Technical & Economic Features of Setting up a Biogas Digester for Stable waste of

Racecourse, Delhi- A Case Study

M.K.Mohanty1

College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology ,

Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003,India

Abstract:

Biomethanation technology has been gaining popularity in last two decades for treatment

of large volume of animal waste due to duel advantages of cost effective reduction in

pollution load along with energy in form of biogas which can used as fuel and good

quality manure. Before planning the biogas system construction, the techno economic

plays a measure role. A case study has been conducted for the construction of biogas

system in the Racecourse club of New Delhi,India. The benefits of the proposed biogas

system are quantified in terms of liquefied petroleum gas for which biogas substitutes in

direct burning or electricity generation by using a generator run by duel fuel engine.

Key words: biogas , stable waste , slurry, digester,

Introduction:

The processing and disposal of large quantities of organic refuse generated by animals

creates economic and environmental problem for which no fully satisfactory solution

exits. The solid waste disposal process has to be developed so as to produce beneficial

products and potential revenues for the organization, while minimizing or eliminating the

hazards associated the waste being disposed. The anaerobic digestion is one such option..

The by-products of anaerobic digestion includes digested solids (useful as a soil

conditioners) and methane as the main constituent of “biogas”, which can be used as fuel

1
Email: [email protected]
for different heating applications, as well as for generating electricity. If methane also is

released to the atmosphere with out burning, it may be 20 times more damaging to the

ozone layer than carbon dioxide (1). If output/products do not generate income or reduce

cash outflow, then the economic viability of a biogas plant decreases. In either case

owner has to minimize cost at a given level of service. Because this is a long-term

investment, the time value of money is important and engineering economics plays a

major role in deciding what kind of facilities are created. It is the situation where

technological achievement has to be translated in to economics: both aspects projected so

that a technologically sound system is also considered economically sound system. A

case study for the construction of a biogas digester and its economic viability is

conducted at Delhi racecourse club using the solid waste from the stable, which is being

presented here in.

2. Objectives:

The following sequence is followed for the study:-

1. Preliminary survey for information on the racecourse solid waste availability

and quantitative assessment.

2. Design of a proposed biogas plant for the organization.

3. Utilization of biogas

4. Techno economic analysis of the above system.

3.1. Primary Survey:

The preliminary exercise for availability of waste in racecourse, Delhi is carried out

by conducting survey in the racecourse in concurrence of the management

committee. The following are the observations:-

• In the Racecourse club, there are around 350 horses being maintained in the stable.

• Their living conditions, health and food are always taken care of by the stable

workers. Observations of the general feeding and living conditions as a part of the

survey were helpful in quantification of the solid waste from the stable.

• Feeding-Most of the horses are given jawar oats, carrots, other vegetables, dry grass,

grams, and jaggery as food.

• Bedding-The cemented floor is covered with straw that serves as the bed for the

horse. This straw bed is changed twice a week. The straw being wet by the horse

urine is sun dried and re-used. After having used twice or thrice the straw along with

the dung is permanently thrown away at the garbage site.

• This large quantity of animal waste is dumped beside the stable. Being a VIP

area no public carriers are allowed here during the day time. So removal of these

materials from the area daily is a problem and dumped materials get decomposed

which pollute the surrounding. The situation is worst during the rainy seasons.

3.2. Quantitative Assessment:

During the survey the following figures are worth mentioning:-

• Average waste obtained per horse per day :10kg (approx.)

• Total waste available per day: 3500 kg

• The waste is heterogeneous in nature.

4. System Design:

The overall process must be considered when setting a biogas plant in the organization in

order to evaluate it from the commercial and technical stand points. The choice of

technical procedures –shown step by step in Figure.1.The system has following features

• As the waste contains straw, all the materials have to be chopped and crushed to

make it homogenous for better digestion.

• For smooth movement of slurry there will be a provision of pumps

• All the digester will be made up of HDPE and insulated with rock wool and

covered with aluminum sheet to maintain the temperature of the slurry during

winter.

• There will be provision of sand filter for separation of solids and liquid, with the

possibilities of separated the liquid recycling. This will reduce the regular water

requirements considerably.

The detail proposed system for treatment of stable waste is in Figure.2.

For calculating the size of the system following steps are taken in to

considerations.

