Shenzhen Puxin Technology Co.

Ltd

Operation Manual
Of PUXIN Portable Biogas Plant 1.2m3
 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

Contents

Part One: The basic knowledge about biogas

1. What is biogas?

2. Basic conditions needed for biogas production.

3. The application of biogas and the residue.

Part Two: The use and daily maintenance of 3.4m3 portable biogas plant

1. The first batch feeding and initial operation of the biogas plant

2. The daily maintenance of biogas plant

Part Three: Appendix

1. The data about gas production for different raw materials

Part Four: The function of the matched appliances.

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

Part One: The basic knowledge about biogas

1. What is biogas

Biogas is a fuel gas made from biomass such as feces, food waste, grass and

straw etc. during the anaerobic fermentation process. Biogas contains

about 55%—70% methane(CH4), and some carbon dioxide (CO2), some

water vapor (H2O), some hydrogen, some carbon monoxide（CO）and some

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The heat value of biogas is 5142 kcal / m 3.

2. Basic conditions needed for biogas production:

1) Strict anaerobic environment: Because the bacteria producing methane are

particularly sensitive to oxygen and can not survive in aerobic environments,

therefore, the construction of an anaerobic digestion reactor (also name as

biogas plant) that can provide a strict anaerobic environment is the key to

successful biogas production.

2) Sufficient inoculums: The methane bacteria needed for anaerobic

fermentation comes from anaerobic activated sludge (also called strain).

The sludge from running biogas plants, from waster water treatment plants

or from sewer s all are inoculums. Cow dung is also inoculums.

HH HH

3) Suitable fermentation temperature: The methane bacteria can ferment

biomass at the temperature between 8 -65 ℃, and the higher the

temperature the more active the methane bacteria, and the higher the biogas

production.

4) Appropriate pH: The methane bacteria like to breed in neutral or slightly

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

alkaline environment, so the pH value of the liquid in the biogas plant should

be controlled between 6.8 and 7.5.

5) Suitable carbon-nitrogen ratio: When the carbon-nitrogen ratio of the

fermentation materials meet 20-30:1, the anaerobic bacteria will be active,

therefore, the biogas production will be fast.

3. The application of Biogas and the residue.

1) Biogas with the main component of methane (methane content is about

55-70%) is a low-carbon clean energy and can be directly used as fuel

like natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas, it can be used to generate

electricity also.

2) Biogas residue and biogas slurry are good organic fertilizers, can be

used for agriculture.

Part Two: The use and daily maintenance of biogas plant

1. The first batch feeding and initial operation of the biogas plant

1) The preparation of inoculums: Cow dung or residue from an operation

digester can be used as inoculums. In the first batch feeding for initial

operation over 10% (60Litres for a 1.2m3 biogas plant) inoculums should be

added into the feeding material. The more the inoculums added the easier

the initial operation.

2) The first batch feeding: Mix the raw materials with the inoculums and put

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

them together into the biogas plant. In the first batch feeding for initial

operation the concentration should be 4 ~ 6%.

3) Seal the biogas plant with water: After the raw materials and the inoculums

have been put into the biogas plant, add water into the biogas plant. For

PUXIN portable biogas plant the water should be added till the water level

over the outlet.

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

You add water into the biogas plant from the inlet, or use the sewage pump pump

the waste into the plant. The water added into the biogas plant can be domestic

wastewater, river water, reservoir water; it also can be well water or tap water,

but can’t be toxic wastewater. The temperature of the water should be above

20 ° C. In cold winter warm well water is a good choice.

4) Igniting test: After the biogas plant has been sealed with water, usually in

3-10 days the biogas plant will produce biogas. At the beginning usually the

biogas produced can’t be lighted up because the methane content is too low.

If the biogas can’t be lighted up, you should release all the biogas in the

gasholder and recollect the biogas, and repeat this process until the biogas

can be lighted up.

5) Initial operation adjustments: In the event of acidification (during the event

the biogas usually can’t be lighted for a long time, or the gas production

decreases rapidly, or even completely stops, the color of the liquid becomes

yellow.) there are different ways can be used to treat the acidification

according to the different levels of acidification.

 If the pH value is not below 6.0, the biogas plant can adjust its pH value

automatically, the pH value will grows up gradually and the gas production

will become normal, but the process will takes a relatively long time. Put

some more inoculums into the biogas plant may shorten the process.

