Agro Fossil Free - Design and performance analysis of floating dome type portable biogas plant for domestic use in Pakistan-manufacturing cost optimization

General Description

Agriculture continues to play a vital role in Pakistan's economy, it contributes 21% toward the GDP and involves 45% of labor of Pakistan. Livestock is the largest depositor to the agriculture. Therefore, biomass can be used in Pakistan as one of the renewable energy source which can be utilized to create electrical power, provide heating and as a fuel for cooking. Fermentation process of biomass releases biogas which acts as a sustainable energy source. Generally two main types of plants are used worldwide to obtain biogas from biomass which are fixed dome type biogas plants and Floating Dome Biogas Plant (FDBP). Livestock owners in remote areas of Pakistan move themselves according to the climate conditions suitable for their livestock. The issue with these plants is that livestock owners cannot move the biogas plant at another spot easily. Hence, there is a need to develop a portable biogas plant which can be conveniently reinstalled at new place effortlessly. This study described the designing and development of portable biogas plant. The performance of the developed plant and biogas (methane gas) productivity is verified by experiment tests. The manufacturing cost of the FDBP is optimized to make it commercially viable. The developed portable FDBP is favorable for its long life, light in weight and it has ability to produce enough methane gas to suffice the domestic requirements in Pakistan.