What is Biogas?
When organic matters like; Agriculture, Animal, and Municipal & Industrial biodegradable waste decompose in an oxygen free environment it produces a gas which is due to biodegradation process is commonly known as Biogas. This biogas mixture is mainly composed of CH4 methane 55% – 65%. This methane is a gaseous bio-fuel which can be used for generating heat and electrical energy.
In addition to Methane Biogas mixture also contains around 30% – 35% and carbon dioxide with traces of hydrogen sulfide and water vapor. As biogas is produced by decomposition of organic wastes so it can easily reproduced by utilizing organic wastes again and again thus not just getting rid of the huge quantities of wastes but also getting low cost renewable and climate friendly bio-fuel.
When people came to know about biogas?
Scientific documented known history dates back to late 18th century when a chemist Jan Baptise van Helmont first discovered that flammable gas produced by composition of organic matters. Sir Humphry Davey a Chemist & inventor (Born 1778 in Cornwall, England) best known for inventing “Davy Lamp”.
Sir Humphry also carried out many experiments on gases and discovering Nitrous Oxide is also being credited to him among many other discoveries. In his experiments with gases he also discovered composition of flammable gases. In his same era another very famous scientist Jon Dalton (Born 1766 in Cumberland, England) mainly researched on Atomic Theory also experimented with what was at that time known as “Marsh Gas” in comparison with “Olefiant Gas” (Ethane Gas).
In 1881 European scientist started using biogas for domestic heating and street lighting. Soon after in 1895 all street lamps of Exeter City were using biogas for lighting produced from sewage waste of the city. In 1898 biogas arrived in Indo-Pak sub-continent and Bombay now Mumbai installed its first biogas plant to fuel engines.
China and India are being most populous in biogas plants started developing “Domestic Biogas Plants” in 1960s. Soon after when fuel crisis rose in 70s people stated looking for alternative sources of fuels. Research on biogas accelerated in different regions of the world and countries like, UK, Germany, America started investing in large scale biogas plants.
“Biogas is a gaseous Bio-fuel made up of a mixture of CH4methane (55%-60%) and carbon dioxide (30%) with traces of hydrogen sulfide and water vapor. The gas can be obtained by decomposing any kind of Agriculture, Animal, and Municipal & Industrial biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen.”
Leave a Comment