What is biogas? Describe the working of a biogas plant with the help of a labelled diagram.
Answer:
Biogas is a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide. The major constituent of biogas is methane.
Biogas is produced by the anaerobic degradation of animal wastes like cow-dung or plant wastes in the presence of water.
The biogas plant has a dome-like structure built with bricks. A slurry of cow-dung and water is made in the mixing tank from where it is fed into the digester. The digester is a sealed chamber in which there is no oxygen. Anaerobic micro-organisms that do not require oxygen decompose or break down complex
compounds of the cow-dung slurry. It takes a few days for the decomposition process to be complete and generate gases. The biogas is stored in the gas tank above the digester from which they are drawn through pipes for use.