Modelling Electricity Generation from Biogas

Abstract:

This study focused on the energy generation from the anaerobic treatment of the sewage sludge. The biogas yield obtained were used to power a micro gas turbine in order to determine electrical energy output from the system, a process that have now been commercialized for economic benefits. Equation 3.24 was derived and its consequent solution, equation 3.27 was used for that purpose. Figure 4.6 shows the energy output for experimental reactor 1. The result obtained shows a close fit between the turbine output and the model output. Precisely, a CORR value of 0.96 was obtained with a small error of estimate of 2.34 and 8.00 respectively for MAPE and RMSE. Similarly, figure 4.7 shows energy output for experimental reactor 2. In this, the coefficient of correlation was found to be 0.94 with MAPE and RMSE being 2.15 and 3.55 respectively. Figure 4.8 and 4.9 shows the energy output for model reactors 1 and 2 respectively. The CORR, MAPE and RMSE were 0.95, 3.78 and 5.51 respectively for model reactor 1 while a similar value of 0.97, 1.73 and 5.02 were recorded for model reactor 2 respectively. In all, a very good correlation values were obtained to show that energy generation from treatment plant can be modelled given the biogas yield data. It should be noted that turbine plant operational mechanism may vary slightly depending on their capacities; consequently, an updated recalibration of the model would be necessary.