Methane Collection Lab

By: Jake Schmidt, Justin Keizer, and Andrew Rice

 Outline
We will design and build a biogas digester that collects methane gas from cow
manure

Will be used as a renewable energy source that can power facilities on campus

Examples of Project Application:

● Butane tank that can be used for stoves, bbq, and household necessities
● School facilities on campus → heating for solar building
● Scientific Instruments → bunsen burner, hot plate, etc.
 Problem Definition
There is a global issue of pollution that has no solution in sight

We need to find alternative ways to produce the energy we need to live

20% of our landfills are filled with food that could be used for good

Biogas chambers are used all over the world to combat against the harsh pollution
our planet is facing

Natural way to produce an applicable gas for a home environment

 Design Requirements
Our group conducted a google survey asking people about which aspects of our
project we need to be aware of apart from the set requirements by our teacher

Requirements:

We have to be able to construct within a small high school budget

Must be careful of noise and smell → project is on campus

 Alternative Concepts
We had a few sub functions that we looked at to implement into our project
● Storage of gas ● Types of manure/ food
○ Collection in a balloon ○ Chicken Fecal Matter
○ Upside down container over water ○ Horse Manure
○ Shipping container via. Ms. Mathews ○ High sugar content vs low sugar content
○ Leave inside tank until its needed ○ Cow manure
○ Propane Tank ○ Deer pellets/Goose Poop
● Size of IBC/ container ● Use of Gas
○ Small container for more concentrated reaction ○ Power Solar Hut on Campus
○ Larger container for mass reaction ○ Exhibition Night BBQ
○ Funnel-shaped container ○ Leadership BBQ
○ Heated tank to speed up reaction times/Greenhouse ○ Bunsen burners in the chemistry lab
○ Insulated tank to control the temperature ○ classroom
Detailed Design pt. 1
Detailed Design pt. 2
 Final Concept
1. Fill 14-gallon buckets with manure bucket 1
2. Drill ½” holes in tops of buckets 1
3. Apply rubber gaskets to holes
4. Attach PVC pipes to look like the picture
5. Connect 1-way valve entering bucket 2
6. Run PVC through ½” hole at bottom of bucket 2
7. Fill bucket 2 with water
8. Place a bucket 3 upside down in the water with no air inside
9. Drill ½” hole in top of bucket 3 with rubber gasket
10. Run PVC out through the top of bucket 3
11. Connect ½” PVC to 1” PVC
12. Fill 1” PVC with steel wool and connect back to ½” PVC
13. Lead the rest of the PVC to air compressor
14. Attach compressor to propane tank
15. Add epoxy to seal needed areas
 Special Features
● Nitrogen rich fertilizer
○ Fertilizer can then be used for the garden at San Marin
● Steel wool purifier
○ Removes H2S from the methane allowing us to pump it directly into the tank
Analyzing Data Collected Experiment #1
- In this experiment we did not see much methane production due to human
error. The connecting pieces for our bio gas digester were not air tight which
allowed for the escape of the methane produced.
Analyzing Data Collected Experiment #2
In this experiment we tested the effects of hot vs. cold weather on the production
of methane and found a 0.2 liter per week increase over the two week testing
period. This can be seen in the graphs below.
 Summary
- We created a reusable methane source through
a biogas digester
- The methane collected can be used for hours in
a wide variety of ways
- Water heaters, stoves, lights,etc.
Modernization
- Reducing the overall size
- Make it transportable / lightweight
- Keeping the same methane production efficiency
- With heat
- Constant inflow
- Constant outflow
- Increase efficiency
- Find out definitive factors that can increase efficiency
- Apply ideas and test validity
- Add a catalyst