A Technical Experiment on Biogas Production from Small-Scale Dairy Farm

Ahmad Al-Rousan, Anas Zyadin

National Energy Research Center, Amman, Jordan.
School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.

DOI: 10.4236/jsbs.2014.41002                

Abstract

The key objective of this study was to evaluate the economic feasibility of producing biogas from privately-owned dairy farm in the North of Jordan. This experiment did not adopt Best-Available-Technology (BAT) but rather traditional unit manufactured with minimized costs through installing locally produced materials to avoid economic burden on the farmers’ production costs. A thermophilic biodigester unit was built sub-surface with 22 m³ capacity (15 m³ manure tank plus 7 m³ biogas holder) in a relatively small scale dairy farm. The daily feed was about 500 liter of cow slurry (150 - 200 liter cow manure) and the remaining were production liquids. The retention time was approximately 25 - 30 days and the seasonal temperature measured was about 18°C - 20°C. The unit was thermally insulated; therefore, the temperature fluctuation was slightly around +/-3°C. The daily biogas production was estimated at 7 m³ equivalent to 4 kg of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or 11 (12.5 kg) LPG cylinders per month worth US$140. The methane percentage was 60% in relatively warm temperature (18°C - 20°C) and approximately 56% in colder temperature

Keywords

Anaerobic Digestion; Biogas; Cow Manure; Jordan

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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