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PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS FROM WATER HYACINTH

AND PROSOPIS JULIFLORA

A MINI PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

ARULPRAGASAM M K (15EUMC015)
BHARATH RAJASEKAR S (15EUMC023)
GOKUL RAJULU G (15EUMC039)
JAYANTH M (15EUMC053)
JAYASURIYANATHAN B (15EUMC054)
ASIF UMAR N (16EUMC504)

In partial fulfillment of the requirements


for the award of the degree
of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
in

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

SRI KRISHNA COLLEGE OF


ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
(Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)

MAY 2017

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SRI KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
(Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)
ACCREDITED BY NAAC WITH “A” GRADE

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS FROM WATER


HYACINTH AND PROSOPIS JULIFLORA” is the bona-fide work of
ARULPRAGASAM M K (15EUMC015), BHARATH RAJASEKAR S (15EUMC023),
GOKUL RAJULU G (15EUMC039), JAYANTH M (15EUMC053),
JAYASURIYANATHAN B (15EUMC054), ASIF UMAR N (16EUMC504) who carried
out the project work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE

Dr.P.ASHOKA VARTHANAN, Mr.ARUN KURIEN REJI


HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
MECHNICAL ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,
SKCET. SKCET.

This project report submitted for the End semester mini project presentation held on
08.05.2017

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank the management for supporting us during our entire project
and encouraging us to be innovative and backing us in everything we did.

We would like to thank Dr. J. JANET, Principal, Sri Krishna College of Engineering
and Technology, Coimbatore, for allowing us to do this project and providing required time to
complete the same.

We express our sincere thanks to our beloved head of the department Dr. P.
ASHOKA VARTHANAN, for his kind words of encouragement in our endeavour.

We deem in our duty our sincere admiration and heart gratitude to our project guide
Mr. ARUN KURIEN REJI for having effectively guided and supervised throughout this
project by imparting his erudite knowledge and personalized guidance blended with
exemplary patience and encouragement.

We thank all the teaching faculty of our department for their constant encouragement
and support during the project.

We express our sincere thanks to all the laboratory assistants for permitting us to work
in the laboratory. Also we would like to thank all the subordinates of the laboratory.

Finally, we would like take this opportunity to thank our family members, friends and
well-wishers who have helped us co-operated for the successful completion of our project.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

ABSTRACT 5

1. INTRODUCTION 6
1.1 Water Hyacinth 6
1.2 Prosopis Juliflora 7
1.3 Remedy 7
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 9
2.1 Sample collection and processing 9
2.2 Anaerobic Digestion Process 9
2.3 Fermentation Slurry 10
2.4 Fermentation Slurry as Fertilizer 11
3. FABRICATION OF DIGESTER 12
3.1 Design 12
4. RESULT 13
4.1. Temperature Variations 13
4.2. pH Variations 13
4.3. Biogas Production 14
4.4. Biogas Composition 15
4.5. Biogas Upgrading 15
5. DISCUSSION 16
5.1 Comparative Biogas Production (m3) 16
with Time (Days)
6. FINAL VIEW 17
6.1 Applications 17
6.2 Advantages 17
6.3 Disadvantages 18
6.4 Conclusion 18

