The theoretical basis for the production of methane gas from biomass by anaerobic digestion was presented.

The role of bacteria in the step-by-step transformation of organic substances was explained, with a description of the necessary conditions for the most intensive production of biogas. This article will provide practical implementations of biogas plants, with a description of some home-made designs.

Since energy prices are rising, and many owners of livestock farms and small farms have problems with waste disposal, industrial complexes for the production of biogas and small biogas plants for private homes have become available for sale. Using search engines, an Internet user can easily find an affordable ready-made solution so that the biogas plant and its price meet the needs, get in touch with equipment suppliers and agree on the construction of a biogas generator at home or on the farm.

Industrial complex for biogas production

Bioreactor - the basis of a biogas plant

The container in which anaerobic decomposition of biomass occurs is called bioreactor, fermenter, or methane tank. Bioreactors can be completely sealed, with a fixed or floating dome, and have a diving bell design. Bell psychrophilic (not requiring heating) bioreactors have the form of an open reservoir with liquid biomass, into which a container in the form of a cylinder or bell is immersed, where biogas is collected.

The collected biogas puts pressure on the cylinder, causing it to rise above the tank. Thus, the bell also serves as a gas holder - a temporary storage facility for the generated gas.

Floating dome bioreactor

The disadvantage of the bell design of the biogas reactor is the impossibility of mixing the substrate and heating it during cold periods of the year. Also a negative factor is a strong odor, and unsanitary conditions due to the exposed surface of part of the substrate.

In addition, part of the resulting gas will escape into the atmosphere, polluting the environment. Therefore, these bioreactors are used only in artisanal biogas plants in poor countries with hot climates.

Another example of a floating dome bioreactor

To prevent environmental pollution and eliminate unpleasant odors, reactors in biogas plants for homes and large industries are designed with a fixed dome. The shape of the structure in the process of gas formation is not of great importance, but when using a cylinder with a dome-shaped roof, significant savings in building materials are achieved. Bioreactors with a fixed dome are equipped with pipes for adding new portions of biomass and selecting spent substrate.

A type of fixed dome bioreactor

Main types of biogas plants

Since the most acceptable design is a fixed dome, most ready-made bioreactor solutions are of this type. Depending on the loading method, bioreactors have different designs and are divided into:

• Portion-based, with a one-time loading of all biomass, and subsequent complete unloading after processing of the raw materials. The main disadvantage of this type of bioreactor is the uneven release of gas during substrate processing;
• continuous loading and unloading of raw materials, thereby achieving uniform release of biogas. Thanks to the design of the bioreactor, during loading and unloading, biogas production does not stop and no leaks occur, since the pipes through which biomass is added and removed are made in the form of a water seal that prevents gas leakage.

Example of a batch bioreactor

Batch biogas reactors can have any design that prevents gas leakage. For example, at one time in Australia, channel methane tanks with an elastic inflatable roof were popular, where a slight excess pressure inside the bioreactor inflated a bubble made of durable polypropylene. When a certain pressure level inside the bioreactor was reached, a compressor was turned on, pumping out the produced biogas.

Channel bioreactors with elastic gas holder

The type of fermentation in this biogas plant can be mesophilic (low heating). Due to the large area of ​​the inflating dome, channel bioreactors can only be installed in heated rooms or in regions with a hot climate. The advantage of the design is that there is no need for an intermediate receiver, but the big disadvantage is the vulnerability of the elastic dome to mechanical damage.

Large channel bioreactor with elastic gas tank

Recently, batch bioreactors with dry fermentation of manure without adding water to the substrate have been gaining popularity. Since manure has its own moisture, it will be sufficient for the life of organisms, although the intensity of reactions will decrease.

Dry-type bioreactors look like a sealed garage with tightly closing doors. Biomass is loaded into the reactor using a front-end loader and remains in this state until the full gas formation cycle is completed (about six months), without the need to add a substrate or mix it.

