Management of Gas Storages in Biogas Plants

An overview is given over different types of gas storages and their pressure/level relationship, which is crucial for the design of the plant's gas system. It focuses on the design of air-inflated double-membrane gas storages, their blowers, and pressure control valves. During the design phase of a biogas plant, the responsible engineer must calculate the pressure gradient for several scenarios to ensure it is fully functional and safe, even outside normal operation. Methods for the design of cascading flow and ring flow of biogas through the biogas plant are summarized, and a technique of managing the gas storages in a way that the full storage capacity can be used is provided. The findings of this paper are illustrated with examples of two large-scale industrial biogas plants.