Maintenance of biodigester

After several years of operating biodigester, the upper layer is full of floating scum. Middle layer is just digestate liquid. The most bottom is where the sediment reside. During maintenance, you may want to take out both layer of semi solid (scum and sediment) so you can start new fresh.

Accumulated scum if not removed, when they are piled up so much will block your gas outlet. This event may cause the biogas pushing down the digestate out towards the feeding inlet. So its good to do spring cleaning after sometime operating. 

The liquid digestate can be reuse since still containing microbes and as long as the pH still the same.

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DIY Biogas Make and Use Your Own Renewable Natural Gas

Make your own homemade natural gas from food scraps, garden trimmings, and animal waste!

Understand how to craft a recipe to make your own renewable energy substitute for natural gas and propane.

DIY Biogas contains complete plans and parts lists with active links (Kindle edition only) to build two different biogas generators that help you learn, understand, and grow your biogas operation. With this hands-on, minds-on guide, you’ll gain the knowledge and experience you need to convert waste into energy. Whether you’re looking for a unique science project or want to cook meals with your own backyard biogas, this book is the most practical place to start.

With fuel prices and scarcity on the rise, it’s time to re-learn how to meet our own energy needs. Start today and harvest your own local, renewable energy resource tomorrow!

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How to purify your biogas

Purify your biogas using scrubbers.

Watch below:

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How to calculate the sizing & volume (diameter & height) digester to be constructed

This is how Mark Aæ calculate the sizing & volume (diameter & height) to be constructed of floating and fixed type biogas for pigs, cattle & chicken

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3 PRIME STAGES TO INITIATE BIOGAS

3 STAGES TO INITIATE BIOGAS:

1. Maturation of fresh cow dung starter

2. Acclimatization of matured starter to new waste

3. Optimization of feeding to obtain best ratio of waste to water, temperature and digester size for routine feeding

 

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AT FIRST MY GAS IS BURNING BUT THEN STOP PRODUCING. WHY?

So, when the the first batch of biogas is produced, it showed that your dung starter is already matured and ready to produce next batch of biogas. But it is only the beginning. The number of microbes have already multiply several folds compare to fresh dung. Matured starter can produced biogas faster then fresh dung. However, you cannot jump to conclusion that you can add any waste in any amount. How would you push microbes from dung to suddenly adapt to digest waste from different sources? It is impossible! You have to start slowly introducing alien waste into this matured starter. So that these microbes could first learn to recognize then adapt to the new waste. Introduce the new different waste little by little until the sensitization process is complete. Introducing large amount of alien waste to a new digester will cause your starter became shock and stagnant. Give them time to learn. They are not machine but only living things like us. Have mercy ok.

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WHY MY GAS IS NOT BURNING?

When I first initiate my digester with zero knowledge about biogas my favourite question was why is there no any gas produced? So you are very lucky if there is gas production by the new digester because carbon dioxide will come out first in the beginning before then methane. You have to understand that biogas is actually mix of several type of gas like carbon dioxide, methane and other inert gas. Along the process of biogas production, in the beginning of chain reaction, acidification will first occurr thus producing carbon dioxide. It is normal to have carbon dioxide in the very beginning. It is a positive sign that your digester is working well and will produce methane a bit later according to the chain reaction. Unless your digester is continuously producing carbon dioxide after months of starting then you have to start worry there might leakage somewhere along digester system.

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Biogas Digester Simple Design

Hi,

Welcome to Biogas DIY,

AREN'T YOU STILL STRUGGLING DO NOT KNOW HOW TO BUILD SIMPLE DIGESTER?

Do not worry. I have provided you with a simple design suitable for beginner to understand.

To directly begin with simple basic small scale biogas digester design and its functions please click the link below.

Small scale biogas digester design

Other information according to step (do not skip either step):

1.Basic Principles of Biogas Production

2.Basic Feature of a Biogas Digester

3.Vertical Biogas Digester Design

4.Horizontal Biogas Digester Design

5.Inoculum preparation for biogas generation

6.How to feed a biogas digester to produce biogas

7.What is HRT? - hydraulic retention time

8. Floating drum system for biogas storage

9.Biogas Bag for Storage

10.Leak test for biogas digester

11.How to Modify a Gas Burner for Biogas

12.Filtering biogas with water to reduce its carbon dioxide content

13.How To Make Electricity From Biogas

Small project for beginner:

Construction of 45 liter biogas biodigester for beginner

Zero about biogas?

Biogas For Beginners:  a DIY Guide

 

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Biogas Bag for Storage

Storage using gas bag is easy. Choose bag size big enough for own use or otherwise you will suffer since every time its full then you have to burn or flare the biogas for cooking. A bag full of gas you may not want it to get full to maximum because if it full will prevent additional gas going into it. What happen next is the excess gas will push the slurry out of digester. 

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Vertical Biogas DIgester Design

 Source: Joel Canaria

 Observe a typical design of a digester.

Inlet - feeding occurs here having the largest diameter among all.

Gas outlet - biogas produced from the process goes out thru here connected to external storage.

Overflow - where slurry displaced by a new feeding goes out thru here.

Stirrer - to make sure agitation takes place. Optional for some practitioner.

Drain - to let the accumulated sediment to flow out thru to be discarded after operating for sometime. 

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Horizontal Biogas Digester Design

I would like you to check out this design from a friend, more details please check under the QR code. Usually the blue tank converted as biodigester in a vertical form. This is quite different which someone could try on horizontically.

Source: Jørgen Rasmussen (A Clean New World)

 Or for more explanation please refer to below video:

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Floating drum system for biogas storage

 The system consist of two components:

1. The floating drum that has inlet and outlet for biogas. Inlet will let the biogas into the drum to be stored. Outlet is to let the biogas out when it is needed so should there be valve installed to control the process.

2. The base drum that contained water act as a platform for upper drum to float when there is gas produced. A steel guide installed to make sure the floating drum won't fall to the side.

So both drums are of different volume

a. floating drum is 160 liter

b. base drum is 200 liter

source: Biogas DIY FB Group

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Biogas digestate as fertilizer

 

No mistake in deciding to pursue biogas generation. Food waste could be managed well environmentally friendly way. Also the byproducts could also useful for agriculture. After digestion the solid waste leftover could be turned into powder after drying and grinding. Inside its already contained beneficial microbes such able to fixing nitrogen in soil. Or its properties could be enhanced more via biotechnology application towards enrichment and value adding of the existing waste material.

 

Your effort will be worth it.

 

But be careful to call your digestate as a biofertilizer make sure it contains beneficial microorganisms (eg. Nitrogen fixing and/or phosphate solubilizing and/or potassium solubilizing, etc) to enhance the properties of the soil where you applied the digestate so that your plant grow better compared to untreated soil. Another thing, biofertilizer should contain enough no. of beneficial microorganism compared to background microflora or otherwise won't show the expected effect if suppressed by other dominant or large no. of other microbes inside the digestate.

 

fresh digestate

 

 

digestate in powder form after drying and grinding

 

 two useful microbes from digestate

 

 

 source: Biogas DIY FB Group

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