Energy Conversion from Biomass to Hydrogen and Methane

Because of the energy crisis and reduction of conventional fuel resources the current research focused on finding a new, alternative energy sources around the world are continued. Hydrogen seems to be one of the solutions which produce no pollution not only in combustion but also in a fuel cell. The purpose of this study was to prepare a biogas plant design where hydrogen production would be possible. Taking the location of the installation at the dairy plant into account, it produces 400 m(3) of whey permeate per day being troublesome waste. For the calculation the results of research from the Laboratory of Ecotechnologies (based on German DIN 38 414/S8) have been used. Obtained results allowed determining the volume of the four fermentation tanks being part of the proposed biogas plant - 154 m(3), 1074 m(3), 1074 m(3), 1074 m(3) and fermentations pulp storage tank with a volume of 48,000 m(3). According to the calculations, the amount of available substrate can generate annually 2,044,000 m(3) of hydrogen and 7,300,000 m(3) of biogas with methane concentration approx 50%. Based on these results estimated power of biogas-hydrogen plant would be 1.63 MW of electricity and 1.84 MW of heat.