Vs = VD + Vg (1)

VD = (N Wsw + n Ww)* T HRT/ ρ s (2)

Vgh = 0.4 Vg (3)

Vg = η f Wsw N (4)
 Gas Storage
Acquisition of original Substrate Conversion
material Preparation

Gas Utilization

Biochemical Sludge treatment

decomposition of organic
Collection, compounds
Mix, Chop and Separation
Transport,
breakdown Composting
Storage
(Mechanical) Drying solids
Aeration liquids

Figure 1 Different Stages in Production of Biogas from Stable Waste

Water tank

DIGESTERS
HOPPER
GAS OUTLET
FOR USE
MOTOR

CRUSHER

P
U
M
P P P
U U
M M
P P

P
U
M WASTE WATER
P
TANK SOLID
FERTILIZER
GAS

MOVE
SLURRY

OUT URRY

Figure.2 Proposed Biogas System

 Table. 1.

Nomenclature and Numerical Values of Parameters used in calculations for design of

biogas system and economic analysis for the present work:

Legend Parameter Base value

N Total no of animals 350
VD Volume of the digester 226 M3
Vg Volume of gas the per day 105 M3
Vgh Volume of gas holder 63 M3
Vs Total volume of the biogas plant 267M3
Wsw Weight of solid waste per day 3500 kg
Ww Weight of water added per day 7000 kg
ηf Amount of gas evolved from 1 kg of waste per day 0.03 M3
T HRT Hydraulic retention time 20 days
ρ s Density of slurry 0.93 kg/M3
n Ratio of water and solid in weight basis 2:1
Elpg Equivalent of LPG/ 1 M3 of biogas 0.433 kg (Ref.)
Clpg Cost of 1 kg of LPG (Cost 14 kg of LPG Rs.250 app) Rs.17.80
Qbg Heat value of biogas (with 55% of methane) 20.56 MJ/ M3 (Ref.)
ηt Thermal efficiency 40%
ηe Electrical efficiency 70%
Cue Unit cost of electricity Rs.3.00/Kwh
Abc Annual cost of biogas in terms of LPG
Aeg Annual cost of electricity from biogas
nsw Removal efficiency 50%
Cum Unit cost of organic manure (Rs/Kg) Rs.1.00
Adb Total benefit from the system using biogas by direct

burning
Age Total benefit from the system using biogas for electric

generation
Cd Capital cost of digesters and gas holder tanks @ Rs 12.00 per lt
Cp Capital cost of Pumps
Ccg Capital cost of chopper and grinder
Cg Cost of duel fuel generator
Cc Cost of civil works ()
Com1 Operation cost if the gas is used for direct burning
Com2 Operation cost if the gas is used for electric generation
CL Cost of manpower to operating the system
CE Cost of electric energy consumption
T Total life of the system (years) 20,30,40
f Year of replacement machinery parts 10
Utilization of bio-gas:
 From the above calculation there is approximately 105 M3 of bio-gas can be

obtained from the system per day. This can be used for directly either burning for

replacing substantial quantity of LPG for cooking or generating electricity by using a

duel fuel operated generator. The digested effluent from the system proper processing

can be used as organic manure.

Evaluation of biogas and out let slurry:

Benefit accruing from the use of biogas is evaluated in terms of monetary value of energy

source it replaces for a given end-use. The end use for the present case is direct burning

in place of liquefy petroleum gas (LPG) or using the gas for electric generation using

duel fuel. If Vg is the volume of biogas produced per day, the annual incremental benefits

from cooking A bc would there fore be

A bc =365 Vg Clpg Elpg (5)

and annual incremental benefits for electricity generation .

Aeg =365Cue VgQbgη tη e (6)

Similarly the annual incremental benefits from organic manure Aom would

Aom =365CumWsw nsw (7)

Thus the annual monetary benefit using the gas burning directly (i.e. burning in place of

LPG) from the system is sum of the benefits arising from the use of biogas and cost of

digested dried slurry

Adb = Abc + Aom (8)

and for the value of electricity generated from the system :

Age = Aeg + Aom (9)

Capital investment cost for biogas production:

The system shall consists of digesters, slurry pumps, chopper and grinder etc. Total cost

of the system is sum of the cost of above items:

Cc1 = Cd + Cp + Ccg + Cc (for direct burning) (10)

Cc2 = Cd + Cp + Ccg+ Cg +Cc (for generation of electricity) (11)

Operation and maintenance cost:

For operation of the system comprises of the costs of input materials to the system

and labour required for operating the unit. The input materials used will be stable waste

and it is available in zero cost.

