Design of Small Scale Biogas Digester for Rural Community /

Abstract

Rural communities in developing countries run a major energy deficit and are inevitably in need of cost effective technological solutions. Acquisition of biogas technology provides the sustainable solutions to rural communities of the developing countries. Opportunistically, agricultural waste is abundant in the rural areas which can be used as a source for Biomethane production this study focuses on the design of renewable biogas system for rural community deploying agricultural waste for anaerobic co-digestion. An anaerobic digester of 3m3 volume was designed that will provide sufficient energy for one household. Selection of lignocellulosic waste Wheat Straw (WS), Rice Straw (RS) and Bagasse (BA) is based on the potential bioenergy and abundant availability of crops reported in the Biomass Atlas of Pakistan. Biochemical Methane potential test (BMP) was conducted for the evaluation of feed to inoculum ratio of ratios (1.5, 2.5) and four possible combinations (WSRS, RSBA, BAWS, WSRSBA). 70% biomethane production was investigated from combinations of WSRS and WSRSBA.