Batch bioreactor with loading through a hermetically sealed door

DIY biogas plant

It should be noted that in most bioreactors, as a rule, only the gas formation zone is sealed, and the liquid biomass at the inlet and outlet is under atmospheric pressure. Excessive pressure inside the bioreactor displaces part of the liquid substrate into the nozzles, which is why the level of biomass in them is slightly higher than inside the container.

The red lines in the diagram indicate the difference in levels in the bioreactor and pipes

These designs of homemade bioreactors are popular among folk craftsmen who independently make biogas plants with their own hands for the home, allowing for repeated manual loading and unloading of the substrate. When making bioreactors with their own hands, many craftsmen experiment with completely sealed containers, using several rubber tubes from the tires of large vehicles as a gas holder.

Drawing of a gas holder made from tractor inner tubes

In the video below, an enthusiast of homemade biogas production, using barrels filled with bird droppings as an example, proves the possibility of actually producing combustible gas at home by processing poultry house waste into useful fertilizer. The only thing that can be added to the design described in this video is that you need to install a pressure gauge and a safety valve on a homemade bioreactor.

Bioreactor productivity calculations

The amount of biogas is determined by the mass and quality of the raw materials used. On the Internet you can find tables that indicate the amount of waste produced by various animals, but for owners who have to remove manure every day, this theory is of no use, since thanks to their own practice they know the amount and mass of the future substrate. Based on the availability of raw materials renewable every day, it is possible to calculate the required volume of the bioreactor and the daily biogas production.

Table for obtaining the amount of manure from some animals with an approximate calculation of biogas yield

After the calculations have been made and the design of the bioreactor has been approved, its construction can begin. The material can be a reinforced concrete container poured into the ground, or brickwork sealed with a special coating that is used to treat swimming pools.

It is also possible to build the main tank of a home biogas plant from iron coated with anti-corrosion material. Small industrial bioreactors are often made from large-volume, chemical-resistant plastic tanks.

Construction of a bioreactor from brickwork

In industrial biogas plants, electronic control systems and various reagents are used to correct the chemical composition of the substrate and its acidity level, and special substances are added to the biomass - enzymes and vitamins that stimulate the reproduction and vital activity of microorganisms inside the bioreactor. In the process of development of microbiology, more and more stable and effective strains of methanogen bacteria are being created, which can be purchased from companies involved in the production of biogas.

The graph shows that with the use of enzymes, the maximum biogas yield occurs twice as fast

The need for pumping out and purifying biogas

Constant gas production in a bioreactor of any design leads to the need to pump out biogas. Some primitive biogas plants can burn the resulting gas directly in a burner installed nearby, but instability of the excess pressure in the bioreactor can lead to the disappearance of the flame with subsequent release poisonous gas. The use of such a primitive biogas installation connected to a stove is categorically unacceptable due to the possibility of poisoning by the toxic components of unpurified biogas.

The burner flame when burning biogas must be clean, even and stable.

Therefore, almost any biogas installation scheme includes gas storage tanks and a gas purification system. As a homemade cleaning complex, you can use a water filter and a homemade container filled with metal shavings, or purchase professional filtration systems. A container for temporary storage of biogas can be made from inner tubes from tires, from which the gas is pumped out from time to time by a compressor into standard propane cylinders for storage and subsequent use.

In some African countries, inflatable gas holders in the form of a pillow are used for storing and transporting biogas

An improved bioreactor with a floating dome can be considered as an alternative to the mandatory use of a gas tank. The improvement consists of adding a concentric partition, which forms a water pocket, acting like a water seal and preventing the biomass from coming into contact with air. The pressure inside the floating dome will depend on its weight. By passing the gas through a cleaning system and a reducer, it can be used in a household stove, periodically venting it from the bioreactor.