 If the pH value is below 6.0, take some liquid out from the biogas plant and

put more inoculums into the biogas plant. At the same time add some lime

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

or plant ash in the biogas plant to adjust the pH value to above 6.0.

 If the pH value has been adjusted to about 7.0 and the biogas plant still do

not produce biogas that means the liquid of the biogas plant contains

chemicals that can kill the methane bacteria. In this case you should clean

the biogas plant and refill it with raw materials and inoculums.

 If the pH value has been adjusted to about 7.0 and the biogas plant works

normally but the gas production is very low that means there are gas

leakages in the pipe system. In this case you should check the pipe system,

find and repair the leakages.

 When the temperature in the biogas plant is below 10°C, the biogas plant

will stop gas production. Therefore, in winter the biogas plant should be

thermal insulated by covering an insulation layer or a green house on the

biogas plant.

2. The daily maintenance of biogas plant

1) To keep a constant gas production, after about 30 days from the day when

the biogas plant begin to produce biogas normally you should add raw

fermentation materials into the biogas plant regularly.

2) For the 1.2m3 biogas plant to keep a 0.6m3/d biogas production, 20kg cow

dung or 15kg pig dung is needed daily.

3) In the period of normal operation you can increase the concentration of the

feeding materials up to 8 ~ 10%. The liquid from the biogas plant can be

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

recycled.

Part Three: Appendix

1. The data about gas production for different raw materials

1) Relationship between the volume of biogas plant and the livestock keepers

Item unit pig cow Sheep Chicken

Daily Feces kg 3.0 30.0 1.5 0.1

％
Dry material content 18 17 25 30.0

a 6m3 biogas plant 20 3 50 400

a 8m3 biogas plant 25 4 60 530

a 10m3 biogas plant 33 5 70 667

2) Raw material needed to produce 1 cubic meters biogas

Dray material Raw material needed to
Water gas produce 1 cubic meters
content (%) production biogas（kg）
rate (m3/kg)
Raw material
Dry material Fresh

material

Pig Manure 82 0.25 4.00 22.23

cow Manure 83 0.19 5.26 30.96

Chicken Manure 70 0.25 4.00 13.34

Human Manure 80 0.30 3.33 16.67

Rice Straw 15 0.26 3.84 4.53

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

Wheat Straw 15 0.27 3.70 4.36

Corn stalks 18 0.29 3.45 4.21

Fresh grass 76 0.455 2.20 9.17

Water Hyacinth 93 0.31 3.23 46.15

3) Raw material parameters

Raw C％ N% C：N Methane Gas Dry Dry Raw

content of duration material material material
material
biogas (d) content biogas biogas
produced (％) production production
(％) rate rate
(L/.KG) (L/.KG)
Dry
Wheat 46 0.53 87:1 59 82 425 348
Straw
Dry
Rice 42 0.63 67:1 61 83 409 340
Straw
Corn
40 0.75 53:1 53~59 90 80 412
stalks
Fresh
11 0.54 26:1 70 60 24 455 107
grass
Fresh
Sheep 16 0.55 29:1
Manure
Fresh
cow 7.3 0.29 25:1 50~60 90 17 205 35
Manure
Fresh Pig
7.8 0.60 13:1 65 60 18 425 77
Manure
Fresh
Human 2.5 0.65 2.9:1 50 30 20 426 85
Manure
Fresh
Horse 10 0.24 24:1 60 90 279
Manure

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 SHENZHEN PUXIN TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
1-2ND FLOOR, BLDG 4, MASHA XUDA HIGH TECH. INDUSTRIAL PARK, 49 JIAOYU NORTH RD,
GAOQIAO DISTRICT, PINGDI STREET, LONGGANG, SHENZHEN, P.R.CHINA
TEL: +86-755-28938251, 28938252 FAX: +86-755-89323983

Part Four: The function of the matched appliances.

1) Sewage pump: Pump the waste into the digester instead of operating by

hands;

2) Circulating pump: Mixing the outlet water and inlet water together, to

make the fresh material and the former material together;

3) Shredder: Shred the solid waste so that you can put the waste into the

digester;

4) Electrical blanket: To heat temperature of the digester, improve the

fermentation rate in the cold area.