It is assumed two manual labors full day and two hours of electric city for operation of

pumps, grinders per day are required for collection of input and preparation of in put in to

slurry and cleaning the system.

It is assumed that the maintenance cost of the system per year is 5 percent of the

cost of civil work and 7.5 percent cost of machine (crusher, pumps etc). Hence the

operating and maintenance cost are denoted as follows:

Com1=0.05Cc+0.075(Cp+Ccg)+CL+CE (End use is direct burning) (12)

Com2=0.05Cc+0.075(Cp+Ccg+Cg)+CL+CE (End use is electric generation ) (13)

Techno economic analysis:

The waste are collected and dumped in a land fill. The cost of disposal is increasing

day by day due to the non-availability of proper landfill sites. . So, before the

construction of the system an economic analysis is done for its technical and

economic viability. Taking into account the various economic indicators like initial

investment, interest rate (discount rate, d),operating cost , benefit from the system the
calculations have been conducted for annual worth(AW),Net Present Value (NPV),

benefit-cost ratio(B/C ratio), internal rate of return (IRR), payback period and

sensitive analysis by varying different components.

Assuming that the annual benefits and annual operating and maintenance costs are

uniform over the life period T with out considering the inflation rate, the replacement

of machinery equipments are in 10 years with out salvage value and cost of the these

replacement have been calculated considering the prices and wages of present year

(installment year) and have been distributed over the entire life time of the system

using the capital recovery factor.

The net present value can be expressed as

NPV(Direct burning)= -Cc1- {(Cp + Ccg)/(1+d)f}-{(Cp + Ccg)/(1+d)2f}- ……….-{(Cp +

Ccg)/(1+d)(T-f)}+(Adb-Com1)*[{(1+d)T-1}/{d(1+d)T}] (14)

NPV(Electricity generation)= -Cc2- {(Cp + Ccg+ Cg)/(1+d)f}-{(Cp + Ccg+ Cg)/(1+d)2f}-

………………………………………………..-{(Cp + Ccg+ Cg)/(1+d)(T-f)}+

( Aeg - Com2)* [{(1+d)T-1}/{d(1+d)T}] (15)

The net present value for different interest rates (varies from 10 percent to 30 percent)

is calculated for life periods of the system of 30, 40 and 50 years (Figure3 &Figure

4). It has been seen that the internal rate of return for all he life periods are in between

24 to 26 percent of interest for the gas used in electric generation and the IRR is in

between 36 to 38 percent for the gas used for direct burning.

The benefit and cost pay back periods of the system are another important

parameters of analyzing and making a decision on investments. The following

equation is used for calculation of benefit to cost ratio(B/C) of the system.

 T
B/C (direct burning) = { ∑ (Adb - Com1)/ (1+d) T}/ [Cc1 +{(Cp + Ccg)/(1+d)f}+
0

{(Cp+Ccg)/(1+d)2f}+……….+{(Cp+Ccg)/(1+d)(T-f)}] (16)

T
B/C (Electricity generation ) = { ∑ (Age-Com2) / (1+d) T}/ [Cc2 +{(Cp + Ccg+ Cg)/
0

(1+d)f}+{(Cp+Ccg+Cg)/(1+d)2f}+……….+{(Cp+Ccg+Cg)/(1+d)(T-f)} (17)

Similarly the equations for pay back period (TPB) of the proposed system for end uses

are as follows :

TPB (direct burning)= ln(Adb –Com1) - ln {(Adb – Com1)-d*Cc1} / ln(1+d) (18)

TPB (electricity generation)= ln(Aeg –Com2) - ln {(Aeg – Com2)-d*Cc2} / ln(1+d) (19)

For the biogas system proposed the benefit cost ratio has been calculated and

plotted for different interest rates and varies from 10 percent to 25 percent for

different life periods of (5, 10, 20,30,40,50 years) for electric generation

(Figure.5) .The pay back periods for different interest rates are shown in the Figure.6

for both the cases. The B/C ratios are more than one for all interest rates for life

periods of the system more than 10 years for biogas used for generation of electricity

generation and more than 5 years in case of end use for direct burning i.e. the system

is profitable from the 10 th year for the 1st case and from the 5th year for the 2nd case.

Conclusion:

The incremental benefit from the biogas system developed in race course club is a

viable option for end uses. Summarizing, the utilization of biogas for electrical power

has advantages in view of total utilization of biogas, but economic competition is less

than direct burning for heat energy requirements.

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