Bioreactor with floating dome and water pocket

Grinding and mixing the substrate in a bioreactor

Stirring the biomass is an important part of the biogas production process, providing bacteria with access to nutrients that may be clumped at the bottom of the digester. In order for biomass particles to be better mixed in the bioreactor, they must be crushed mechanically or manually before loading into the methane tank. Currently, in industrial and home-made biogas plants, three methods of mixing the substrate are used:

1. mechanical stirrers, driven by an electric motor or manually;
2. circulation mixing using a pump or propeller pumping the substrate inside the bioreactor;
3. bubbling mixing using purging of liquid biomass with existing biogas. The disadvantage of this method is the formation of foam on the surface of the substrate.

The arrow indicates the mixing circulation screw in a homemade bioreactor

Mechanical mixing of the substrate inside the bioreactor can be done manually or automatically by turning on the electric motor using an electronic timer. Water jet or bubbling mixing of biomass can only be carried out using electric motors controlled manually or using a software algorithm.

This bioreactor is equipped with a mechanical mixing device.

Substrate heating in mesophilic and thermophilic biogas plants

The optimum temperature for gas formation is the substrate temperature within 35-50ºC. To maintain this temperature, various heating systems– water, steam, electric. Temperature control should be carried out using a thermostat or thermocouples connected to an actuator that regulates the heating of the bioreactor.

You also need to remember that an open flame will overheat the walls of the bioreactor, and the biomass inside will burn. A burnt substrate will reduce heat transfer and heating quality, and the hot wall of the bioreactor will quickly collapse. One of the best options is water heating from the return pipe of the home heating system. It is necessary to install a system of electric valves to be able to turn off the heating of the bioreactor or connect the heating of the substrate directly from the boiler if it is too cold.

Electric and water heating system for the bioreactor

Heating the substrate in a bioreactor using heating elements will be beneficial only if alternative electricity is available, obtained from a wind generator or solar panels. In this case, heating elements can be connected directly to a generator or battery, which eliminates expensive voltage converters from the circuit. To reduce heat loss and reduce the cost of heating the substrate in a bioreactor, it is necessary to insulate it as much as possible using various insulation materials.

Insulation of the bioreactor with thermal insulation material

Practical experiments inevitable when building biogas plants with your own hands

No matter how much literature a novice enthusiast of self-production of biogas reads, and no matter how many videos he watches, in practice he will have to learn a lot on his own, and the results, as a rule, will be far from the calculated ones.

Therefore, many beginning craftsmen follow the path of independent experiments in producing biogas, starting with small containers, determining how much gas their small experimental biogas plant produces from the available raw materials. Prices for components, methane output and future costs of building a full-fledged working biogas plant will determine its profitability and feasibility.

In the video above, the master demonstrates the capabilities of his biogas installation, measuring how much biogas is produced in one day. In his case, when eight atmospheres are pumped into the compressor receiver, the volume of the resulting gas after recalculation taking into account the volume of the 24 liter container will be about 0.2 m².

This volume of biogas obtained from a two-hundred-liter barrel is not significant, but, as shown in the following video of this master, this amount of gas is enough for an hour of burning one stove burner (15 minutes multiplied by four atmospheres of a cylinder, which is twice the size of the receiver).

In another video below, the master talks about producing biogas and biologically pure fertilizers by processing organic waste in a biogas plant. It must be borne in mind that the value of environmental fertilizers may exceed the cost of the resulting gas, and then biogas will become a useful by-product of the process of producing quality fertilizers. Another useful property of organic raw materials is the ability to store them for a certain period for use at the right time.

Farmers annually face the problem of manure disposal. The considerable funds required to organize its removal and burial are wasted. But there is a way that allows you not only to save your money, but also to make this natural product serve you for your benefit.

Thrifty owners have long been putting into practice eco-technology that makes it possible to obtain biogas from manure and use the result as fuel.

Therefore, in our material we will talk about the technology for producing biogas, and we will also talk about how to build a bioenergy plant.

Determining the required volume

The volume of the reactor is determined based on the daily amount of manure produced on the farm. It is also necessary to take into account the type of raw material, temperature and fermentation time. For the installation to fully operate, the container is filled to 85-90% of the volume, at least 10% must remain free for gas to escape.

