A spreadsheet calculator for estimating biogas production and economic measures for UK-based farm-fed anaerobic digesters. (November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wu, Anthony; Lovett, David; McEwan, Matthew; Cecelja, Franjo; Chen, Tao
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 220(2016)
• Page Start: 479
• Page End: 489
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion -- Biogas production estimation -- Economic calculator -- Mathematical modelling; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.08.103
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Highlights: A spreadsheet calculator for UK-based farm-fed AD units is proposed. It is developed to support operators in the day-to-day and long-term unit operation. The model accounts for temperature, retention time, dead time and mixing effects. This calculator is applied in a case study for a 500 kWe farm-fed AD unit. Abstract: This paper presents a spreadsheet calculator to estimate biogas production and the operational revenue and costs for UK-based farm-fed anaerobic digesters. There exist sophisticated biogas production models in published literature, but the application of these in farm-fed anaerobic digesters is often impractical. This is due to the limited measuring devices, financial constraints, and the operators being non-experts in anaerobic digestion. The proposed biogas production model is designed to use the measured process variables typically available at farm-fed digesters, accounting for the effects of retention time, temperature and imperfect mixing. The estimation of the operational revenue and costs allow the owners to assess the most profitable approach to run the process. This would support the sustained use of the technology. The calculator is first compared with literature reported data, and then applied to the digester unit on a UK Farm to demonstrate its use in a practical setting.