Ingenieurgesellschaft für Wissenstransfer mbH

Biogas Leakage

Leakages are invisible and they are a real money killer. A leakage of 1 m³ biogas per hour equals to about 3,500.-€ per year! Since we have started our leakage activities in 2008, we have detected leakages „worth“ up to 28,000.-€ per year.

 

Leakages: Economy and Ecology

· Biogas that leaks cannot turned into electricity or heat.

· Operators have too high costs for substrates per produced kW-hour.

· Climate protection

· and last but not least safety

 

Hints on leakages and when is it useful to check for leakages?

· You feed too much to get the desired kW-power.

· Although perfect biology, but too little gas

· Typical biogas smell but the leakage is not detected

· when the plant is delivered to the customer

· before warranty ends

 

We always use two independent and complementary systems: a IR-camera with a specific filter and a Methane sensitive Laser. Additionally, we quantify CH4-emissions from double plastic covered fermenter and estimate the CH4 in the stack gas. For this purpose, we analyse the exhaust gases from the ventilation and CHP via a gas chromatograph.

 

 

Our services for you

· Report including a documentation with pictures and movies of leakages

· Definition of leakages by construction and operation

· Estimate of the methane-emission in the exhaust gas of the CHP

· Comparison of the methane emissions from CHPs with other biogas plants

· Recommendation for Maintenance and Repair

Best, you can contact us via email.

 

The pictures on the right show a sensor that emits biogas (s/w Bild). You can download a movie (mp4-format) here, where the leakage is clearly seen.

 

Here you can see some more leakages:

open pressure ventile

emissionen from the foil

leakage at a gas pipe

emissionen from a concrete fermenter