Composition of Biogas

Biogas is a colourless, odourless, inflammable gas, produced by organic waste and biomass decomposition (fermentation). Biogas can be produced from animal, human and plant (crop) wastes, weeds, grasses, vines, leaves, aquatic plants and crop residues etc. The composition of different gases in biogas :
Biogas burns with a blue flame. It has a heat value of 500-700 BTU/Ft3 (4,500-5,000 Kcal/M3) when its methane content is in the range of 60-70%. The value is directly proportional to the amount of methane contains and this depends upon the nature of raw materials used in the digestion. Since the composition of this gas is different, the burners designed for coal gas, butane or LPG when used, as ‘biogas burner’ will give much lower efficiency. Therefore specially designed biogas burners are used which give a thermal efficiency of 55-65%.
Biogas is a very stable gas, which is a non-toxic, colourless, tasteless and odourless gas. However, as biogas has a small percentage of Hydrogen Sulphide, the mixture may very slightly smell of rotten egg, which is not often noticeable especially when being burned. When the mixture of methane and air (oxygen) burn a blue flame is emitted, producing large amount of heat energy. Because of the mixture of Carbon Dioxide in large quantity the biogas becomes a safe fuel in rural homes as will prevent explosion.A 1 M3 biogas will generate 4,500-5,500 Kcal/m2 of heat energy, and when burned in specifically designed burners having 60% efficiency, will give out effective heat of 2,700-3,200 Kcal/m2. 1 Kcal is defined as the heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg (litre) of water by 1 degrees Celsius. Therefore this effective heat (say 3,000 Kcal/m2 is on an average), is sufficient to bring approx. 100 kg (litre) of water from 20 degrees Celsius to a boil, or light a lamp with a brightness equivalent to 60-100 Watts for 4-5 hours.
The decomposition (fermentation) process for the formation of methane from organic material (biodegradable material) involves a group of organisms belonging to the family- ‘Methane Bacteria’ and is a complex biological and chemical process. For the understanding of common people and field workers, broadly speaking the biogas production involves two major processes consisting of acid formation (liquefaction) and gas formation (gasification). However scientifically speaking these two broad process can further be divide, which gives four stages of anaerobic fermentation inside the digester-they are (i) Hydrolysis, (ii) Acidification, (iii) Hydrogenation and (iv) Methane Formation. At the same time for all practical purposes one can take the methane production cycle as a three stage activity- namely, (i) Hydrolysis, (ii) Acidification and (iii) Methane formation.Two groups of bacteria work on the substrate (feedstock) inside the digester-they are (i) Non-methanogens and (ii) Methanogens. Under normal conditions, the non-methanogenic bacteria (microbes) can grow at a pH range of 5.0-8.5 and a temperature range of 25-42 deg. ;whereas, methanogenic bacteria can ideally grow at a pH range of 6.5-7.5 and a temperature range of 25-35 degrees Celsius. These methanogenic bacteria are known as ‘Mesophillic Bacteria’ and are found to be more flexible and useful incase of simple household digesters, as they can work under a broad range of temperature, as low as 15 degrees Celsius to as high