Introduction to biogas

As years advance, the demand of fossil fuels is increasing and rapidly depleting the
natural reserves. Usually those fossil fuels are obtained from natural formation of
coal and oil but it is a very slow process which takes ages. So, to ensure the
continuity of supply of fossil fuels in future there is a lot of research effort is put into
finding renewable fuels nowadays. Renewable fuels are in balance with environment
and contribute to a far lesser extent to the greenhouse effect. On of type of
renewable fuel is biogas. Biogas is a gas typically comprised of sixty percent of
methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). it is produced through the breakdown of
organic matter in the absence of oxygen which is referred to as anaerobic digestion.
Major sources of methane are animal excrement, waste landfills and any other
organic material that is left untreated such as leftovers from restaurants, past-dated
foods and slaughterhouse waste. Besides, the bacteria involved in the process are
methanogenic bacteria which are subdivided into psychrophilic, mesophilic and
thermophilic strains according to their optimum temperature range. For mesophilic
bacteria, their optimum temperature normally is between 38 C and 40 C and for
thermophilic group is between 50 C to 60 C. Generally, the whole process
generates when organic materials like manure, food scraps, crop residue are fed
into reactor where it is heated to 40 C, biological decomposition takes place where
the bacteria are producing the biogas. The biomass stays in the reactor for about
two to three weeks. Biogas can be used for production of heat and electricity. One
significant advantage of biogas is reducing the greenhouse gas emission into
atmosphere, which occurs when the gasses are gathered, extracted and burnt
during the process of biogas. Thus by utilizing biogas as an energy source,
dependency on fossil based carbon such as coil, oil and natural gas can be reduce.

Reference :
1. What is biogas.Retrieved at 22nd May 2014 from
http://www.biogas.de/en/technology/what-is-biogas
2. Introduction to biogas.Copyright 2014 The University of Adelaide. Retrieved
at 22nd May 2014 from http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/basic/