Name: Control of Pollution Due to Burning of Fossil Fuels
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 6 min 34 s
Description: When fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides. Let's see the different methods used to control the pollution generated by the exhaustion of foss...

Question

Explain the principle and working of a biogas plant using a labelled diagram.

Accepted Answer

Principle of the Biogas production:

Biogas is produced through the "anaerobic fermentation" process in the "presence of water".

Working of the Biogas production:

A biogas plant is a set-up where biogas is produced from cattle dung, plant and crop residues, sewage, etc. The figure shows a typical biogas plant. The plant has a mixing tank where the biomass (cattle dung, sewage, etc.) is mixed with water to form a slurry. The slurry from the mixing tank is then fed into a sealed chamber called the digester in which there is no oxygen. The digester is the place where anaerobic decomposition of the biomass slurry occurs by anaerobic micro-organisms that do not require oxygen for decomposing the complex compounds of the biomass. It is made of bricks and has a dome-shaped roof. This dome acts as the gas tank. When the biomass decomposes, it expands and produces a gas called biogas which starts collecting in the gas tank. Since the digester along with the gas tank is a sealed chamber, the biogas produced presses on the spent slurry below pushing it out into the outflow tank. This spent slurry is then used as manure. The gas tank has a gas outlet through which biogas is removed at regular intervals to prevent excessive pressure building up in the digester. The biogas that comes out of the outlet is then drawn through pipes for use.

Explain the principle and working of a biogas plant using a labelled diagram.

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