The process of decomposition of organic matter in a mesophilic installation at an average temperature of 35 degrees lasts from 12 days, after which the fermented residues are removed and the reactor is filled with a new portion of the substrate. Since waste is diluted with water up to 90% before being sent to the reactor, the amount of liquid must also be taken into account when determining the daily load.

Based on the given indicators, the volume of the reactor will be equal to the daily amount of prepared substrate (manure with water) multiplied by 12 (the time required for biomass decomposition) and increased by 10% (free volume of the container).

Construction of an underground structure

Now let's talk about the simplest installation that allows you to get it at the lowest cost. Consider building an underground system. To make it, you need to dig a hole, its base and walls are filled with reinforced expanded clay concrete.

Inlet and outlet openings are located on opposite sides of the chamber, where inclined pipes are mounted for supplying the substrate and pumping out the waste mass.

The outlet pipe with a diameter of approximately 7 cm should be located almost at the very bottom of the bunker, its other end is mounted in a rectangular compensating tank into which waste will be pumped. The pipeline for supplying the substrate is located approximately 50 cm from the bottom and has a diameter of 25-35 cm. The upper part of the pipe enters the compartment for receiving raw materials.

The reactor must be completely sealed. To exclude the possibility of air ingress, the container must be covered with a layer of bitumen waterproofing

The upper part of the bunker is a gas holder, which has a dome or cone shape. It is made of metal sheets or roofing iron. You can also complete the structure with brickwork, which is then covered with steel mesh and plastered. You need to make a sealed hatch on top of the gas tank, remove the gas pipe passing through the water seal and install a valve to relieve gas pressure.

To mix the substrate, you can equip the installation with a drainage system operating on the principle of bubbling. To do this, vertically fix plastic pipes inside the structure so that their upper edge is above the substrate layer. Make lots of holes in them. Gas under pressure will fall down, and rising up, gas bubbles will mix the biomass in the container.

If you do not want to build a concrete bunker, you can buy a ready-made PVC container. To preserve heat, it must be surrounded by a layer of thermal insulation - polystyrene foam. The bottom of the pit is filled with a 10 cm layer of reinforced concrete. Tanks made of polyvinyl chloride can be used if the reactor volume does not exceed 3 m3.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

You will learn how to make the simplest installation from an ordinary barrel if you watch the video:

The simplest reactor can be made in a few days with your own hands, using available materials. If the farm is large, then it is best to buy a ready-made installation or contact specialists.

Every year on our planet energy resources become less and less. It is because of this that we have to constantly look for new, alternative sources of energy. Definitely, after some time our planet will run out of oil and gas deposits, and then the world will have to seriously think about the extraction (collection) and use of biogases as the main source of energy.

What is biogas? Principles of biogas production

As already mentioned, biogas is an alternative source of energy. It is released during the fermentation of various household wastes, as well as waste excreted by animals (manure).

This method has been used since ancient times in China, but later, centuries later, it was unclaimed and as a result was forgotten.

Do-it-yourself biogas production at home

Step 1: Selecting a Barrel

First we need to choose a suitable barrel in which we will store the “energy source”, that is, as you understand, food waste and manure.

Step 2: Making the holes

We make holes at the inlet and outlet of the barrel. It can be done using a drill, but in this case, the hole is made using a heated metal pipe.

Step 3: Installation of pipes

We install pipes at the inlet and outlet into the holes we made earlier. We insert and glue the pipes.

Step 4: Creating and installing a “gas tank” holder

We took a 20-liter paint bucket; this tank will contain the gas we extract. The tank is secured with a valve that plumbers use.

Step 5: Add Cow Manure

Mix cow dung (5 kg per 50 liters) and add water. Place it in the tank.

Step 6: Almost done

You will not receive gas for the first 10-15 days, as this time is necessary for all the necessary processes to go through.

Step 7: Get Rid of Carbon Dioxide

In order for this gas to burn, it is necessary to get rid of carbon dioxide. This can be achieved by using a regular filter, of which there are many in various hardware stores.

