Renewable Power Generation

How is methane produced?

Anaerobic digestion is a biological process that occurs naturally when microorganisms break down organic matter in environments with little or no oxygen such as wastewater anaerobic digesters. This process produces biogas, a mixture of mostly methane and carbon dioxide with trace amounts of other gases.

The natural activity of these organisms is harnessed industrially to convert wastewater sludge into a biogas. This biogas can be combusted in the following ways:

• to generate electricity and heat
• processed to remove non-methane compounds as a direct replacement for natural gas
• converted into renewable hydrocarbon liquid transportation fuels

Combined Heat and Power (CHP)

Key components of a CHP system include:

• Internal combustion
• Reciprocating engine driving an electric generator

The clean methane fired engine spins a generator to produce electricity. The natural byproduct of the working engine is heat. The heat is captured and used to supply space heating or produce domestic hot water. The CHP process is very similar to an automobile, where the engine provides the power to rotate the wheels and the byproduct, heat, is used to keep the passengers warm in the cabin during the winter months.

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