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ABSTRACT

Water hyacinth, E. crassipes, an invasive water weed thrives in fresh water


bodies causing serious environmental problems. The weed has invaded
many rivers and lakes and poses great socioeconomic and environmental
challenges. Currently the weed is harvested from the Lake and left in the
open to rot and decay leading to loss of aesthetics, land and air pollution.
Another such kind of plant which is being a great threat is
prosopis juliflora. The evergreen species, native to the South and Central
America and the Caribbean was introduced in India during the 1870s to
meet the fuel wood demand. The growth and spread of Prosopis is
tremendous mainly due to its inbuilt mechanism to overcome adverse
conditions. The ‘proline’ content in Prosopis is high under stress conditions,
which helped the plant to thrive under extreme drought. With deep
penetrating roots, it can draw water from deeper layers and can thrive in
adverse conditions where other species die.
There is therefore need for development of value addition and
economic exploitation strategies.
The aim of the project is to assess the potential for utilization of
the above said plants as a renewable energy resource for biogas production.
Samples were collected, pulped and blend with cow dung at a ratio of 3:1 as
inoculum. The resultant mixture was mixed with water at a ratio of 1:1 and
fed into a 6 m3 cylindrical digester. The digester was recharged with 20 kg
after every three days. The temperature, pH variations, gas compositions,
upgrading and gas yields were studied. The temperature ranged between
22˚C - 36˚C and pH 7 - 7.5. Biogas was found to contain 49% - 53%
methane (CH4), 30% - 33% carbon dioxide (CO2), 5% - 6% nitrogen (N2)
and traces of hydrogen sulphide (H2S). The biogas was upgraded using solid
adsorbents and wet scrubbers increasing the methane content by up to 70% -
76%. The upgraded gas was used to power internal combustion engines
coupled with an electricity generator and direct heat applications. This study
thus forms an attempt to use the unwanted plants as substrates for methane
production.

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CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Water Hyacinth


Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, is a floating and an invasive nuisance
plant which grows in much of the world where it often jams rivers and lakes
with tons of floating plant matter. A healthy acre of water hyacinth can
weigh up to 200 tons. It grows in freshwater and has lavender flowers and
round leathery leaves attached on spongy stalks. The plant has dark feathery
roots. E. crassipes form mats that clog waterways making fishing impossible
and reduces water flow. Mats may double their size in as little as 6 - 18 days.
It degrades water quality by blocking the air-water interface and greatly
reducing oxygen levels in the water, eliminating underwater animals such as
fish and greatly reduces bio-diversity: mats eliminate native submersed
plants by blocking sunlight, alter immersed plant communities by pushing
them away and crushing them, and also alter animal communities by
blocking access to the water and/or eliminating plants the animals depend on
for shelter and nesting. Millions of dollars a year used to be spent on water
hyacinth control. Several methods have been developed to help in its
management: mechanical harvesters and chopping, biological controls
(insects, fish) and use of water hyacinth registered aquatic herbicides.

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1.2 Prosopia Juliflora
Prosopis juliflora is and can be a very aggressive invader and replaces
native vegetation and takes over range-lands. It has become established as
noxious and as an invasive weed in Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere.
Though the species has played a role in changing land use and the livelihood
security of huge populations of the world, due to poor management
practices, it has colonized many important ecosystems, creating a negative
pressure on biodiversity. It is hard and expensive to remove as the plant can
regenerate from the roots. The tree reproduces by way of seeds, not
vegetatively. Seeds are spread by cattle and other animals that consume the
seed pods and spread the seeds in their droppings. A mature plant can
produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. Seeds remain viable for up to 10
years. With deep penetrating roots, it can draw water from deeper layers. Its
roots are able to grow to a great depth in search of water. It remains green
even the other plants nearby are dried. Even though the underground water
level goes to a very low level it has the capability to absorb moisture from
the air. Thus it remains nourished by getting water from all possible ways.

1.2 Remedy
However, recent studies have found that this nuisance weed is a very good
source of renewable energy for the biosynthesis of biofuel. Since the plant
has abundant nitrogen content, it can be used a substrate for biogas
production. Anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic substrates is a much more
complex process, requiring the syntrophic and cooperative interaction
between several types of microorganisms. It is a complex, natural, multi-
stage process of degradation of organic compounds through a variety of

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intermediates into methane and carbon dioxide, by the action of a
consortium of microorganisms. It is a process divided in four key stages,
with different trophic groups intervening in each one of them.
In the first, the hydrolysis stage, organic macromolecules
are broken down into monomers like sugars, fatty acids and amino acids. In
the second, the acidogenesis stage, these components are further broken
down into VFAs (volatile fatty acids: short-chained fatty acids like acetate,
butyrate or propionate), organic acids and alcohols, along with small
amounts of hydrogen. The largest fraction of H2 and acetate comes from the
third step, the acetogenesis stage, in which bigger VFAs and other organic
acids from the previous stage are converted into the two aforementioned
substances. After the final stage, the methanogenesis, methane and carbon
dioxide are formed as the main final products.
Better yields of biogas are obtained using mixture of
animal waste and lignocellosic waste since the animal waste particularly the
cow dung has the significant syntrophic mechanism enhanching bacteria.
Therefore, this work was carried out to explore the potential of biogas
production from co-digestion of cow dung with lignocellosic materials viz.,
water hyacinth. Hence, in this study an effort was made to study the
cumulative biogas generation during fermentation.

