Electronic 'nose' to make better biogas
Quicknote bioenergy technology
The current biogas boom in India, China and Europe is seeing rapid developments of new technologies to improve the production efficiency of the green gas. A research project carried out jointly by the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering in Bornim (Potsdam, Germany) and the German Federal Agency for Renewable Energies, has resulted in the development of gas sensors capable of determining the concentration of propionic acid in biogas installations.
The electronic sniffers allow for the development of a dynamic regulation for optimal biogas production by intervening during the fermentation process. Together with the company "Airsense Analytics", the Leibniz Institute wants to concentrate a series of such sensors throughout biogas installations in order to stabilize and optimize the anaerobic fermentation of biomass, which tends to be sensitive to many different sub-processes, in particular the concentration of propionic acids.
Increased biogas yields as well as increased operational safety can thus be guaranteed. The research group is now taking the sensors out of the laboratory and into real installations. Europe is currently undergoing a biogas boom, with dedicated energy crops as well as municipal and agro-industrial biomass waste being used as a feedstock.
In another development, the Leibniz Institute is also working on systems in which biogas is used in fuel cells [*pdf]. It thinks this fuel path is very promising given the fact that biogas can be produced much more easily and economically than hydrogen.
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: biogas :: sensors :: efficiency :: fuel cells ::
The current biogas boom in India, China and Europe is seeing rapid developments of new technologies to improve the production efficiency of the green gas. A research project carried out jointly by the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering in Bornim (Potsdam, Germany) and the German Federal Agency for Renewable Energies, has resulted in the development of gas sensors capable of determining the concentration of propionic acid in biogas installations.
The electronic sniffers allow for the development of a dynamic regulation for optimal biogas production by intervening during the fermentation process. Together with the company "Airsense Analytics", the Leibniz Institute wants to concentrate a series of such sensors throughout biogas installations in order to stabilize and optimize the anaerobic fermentation of biomass, which tends to be sensitive to many different sub-processes, in particular the concentration of propionic acids.
Increased biogas yields as well as increased operational safety can thus be guaranteed. The research group is now taking the sensors out of the laboratory and into real installations. Europe is currently undergoing a biogas boom, with dedicated energy crops as well as municipal and agro-industrial biomass waste being used as a feedstock.
In another development, the Leibniz Institute is also working on systems in which biogas is used in fuel cells [*pdf]. It thinks this fuel path is very promising given the fact that biogas can be produced much more easily and economically than hydrogen.
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: biogas :: sensors :: efficiency :: fuel cells ::
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home