 45-60% CH4 concentration was designed for this purpose. Starting from primary experimental tests in a Bunsen burner, the paper presents the theoretical aspects of choosing the best combustion technique for this peculiar gaseous fuel in order to calculate the combustion velocity and checking the conditions for the flame stability. The applicability of the kinetic combustion (with pre-mix) will be attempted, because low combustion rates for this fuel also involve low air veloci-ties. Diffusive combustion seems to not be affected by this impediment, as there is always an equality condition of flame velocity with burning speed, so a theoreti-cal spot of a stable flame. After selecting the best combustion technique, a pilot burner will be designed and tested.