Application of biogas
As one kind of renewable energy, biogas can be utilized for electricity production on sewage works, in a CHP gas engine, where the waste heat from the engine is conveniently used to heat the digester; cooking, space heating, water heating and process heating. And if compressed, biogas can replace compressed natural gas for use in vehicles, where it can fuel an internal combustion engine or fuel cells and is a much more effective displacer of carbon dioxide than the normal use in on site CHP plants. (This is one interested point of biogas)
Methane within biogas can be concentrated via a biogas upgrader to the same standards as fossil natural gas; when it is, it is called biomethane. If the local gas network permits it the producer of the biogas may be able to utilize the local gas distribution networks.
Gas must be very clean to reach pipeline quality, and must be of the correct composition for the local distribution network to accept. Carbon dioxide, Water, hydrogen sulfide and particulates must be removed if present. If concentrated and compressed it can also be used in vehicle transportation.
In fact Compressed biogas is becoming widely used in Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. What's more, a biogas-powered train has been in service in Sweden since 2005.
Bates, an inventor, lived in Devon, UK, modified his car to run on biogas. A short documentary film called 'Sweet as a Nut' in 1974, talks through the simple process and benefits of running a car on biogas, at which point he had run his car for 17 years on gas he had produced by processing pig manure. This conversion was simply made with an adapter attached to the combustion engine.
