biogas, naturally occurring gas that is generated by the breakdown of organic matter by anaerobic bacteria and is used in energy production. Biogas differs from natural gas in that it is a renewable energy source produced biologically through anaerobic digestion rather than a fossil fuel produced by geological processes. Biogas is primarily composed of methane gas, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide. It occurs naturally in compost heaps, as swamp gas, and as a result of enteric fermentation in cattle and other ruminants. Biogas can also be produced in anaerobic digesters from plant or animal waste or collected from landfills. It is burned to generate heat or used in combustion engines to produce electricity.
The use of biogas is a green technology with environmental benefits. Biogas technology enables the effective use of accumulated animal waste from food production and of municipal solid waste from urbanization. The conversion of organic waste into biogas reduces production of the greenhouse gas methane, as efficient combustion replaces methane with carbon dioxide. Given that methane is nearly 21 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, biogas combustion results in a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, biogas production on farms can reduce the odours, insects, and pathogens associated with traditional manure stockpiles.
Animal and plant wastes can be used to produce biogas. They are processed in anaerobic digesters as a liquid or as a slurry mixed with water. Anaerobic digesters are generally composed of a feedstock source holder, a digestion tank, a biogas recovery unit, and heat exchangers to maintain the temperature necessary for bacterial digestion. Small-scale household digesters containing as little as 757 litres (200 gallons) can be used to provide cooking fuel or electric lighting in rural homes. Millions of homes in less-developed regions, including China and parts of Africa, are estimated to use household digesters as a renewable energy source.
Large-scale farm digesters store liquid or slurried manure from farm animals. The primary types of farm digesters are covered lagoon digesters, complete mix digesters for slurry manure, plug-flow digesters for dairy manure, and dry digesters for slurry manure and crop residues. Heat is usually required in digesters to maintain a constant temperature of about 35 °C (95 °F) for bacteria to decompose the organic material into gas. An efficient digester may produce 200–400 cubic metres (7,000–14,000 cubic feet) of biogas containing 50–75 percent methane per dry ton of input waste.
The natural decomposition of organic matter in a landfill occurs over many years, and the biogas produced (also known as landfill gas) can be collected from a series of interconnected pipes located at various depths across the landfill. The composition of this gas changes over the life span of the landfill. Generally, after one year, the gas is composed of about 60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide. Landfill collection varies according to the percentage of organic waste and the age of the facility, the average energy potential being about 2 gigajoules (1,895,634 BTU) per ton of waste.
Landfill gas collection systems are increasingly being implemented to prevent explosions from methane accumulation inside the landfill or to prevent the loss of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The collected gas can be burned at or near the site in furnaces or boilers, but it is instead often used in internal combustion engines or gas turbines to create electricity, given the limited need for heat production at most remote landfill locations.