Energy Generation from Organic Waste Under Bio-gas Method (Biogas Digester) using Advance Technique

Project Title

Energy Generation from Organic Waste Under Bio-gas Method (Biogas Digester) using Advance Technique

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

With the increasing rate of technology, where world is fulfilling the energy demand, their world is facing environmental problems i.e. Global Warming, Pollution and Waste Management. Researchers are working on to these problems to come up with some sustainable solutions. Presently, Pakistan is depending on conventional sources of energy i.e. Fossil fuels, etc., to fulfill energy demand. In order to fulfil the energy requirements, Pakistan import crude oil of worth 1400 million US dollars that was just 530 million US dollar in 1996, which has a negative impact on the economic growth. The generation from renewable resource is 3% to 5% which is very small amount in the energy share. In addition, fossil fuels are depleting with time and will run off till 2050. Energy demand of Pakistan is expected to be three time more by 2020.

Beside this there is a serious problem of solid waste management in the country’s urban and rural areas. Due to lake of infrastructure, technology, sense of responsibility and awareness thousands tons of the waste is not being collected. Hence the cities are turning into garbage sites. 

Considering these problems in mind, an innovative idea which “waste to energy” is inspiring and is a win-win situation. The project is about energy generation using waste as fuel and hence it is also the environment friendly. Waste can be in any type i.e. Liquid Waste, Solid Waste, Organic waste, Recyclable Rubbish and Hazardous Waste. All food waste, garden waste, manure, agriculture waste (wheat straws, sugarcane straws etc.) and rotten meat are classified as organic waste.

This study is devoted to obtain biogas from organic waste generated at households. Initially design and fabrication of a lab scale biogas digester is envisaged to produce biogas through both Passive techniques where we will let the mixture of the organic waste be degraded on the natural conditions and active techniques where we plan to use stirrer and heater to expedite the waste degradation process to produce biogas quickly.  A comparison will also be made in both techniques through the obtained results. Finally we plan to design a digester which could be suitable to fulfil the gas demand for an average family of 4-5 people.

Project Objectives

The objectives of the project are as following;

• To design and fabricate lab scale Bio-gas digester
• To reduce organic waste degradation time by using active technique i.e.  Stirrer and heater.
• To compare passive and active methods on the bases of bio-gas production

Project Implementation Method

The project is implementable where organic waste is available in a very high quantity. The process include few stages. In the first stage, design and fabrication of a biogas digester will be carried out. In the second stage, collected organic waste would be mixed with water in the slurry tank. The mixture will be send to bio- digester for the digestion process. In the digester, passive fermentation process take place in the presence of the anaerobic digestion. Gas production through passive degradation takes more time and produces less amount of biogas. In the active degradation process, the efficiency of the digester will be increased in terms of the time to produce the larger quantity of the biogas. For this purpose a heater and a mechanical stirrer will be installed in the digester. Gas produce in the digester would be collected in the upper portion of digester and sent to storage tank through pipe. The store gas will be used to run generator to produce electricity. Compost form the digester will be stored in the tank, which will be used as fertilizer. Finally it is visualized to design a digester to fulfil the daily gas demand of an average house.

Benefits of the Project

The project is on environment friendly energy generation. Idea is to contribute in the proper solid waste management and clean energy production. In this project, organic waste will be used to produce energy and leftover of digested mixture can be used as compost. Following are the vital benefits

• Solid Waste Management

• Production of Clean Energy, which is environmental friendly
• Enhancing the bio digestion process in the terms of time period and gas production.
• Prototype will help to implement the idea in the areas where people are facing energy crises.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The project is meant to motivate academia and industry to think on the Solid waste collection, segregation and the waste to energy concept.

We will design and fabricate a lab-scale biogas digester. The biogas will also be used in the generator to produce electricity.

On the basis of the obtained results of the passive and active digestion processes, we will design a digester to fulfill the energy/gas demand of an average house.

Somehow we will also be contributing in the awareness of the people on waste to energy sector.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry Energy Other IndustriesCore Technology Clean TechOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
20L Tank	Equipment	2	10000	20000
12V DC Electric Heater	Equipment	2	2000	4000
12V DC Motor	Equipment	2	5000	10000
100 W PV Panel	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Mechanical Stirrer	Equipment	1	2000	2000
Temperature Sensor	Equipment	2	1000	2000
Pressure Gauge	Equipment	2	1000	2000
Arduino	Equipment	2	1000	2000
Connecting Pipes	Equipment	2	2000	4000
Connectors	Equipment	5	500	2500
Valves	Equipment	8	500	4000
10L Tank	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Power Meter	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Level Sensor	Equipment	1	500	500
LCD and Wires	Equipment	1	2000	2000
External Lab Visits	Miscellaneous	1	6000	6000
Stationary	Miscellaneous	1	2000	2000
Printing set	Miscellaneous	10	200	2000