This video was created by the APAO and was filmed at one of our Biogas Plants, Delft Blue Veal!

What is Biogas?

Biogas is a combustible fuel which is produced through the anaerobic digestion process. Anaerobic means “in the absence of oxygen”. There are many families of methane-producing bacteria. These bacteria produce biogas in the fourth stage of a complex microbiological process. In the right set of circumstances, the organic fraction of liquid or solid biomass can be converted into valuable fuel. Biogas consists of roughly 40% – 70% methane, with the rest being CO2. There are also trace amounts of H2O and H2S produced by the microbiological process. The amount of methane in the biogas is largely a function of the organic input menu.

Worldwide AD/Biogas History

Anaerobic Digestion occurs naturally, in bogs or in ruminant animals. The process of putting organic material into a sealed vessel, removing the oxygen, and thereafter producing biogas has been documented in parts of China and parts of India as early as 50 years ago. In parts of Europe, most notably in Switzerland and in the U.K., bench-scale and small-scale digesters were being constructed in the early 1970’s. Anaerobic Digester/biogas technology has grown exponentially since then. It is now used for both wastewater treatment and for energy generation. In Western Europe, there are now about 5,000 Anaerobic Digester installations. In Germany alone, there are roughly 4,000 installations, with the total installed power generation capacity of 1,000 MW. Anaerobic bioconversion is one of many strategies towards a sustainable economy. In some countries such as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, vast amounts of organic by-products are converted to biogas in Anaerobic Digesters.

What is an Advanced Anaerobic Digester?

Our goal at PlanET Biogas Solutions is to maximize the daily yield of biogas for a given volume of digester capacity. The more biogas we can help you make, the more power and energy you will produce. This enables you to maximize your revenues. Ultimately, that is our goal to ensure that the biogas technology “delivers the proforma”. 

An advanced Anaerobic Digester contains these features:

  1. An external Dry Feeder, allowing you to inject dry matter (with a percent total solids of 30% or greater) into the Digester. Biogas yield is largely a function of the percent total solids and percent organic total solids.

  2. A very large mixer inside the Digester, allowing you to operate your Digester with a % TS of as high as 30%.

  3. A very efficient Internal Combustion Engine Generator Set in the 40 – 43% range. This allows you to convert as much of the  methane as possible into valuable electricity.

  4. A PLC based control system, which allows both you and us to both monitor and control your system remotely via the internet. This control system features operator interface screens that are updated every 15 seconds. The system includes many feedback instruments and transmitters, so that you have a complete picture of how your Digester is performing. In some cases, where technically and financially viable, we will help you add supplementary anaerobic bacteria to accelerate the anaerobic process. Again, allowing you to produce more biogas from a fixed digester volume.
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Presentations

Over the past few years, we have given a number of presentations on biogas here in Ontario. We believe that some may be of interest and assistance to you.

Intro to PlanET Biogas Solutions' Anaerobic Digestion (PDF - 2.1mb)