Studies on Balloon Storage of Biogas for Anywhere Use

A Study on balloon storage of Biogas for anywhere use. Biogas was produced from an existing 3 m3 floating drum continuous-flow biogas plant and stored in a tube balloon. Piping was done on the plant to allow for collection of the gas in the balloon. The pressure of the gas in the balloon was determined from the mass of gas collected and size of the balloon. The plant was started-up with 3000 L of water after which it was loaded with 520 kg of cattle dung mixed with 1370 L of water giving a ratio of cattle: waste of 1:8. The loading of the waste into the plant was done twice in 7 days. The quantity of gas collected in the balloon was measured by weighing the balloon. A shed was built to accommodate the piping and the tube balloon. 0.45 L of biogas was collected in the tube balloon from 520 kg of the cattle dung in 50days. The movement of gas from the plant to the balloon was influenced by pressure. The study showed the difficulty in collecting biogas in containers because of the very low pressure of biogas plants that equilibrates with that of the balloon on delivering of very small amount of biogas to the balloon. Therefore, a compressor and non-return valve maybe required to move sufficient quality of gas from the plant to the balloon for use elsewhere out of outside the plant.