Alternative Fuels
Biogas
Gas can be made in other ways from other materials, notably sewage and waste. Gases are given off when anything organic dies and decomposes. One of these gases is methane, which is flammable and can be used as a fuel. The things at work in decomposition are bacteria. To work properly these bacteria must be in a warm and airless environment.Biogas digesters are designed to create these conditions. A digester is made up of a tank into which sewage or sorted garbage is pumped. It may be necessary to heat this mixture to the correct temperature, or to put the bacteria that produce the gas into the tank. The bacteria then digest the organic matter, giving off methane in the process. The methane is then carried through pipes to a gasholder. This may be another tank, or a giant plastic balloon. This gas can be used as it is, or it can be used to drive generators that produce electricity. A further advantage of producing biogas in this way is that the solid waste left in the digester makes an excellent fertilizer for food crops.
Biogas digesters are already an important source of energy in a number of countries. This form of bioenergy is particularly useful to small farming communities. This is because they have large amounts of animal dung and other organic wastes available.
In the city of Linkoping in Sweden, the whole town runs on methane-rich clean fuel created by animal waste. Most of the town's buses, taxis, even the train run on biogas to service the population of 100,000. Currently 25% of energy use in Sweden is from biomass. By 2050, Sweden plans to become a fossil-fuel free country.
Leave a Comment
{ Last Page } { Page 15 of 25 } { Next Page }Biogas
4:17 PM, 19/9/2006 .. Posted by AngelaJamesso is biogas more dangerous than what we use now?
And how efficently can we produce it?
Navigation
HomeArchives
Links
Green Vehicle GuideAustralian BioFuel Users
Fuel Cell Institute
GreenHouse.gov.au
Directory of Energy in Australia
RSS feed for Alternative Fuels
Categories
ArticlesBio Fuels
Diesel Vehicles
Hybrid Vehicles
LPG
Peak Oil
Recent Entries
Faux Green: Handouts for Toyota Little for Australian RenewableThe Looming Energy Crisis
Wave Energy - Australia could do that
Volkswagen: From Supercar to Superfrugal
Chevrolet Volt gets closer to production
Wild Grass Biofuel - Cars can eat grass too!
Should Australia go Nuclear
Solar Power - Solar Systems for Australia
Global Warming is it Just a Big Con?
Five Ways To Save The World
A Car that Runs on Air
GM Hy-wire - Fuel Cell Technology at work
The Fossil Fuel Generation
Biofuels - ethanol
Biogas