DESIGN OF SOLAR ASSISTED COMMUNITY BIOGAS PLANT

This study aims at providing a solution to the difficulty in the production of biogas in cold weather conditions especially during winters and in hilly regions where the temperature remains low throughout the year. As is well known biogas can be produced by anaerobic fermentation of organic materials with the help of bacteria [1]. Meynell [2] pointed out that the production of biogas becomes insignificant when the slurry temperature is less than 15 degrees C. Such situations are usually faced in northern India, where the ambient temperature and, hence, the slurry temperature, in the winters drops below 15 degrees C and hence improper digestion of slurry leads to poor biogas yield. This problem can be overcome by making the biogas plant solar assisted. The heat requirements of the digesters generally consist of three parts; (i) heat required for raising the temperature of incoming slurry for digestion; (ii) for compensating heat losses through the boundaries of the digester and (iii) for compensating losses that might occur in the piping between the heat source and the digester [3]. The required heat is provided from the collector which absorbs solar radiation and converts it into heat which is absorbed by a heat transfer fluid passing through the collector [4]. In this work, a biogas plant for a specified capacity has been designed. Based on the biogas plant dimensions and the average ambient conditions for a specified location, the rate of loss of energy was determined. A solar collector system has been designed to supply sufficient energy to maintain the slurry temperature of 35 degrees C.