Step 8: Done!

You will notice how the “fuel tank” will rise as chemical reactions occur. Then it is necessary to open the valve and obtain biogas.

Biogas can be used for different purposes. It is not recommended to use biogas for cooking, as it can negatively affect the taste (if the flavors are not removed).

Video Lesson: Biogas production at home

You can get a cheap source of energy yourself, at home - you just need to assemble a biogas plant. If you understand the principle of its operation and structure, then this is not difficult to do. The mixture it produces contains a large amount of methane (depending on the loaded raw material - up to 70%), so it has a wide range of applications.

Refilling car cylinders running on gas as fuel for heating boilers is not a complete list of all possible options for using the finished product. Our story is about how to install a biogas plant with your own hands.

There are several designs of the unit. When choosing a particular engineering solution, you need to understand how suitable this installation is to local conditions. This is the main criterion for assessing the feasibility of installation. Plus, you have your own capabilities, that is, what type of raw materials and in what volume you can use, what you can do with your own hands.

Biogas is produced by the decomposition of organic matter, but its “yield” (in volumetric terms), and therefore the efficiency of the plant, depends on what exactly is loaded into it. The table provides relevant information (indicative data), which will help determine the choice of a specific engineering solution. Some explanatory graphics would also be useful.

Design options

With manual loading of raw materials, without heating and stirring

For domestic use, this model is considered the most convenient. With a reactor capacity of 1 to 10 m³, approximately 50–220 kg of manure will be needed daily. This is what you need to proceed from when deciding on the size of the container.

The installation is installed in the ground, so it will require a small pit. A location on the site is selected in accordance with its calculated dimensions. The composition and purpose of all elements of the circuit is not difficult to understand.

Installation feature

After installing the reactor on site, it is necessary to check its tightness. Then the metal must be painted (preferably with a frost-resistant composition) and insulated.

• Removal of waste occurs naturally - either during the process of adding a new portion, or when there is an excess of gas in the reactor with the valve closed. Therefore, the capacity of the waste collection container should be no less than that of the working one.
• Despite the simplicity of the device and the attractiveness for do-it-yourself assembly, due to the fact that mixing and heating of the mass are not provided, this installation option is advisable to operate in regions with a mild climate, that is, mainly in the south of Russia. Although, with high-quality thermal insulation, in conditions where underground water layers are deep, this design is quite suitable for the middle zone.

Without heating, but with stirring

Almost the same thing, only a small modification that significantly increases the performance of the installation.

How to make a mechanism? For someone who assembled it with their own hands, for example, this is not a problem. A shaft with blades will have to be mounted in the reactor. Therefore, it is necessary to install support bearings. It is good to use a chain as a transmission link between the shaft and the lever.

The biogas plant can be operated in almost all regions, with the exception of the northern regions. But unlike the previous model, it requires supervision.

Stirring + heating

The thermal effect on biomass increases the intensity of the decomposition and fermentation processes occurring in it. The biogas unit is more versatile in use, as it can operate in two modes - mesophilic and thermophilic, that is, in the temperature range (approximately) 25 - 65 ºС (see graphs above).

In the above diagram, the boiler runs on the resulting gas, although this is not the only option. Heating of biomass can be done in different ways, depending on how it is more convenient for the owner to organize it.

Automated options

The difference between this scheme is that it is connected to the installation. This allows you to accumulate gas reserves rather than using it immediately for its intended purpose. Ease of use is also due to the fact that almost any temperature regime is suitable for intensive fermentation.

This installation is even more productive. It is capable of processing up to 1.3 tons of raw materials per day with a similar reactor volume. Loading, mixing - pneumatics are responsible for this. The outlet channel allows waste to be removed either into a bunker for short-term storage, or into mobile containers for immediate removal. For example, for fertilizing fields.

These biogas plant options are hardly suitable for domestic use. Installing them, especially with your own hands, is much more difficult. But for a small farm it is a good solution.

