The new generation of Bio Gas power plants.

[Prasanna Nandakumar]

Dear Friends,


I have some exhilarating news from the realms of Biogas Energy. For
many years now, Anaerobic digestion has been seen by many tech critics
and investors as an inefficient method to produce power as compared to
the Incineration and Combustion methods. For the past two months I
have been following up on this manufacturer from Bangalore who
promises to produce 10 times as much power from the same quantum of
waste that you would feed into a normal Digestion system.

I did my initial research based on poultry manure as the input waste.
Putting that into perspective,

A conventional Anaerobic Digestion based 1 MW plant will require about
120 Tons of poultry waste (12000 to 13000 cu.m of gas) to produce this
quantum of power, which amounts to the waste from about 15,00,000
layer birds. So, this manufacturer claims to produce the same quantum
of power with 12-15 tons or less! The details regarding the technical
feasibility is something that I have not been enlightened upon. My
initial meeting with them yielded no proper technical information from
their end. It seemed as though they were purposely evading questions
on the technicals to secure their concept. From what I got, they are
making this feat possible by considerably increasing the calorific
value of the output gas, after scrubbing.

The plant is claimed to cost only about 5 crores/MW, without
considering wheeling charges and land cost. Land requirement is only
about 0.5 acre per MW. It is supposedly modular in design, so it can
also be easily scaled up. The plant is completely automated through
PLCs and SCADA, which are used to maintain the temperature and
pressure parameters within the system for optimum gas production.

Now, I have an invite to visit their first plant, which is apparently
in the outskirts of Bangalore. The input waste in this power plant is
Water Hyacinth. They are claiming to produce about 1 MW with about 4
tons of Water Hyacinth! The plant is up and running now. How is this
technically feasible?

Additionally, I would like to know whether any of the esteemed
Engineers or Technocrats in this forum would like to accompany us in
our visit to the plant. It would greatly help all of us in gauging
this technology. If you are, please do email me at
aiesec....@gmail.com

For all you Investors and Solutionists in this forum, I have purposely
not mentioned details about the manufacturer because I choose not to
do so until I have seen it with my own naked eyes, along with some
experts, to confirm the claims. We have scheduled a visit sometime
next week. I will share details of the manufacturer and the economics
of the plant soon after my visit. Thank you.




Regards,
Prasanna Nandakumar.
Just another RE Enthusiast.

[Manu Sharma]

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 5:54 PM, Prasanna Nandakumar <aiesec....@gmail.com> wrote:

A conventional Anaerobic Digestion based 1 MW plant will require about 120 Tons of poultry waste [...] this manufacturer claims to produce the same quantum of power with 12-15 tons or less!  [...] From what I got, they are making this feat possible by considerably increasing the calorific value of the output gas, after scrubbing.

[...]

I have purposely not mentioned details about the manufacturer because I choose not to do so until I have seen it with my own naked eyes 

Dear Mr. Nandakumar,

Thank you for sharing this information. While this might be a promising lead but I would advise caution while pursuing this. 

Biogas has been a topic of research for several decades. You will find lots of papers on enhancing biogas production during the digestion process but increasing calorific value of the gas after scrubbing is unheard of, if I'm correct.

It's quite possible that they're adding an additional fossil fuel source like natural gas to demonstrate higher energy generation from biogas. However, I'm only speculating as I'm not familiar with the technology. 

In any case, it may not be possible to ascertain their claims just by visiting their plant. Ask them to install the technology at your premises in a pilot project on a small scale at your cost. That seems to me the only reliable method to evaluate the technology.

Thanks,

Manu

[Prasanna Nandakumar]

Dear Mr. Manu,


As always, I am grateful for your valued suggestions. I completely
agree with you. The best way to start trusting in a new technology is
by installing a pilot plant in your own backyard. This trip to see the
power plant with a good team is to just get an initial feeler and a
basic idea about the technology on hand. Thank you.


Regards,
Prasanna Nandakumar.

[Manu Sharma]

Dear Mr. Nandakumar,

Thank you. In any case, please do share your findings with Green-India after your visit. 

Regards,

Manu Sharma

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