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CHAPTER-2
MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Sample collection and processing


Cow dung sample were collected from the livestock farm. Water hyacinth
(WH) was collected from a pond. The water hyacinth were cleaned to
remove soil and dead plant materials and it was chopped separately to about
20mm pieces later it was grinded with water. The cow dung was diluted with
water to 1:2 ratio (w/v). Then they are mixed together. The temperature of
the digesting substrates was measured through the temperature measuring
devices and pH was checked using pH probe.

2.2. Anaerobic Digestion Process


Biogas is produced by putrefactive bacteria, which break down organic
material under oxygen deficient conditions . This process is called
“anaerobic digestion”. The digestion process consists of three main phases:
• Hydrolysis,
• Acid formation,
• Methane formation.
In the first phase, protein, carbohydrate and fat are converted to soluble
substances followed by acid formation give rise to fatty acids, amino acids
and alcohols by acidogenic bacteria. Methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen
sulphide and ammonia form in the third phase by methanogenic bacteria.
The slurry becomes somewhat thinner during the process of digestion. The
more the two phases merge the shorter the digestion times. The conditions
for this are particularly favorable in the “fermentation channel” arrangement.

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The following types of digestion are distinguished according to the
temperature in the digester:
• Psychrophilic digestion (10˚C - 20˚C, retention time over 100 days),
• Mesophilic digestion (20˚C - 35˚C, retention time over 20 days),
• Thermophilic digestion (50˚C - 60˚C, retention time over 8 days).

Thermophilic digestion is not an option for simple plants. The pH of the


fermentation slurry indicates whether the digestion process is proceeding
without disturbance. The pH should be about 7. This means that the slurry
should be neither alkaline nor acid. Biogas can in principle be obtained from
any organic material. Cattle manure can be used as a “starter”. Feed material
containing lignin, such as straw, should be pre-composted and preferably
chopped before digestion. More than ten days’ preliminary rotting is the
best. Gas production is substantially improved if the preliminary rotting time
is twenty days.

2.3. Fermentation Slurry


All feed materials consist of organic solids, inorganic solids and water.
Biogas is formed by digestion of the organic substances. The inorganic
materials (minerals and metals) are unused and are unaffected by the
digestion process. Adding water or urine gives the substrate fluid properties.
This is important for the operation of a biogas plant. It is easier for the
methane bacteria to come into contact with feed material which is still fresh
when the slurry is liquid. This accelerates the digestion process. Regular
stirring thus speeds up the gas production. Slurry with a solids content of 5%
- 10% is particularly well suited to the operation of continuous biogas plants

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2.4. Fermentation Slurry as Fertilizer
During the digestion process, gaseous nitrogen (N) is converted to ammonia
(NH3). In this water-soluble form the nitrogen is available to the plants as a
nutrient . A particularly nutrient-rich fertilizer is obtained if dung and urine
is digested. Compared with solid sludge from fermented straw and grass, the
liquid slurry is rich in nitrogen and potassium. The solid fermentation
sludge, on the other hand, is relatively richer in phosphorus. A mixture of
solid and liquid fermented material gives the best yields. The nutrient ratio is
then approximately N:P2O5:K2O = 1:0.5:1. A fermented slurry with a lower
C/N ratio has better fertilizing characteristics. Compared with fresh manure,
increases in yield of 5% - 15% are possible.

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CHAPTER-3
FABRICATION OF DIGESTER

3.1 Design
1. We assume the mineral water can as the body of the
digester.
2. Then a hole is bored in the side of the digester with
diameter slightly less than ¾ inches.
3. A long ¾ inch pipe is inserted into the hole up to a distance
which is slightly above the base of the digester. This pipe
acts as the charge inlet.
4. Another hole of same diameter is bored in the side and a
PVC pipe is inserted up to the centre of the digester. This
pipe acts as the charge outlet.
5. A hole of 5mm diameter is bored in the neck of the digester
and a tube with a gate valve is inserted up to the centre.
6. The top of the digester is covered by a lid.
7. All the fitted regions are closed completely using m-seal.
8. Since the digester is transparent, it is prone to have sunrays
inside it which is not suitable for the anaerobic bacteria to
live. So the digester is completely painted black.

