Opinion: Biogas and China

Conversion to a symmetrical or parallel system for our world’s electricity generation will require a combination of small, locally-generated power supplies, coupled with individual home generation, in addition to the regular power grid supply. Conversion to a new world, not in geography, but in power generation will need to be developed as a hybrid of generation sources comprised of: Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), Hydroelectric, Geothermal, Wind, PV Panel, Tidal Current and Magnetic Linear Generator Buoys, plus Bio-Mass and Biogas in addition to coal and natural gas.

According to Science Alert, the topic of using fecal matter as an energy source ranges from taboo in some societies to wide acceptance and utilisation in others. Let’s see what China’s National Development & Reform Commission has on the books in the next few years for biogas.

In China alone there are a 1.3 billion people with just as many livestock, poultry and garbage dumps all providing methane feedstock daily. It’s hard for China to sidestep the idea of turning something that was once discarded into a commodity for sale, and more importantly into electricity. China plans to have an installed capacity of bio-energy projects reaching 5.5 million kW by 2010, but jumping to 30 million kW by 2020, a 600 per cent increase in the next 11 years.

Biogas is a combustible mixture of gases produced by micro-organisms when livestock manure and other biological wastes are allowed to ferment in the absence of air in closed containers.

The major constituents of biogas are methane (CH₄, 60 per cent), carbon dioxide (CO₂, 35 per cent), small amounts of water vapour, hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen (N2).

Biogas is mainly used as fuel, like natural gas, while the digested mixture of liquids and solids “bio-slurry” and “bio-sludge” are mainly used as organic fertiliser for crops. Chinese companies are now finding numerous other uses for biogas, bio-slurry and bio-sludge in China. Which touches on an important aspect of Peak Oil: the reduction in fertiliser production along with rising farming costs, due to increased fertiliser prices, that must be passed along as higher food prices.

You could open Pandora’s Box when explaining how oil dependant the farming, transport and processed food production industries are. Increased transportation costs to move food stuffs from field, to factory to your plate. Fertiliser and pesticide rely on natural gas and oil based chemicals for production, and farm machinery is run on liquid fossil fuels. The simplest equation is: higher crude oil prices = higher food costs.

China began using biogas digesters in earnest in 1958 in a campaign to exploit the multiple functions of biogas production, which solved the problem of the disposal of manure and improved hygiene.

China’s power generation is starting to morph into local energy generation for local residents from local industry using local feedstock, which is a model we should get used to in a world of high energy prices: Local production, Local consumption.

As our globalised “distant point of manufacture”, “long delivery chain” lifestyle changes year upon year with declining crude oil availability, we, as a world, will need to find crude oil substitutes to supply base chemicals for industrial and manufacture processes. Using biogas directly for cooking or co-generation of electricity and heat is especially feasible when the biogas is used at or near the site of generation.

Biogas methane can also be used to make methanol, an organic solvent and an important chemical for producing formaldehyde, chloromethane, organic glass, and compound fibre. Good quality fertiliser and the electricity generated are additional bonuses.

Finally, biogas can be used to prolong storage of fruit and grain. An atmosphere of methane and carbon dioxide inhibits metabolism, thereby reducing the formation of ethylene in fruits and grains prolonging storage time and the same atmosphere kills harmful insects, mould, and bacteria that cause diseases.

My minds eye sees a future where food storage will be in local communities, The just-in-time delivery system will encounter problems as fuel becomes more expensive and disposable income is reduced. I envision a return to a bulk delivery system of dry goods, which will be weekly or bi weekly, and local communities will store their own grain and bulk food utilising biogas to keep pests and rodents out of the food supply.

The small shipments we are used to today will need to be restructured into a bulk delivery system. Foods from supermarkets packed in small individual boxes, bags or wrapped in plastic will have present problems for manufacture and delivery.

This will give biogas an edge by offering solutions to two probable side effects of continuing rising oil prices: food storage and fertiliser.

View the Science Alert story by clicking here.

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