Mechanized biogas plant

The difference from previous models is in the additional tank in which preliminary preparation of the raw material mass occurs.

Compressed biogas is fed into the loading hopper and then into the reactor. It is also used for heating.

The only thing that is necessary when assembling any of the installations with your own hands is accurate engineering calculations. You may need to consult a specialist. Otherwise everything is quite simple. If at least one of the readers becomes interested in a biogas unit and installs it themselves, then the author did not work on this article in vain. Good luck!

Owners of private houses located in regions with limited access to traditional fuels should definitely turn their attention to modern biogas plants. Such units make it possible to obtain biogas from a variety of organic waste and use it for personal needs, including heating residential premises.

Gas can be obtained from almost any biomass - waste from the livestock industry, food production, agriculture, foliage, etc. At the same time, you can build such an installation with your own hands.

Both homogeneous raw materials and mixtures of various biomass are suitable for producing biogas. A biogas plant is a volumetric sealed structure equipped with devices for supplying raw materials, heating biomass, mixing components, discharging the resulting biogas into a gas collector and, of course, protecting the structure.

In the reactor, under the influence of anaerobic bacteria, rapid decomposition of biomass occurs. During the fermentation of organic raw materials, biogas is released. Approximately 70% of the composition of such gas is represented by methane, the remaining part is carbon dioxide.

Biogas is characterized by excellent calorific value; it has no distinct odor or color. In terms of its properties, biogas is practically in no way inferior to more traditional natural gas.

In developed countries, additional installations are used to purify biogas from carbon dioxide. If you wish, you can buy the same installation and obtain pure biomethane.

Biogas plants on silos. 1 Silo pits. 2 Biomass loading system. 3 Reactor. 4 Post-fermentation reactor. 5 Substrater. 6 Heating system. 7 Power plant. 8 Automation and control system. 9 Gas pipeline system

Comparison of biogas with more traditional fuels

On average, one cow or other animal weighing half a ton is capable of producing enough manure per day to produce approximately 1.5 m3 of biogas. Daily manure from one average pig can be processed into 0.2 m3 of biogas, and a rabbit or chicken into 0.01-0.02 m3 of fuel.

For comparison: 1 m3 of biogas from manure provides approximately the same amount of thermal energy as 3.5 kg of firewood, 1-2 kg of coal, 9-10 kW/h of electricity.

The simplest recipe for a mixture for producing biogas includes the following components:

• cow manure - about 1500 kg;
• rotted leaves or other organic waste – 3500 kg;
• water – 65-75% of the total mass of the previous components. The water must first be heated to about 35 degrees.

This amount of biomass will be enough to produce biogas for six months of operation with moderate consumption. On average, biogas begins to be released within 1.5-2 weeks after the mixture is loaded into the installation.

Gas can be used to heat a home and a variety of commercial and domestic buildings.

Design of a typical biogas plant

The main components of a complete biogas system are:

• reactor;
• humus supply system;
• stirrers;
• automated biomass heating system;
• gas holder;
• separator;
• protective part.

A household installation will have a somewhat simplified design, however, for a complete understanding, you are invited to read the description of all the listed elements.

Reactor

This part of the installation is usually assembled from stainless steel or concrete. Externally, the reactor looks like a large sealed container, on top of which is a dome, usually spherical in shape.

Currently, the most popular are reactors with a collapsible design, made using innovative technologies. Such a reactor can be easily assembled with your own hands with minimal time investment. If necessary, it can be easily disassembled and transported to another location.

Steel is convenient because you can easily create holes in it to connect other elements of the system. Concrete is superior to steel in terms of strength and durability.

Biomass feeding system

This part of the installation includes a hopper for receiving waste, a supply pipeline for water supply and a screw pump designed to send humus to the reactor.

A front loader is used to load the dry component into the hopper. At home, you can cope with this task without a loader, using various improvised means, for example, shovels.

In the hopper the mixture is moistened to a semi-liquid state. After reaching the desired level of moisture, the screw transfers the semi-liquid mass to the lower compartment of the reactor.