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CHAPTER 4
RESULT

4.1. Temperature Variations


It varied widely during the biogas production period. The temperature varied
between 22.8˚C - 36.6˚C, the fermentation process is an exothermic process
and the variations could be attributed to the microbial action at various
stages of decomposition.

4.2. pH Variations
pH varied widely during the digestion process. The variations can be
attributed to the bacterial action during the hydrolysis, acidification and
methanization of feed. The processes produce hydroxyl and hydrogen ions
thus varying the pH. It ranged between 7.4 - 8.5.

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4.3. Biogas Production
The gas production has a maxima on the 32nd day. This can be related to the
growth of bacteria within the digester after the 32nd day the bacteria start to
starve and competition for food and elimination. The reduced population of
the microbes leads to a significant drop in gas production. This can be
improved by periodic loading the digester with fresh feedstock.

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4.4. Biogas Composition
The gas was found to contain a mix of gases. On average the biogas was
found to contain between 49% - 53% methane (CH4), 30% - 33% carbon
dioxide (CO2), 5% - 6% nitrogen (N2) and traces of hydrogen sulphide
(H2S).

4.5. Biogas Upgrading


The gas was upgraded by a series of cleaning devices, water vapour was
removed using analytical grade sodium sulphate (NA2SO4), H2S removed
using iron oxide and CO2 using 15% sodium Hydroxide solution
(NaOH).There was increase in the methane content by between 21% - 23%.

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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION

5.1 Comparative Biogas Production (m3) with Time (Days)


A comparative biogas production study was conducted for water hyacinth,
juliflora and cowdung mixture.
The cowdung feedstock was found to produce biogas from the fourth day
rising to a high on the eighth day which remained almost constant reaching a
maxima between the 28 - 36th day. Biogas production remained lower than
that from cowdung between the fourth and the18th day but rose steadly to
reach a maxima at the 32nd day and remained constant up to the 36th day.
The trends show a rather similar trend but the delay during the first few days
for the mixture can be attributed to the low bacteria population in the matrix.
The study shows a greater yield of biogas from the hyacinth, juliflora and
cow dung mixture compared to cow dung.

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CHAPTER 6
FINAL VIEW

6.1 Applications
 Direct combustion
 Absorption heating and cooling,
 Cooking,
 Space and water heating,
 Drying, and
 Gas turbines
 Fueling Internal Combustion Engines
 Fuel cells for production of mechanical work and/or electricity.
 Cleaned up gas
 Gas pipelines
 Provide illumination
 Steam production.
 Catalytic chemical oxidation
 Methane can be used in the production of methanol.
 Bio-plastics

6.2 Advantages
 The Hyacinth and Juliflora can be transported to a movable
digester
 We can have clean and eco-friendly approach.
 The plants which obviously becoming threat to the biodiversity
can be gradually eliminated besides producing bio-fuel.

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 Recirculation of phosphorous, which helps reducing the pressure
on the world's limited phosphorous resources

6.3 Disadvantages
 Biogas produced have slightly low calorific value of energy
(39850 kJ/kg)than petrol, diesel, or LPG .
 There is methane content in biogas which is 21 times more
dangerous than carbon dioxide so don’t allow it to comes out
directly into the environment without burning.
 Compressing the biogas into commercial cylinders is bit costly
because it requires lot of advanced equipments but as well as this
technology has full potential to become future fuel instead of
CNG.

6.4 Conclusion
The project revealed that it is possible to produce biogas from a mixture of
water hyacinth, prosopis juliflora and cow dung. This study forms an attempt
to use the unwanted plants as substrates for methane production. Further
studies are needed for the enhancement of methane generation from the
different substrates for their further use. The use of pretreated water hyacinth
for biogas generation therefore, will be a good energy source for those
residing in the coastal areas, which face the menace of clogging of
waterways by the weed.

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