Stirrers

Fermentation of humus in the reactor should occur evenly. This is one of the most important conditions for ensuring intensive release of biogas from the mixture. It is to achieve the most uniform fermentation process of the mixture that the design of a typical biogas plant includes mixers with electric drives.

There are submersible and inclined type mixers. Submersible mechanisms can be lowered into the biomass to the required depth to ensure intensive and uniform mixing of the substrate. Usually such mixers are placed on a mast.

Installation of inclined mixers is carried out on the side surfaces of the reactor. An electric motor is responsible for rotating the screw in the fermenter.

Automated heating system

To successfully produce biogas, the temperature inside the system must be maintained at +35-+40 degrees. For this purpose, automated heating systems are included in the design.

The heat source in this case is a hot water boiler; in some situations, electric heating units are used.

Biogas is collected in this structural element. Most often, the gas holder is placed on the roof of the reactor.

The production of modern gas tanks is usually carried out using polyvinyl chloride, a material that is resistant to sunlight and various adverse natural phenomena.

In some situations, instead of a regular gas tank, special bags are used. Also, these devices allow you to temporarily increase the volume of the produced biogas.

To make a gas holder bag, a special polyvinyl chloride with elastic properties is used, which can inflate as the volume of biogas increases.

This part of the system is responsible for drying waste humus and obtaining, if necessary, high-quality fertilizers.

The simplest separator consists of a screw and a separator chamber. The chamber is made in the form of a sieve. This allows the biomass to be separated into a solid component and a liquid part.

The dried humus is sent to the shipping compartment. The system directs the liquid part back to the receiving chamber. Here the liquid is used to moisten the new feedstock.

The simplest DIY biogas plant

A household biogas installation will have a somewhat simplified design, but its manufacture should be approached with maximum responsibility.

First step. Dig a hole. At its core, a biogas plant is a large pit with a special finish. The most important and at the same time difficult part of manufacturing the system in question is the correct preparation of the walls of the bioreactor and its base.

The pit must be sealed. Strengthen the base and walls with plastic or concrete. Instead, you can purchase ready-made polymer rings with a solid bottom. Such devices make it possible to ensure the necessary tightness of the system. The material will retain its original characteristics for many years, and if necessary, you can easily replace the old ring with a new one.

Second step. Install a gas drainage system. This will save you from the need to purchase and install agitators, due to which the time and money spent on assembling the installation will be significantly reduced.

The simplest version of a gas drainage system is vertically fixed sewer pipes made of polyvinyl chloride with many holes throughout the body.

Select pipes of such length that their upper edges rise slightly above the upper level of the loaded humus.

Third step. Cover the outer layer of the substrate with film insulation. Thanks to the film, conditions will be created for the accumulation of biogas under the dome under conditions of slight excess pressure.

Fourth step. Install the dome and mount the gas exhaust pipe at its highest point.

Gas consumption should be regular. Otherwise, the dome over the biomass container may simply explode. In summer, gas is formed more intensively than in winter. To solve the latter problem, purchase and install suitable heaters.

Procedure and conditions for successful use of a biogas plant

Thus, it is not difficult to assemble a simple biogas plant yourself. However, for its successful operation, you must remember and follow a few simple rules.

One of the most important requirements is that the loaded organic mass should not contain any substances that can have a negative impact on the life of anaerobic microorganisms. Prohibited inclusions include various types of solvents, antibacterial drugs and other similar substances.

A number of inorganic substances can also lead to a deterioration in the functioning of bacteria. In view of this, it is prohibited, for example, to dilute humus with water remaining after washing clothes or washing a car.

Remember: a biogas installation is a potentially explosive unit, so follow all safety regulations relevant for the operation of any gas equipment.

Thus, even manure and, in principle, almost everything that you previously tried your best to get rid of, can be useful on the farm. You just need to properly build a home biogas installation, and very soon your home will be warm. Follow the recommendations received, and you will no longer have to spend enormous sums on heating.

Good luck!