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Fermenter interface

Introduction and Model

The fermenter serves as an interface between the anaerobic digester and the biogas storage in the energy management system. It represents the anaerobic digester using only parameters necessary for energy calculations.

Biogas production, heat demand and the partial pressure fractions of the biogas mixture are directly taken from the anaerobic digester. The partial pressures are then used to calculate the composition of the biogas and its lower heating value.

Equations

Composition of the biogas

i Component
CH4 Methane gas
CO2 Carbon dioxide
H2 Hydrogen gas
H2O Water vapor
N2 Nitrogen gas
\[ x_i = \frac{p_i}{p_{gas}} \]

For water vapor and nitrogen gas the partial pressure is zero (\(p_{H_2O}=p_{N_2}=0\) bar).

Symbol Description Unit
\(x_i\) Mole fraction of the individual gas i -
\(p_i\) Partial pressure of individual gas i bar
\(p_{gas}\) Total pressure of gas mixture bar

Lower heating value of the biogas

\[ H_{u,gas} = \frac{p_{H_2} \cdot H_{u,H_2} + p_{CH_4} \cdot H_{u,CH_4}}{p_{gas}} \]
Symbol Description Unit
\(H_{u,gas}\) Lower heating value of the biogas mixture kWh \(\cdot\) Nm-3
\(H_{u,H_2}\) Lower heating value of hydrogen gas kWh \(\cdot\) Nm-3
\(H_{u,CH_4}\) Lower heating value of methane gas kWh \(\cdot\) Nm-3
\(p_{H_2}\) Partial pressure of hydrogen gas bar
\(p_{CH_4}\) Partial pressure of methane gas bar
\(p_{gas}\) Total pressure of gas mixture bar

Source code documentation

mod fermenter

mod fermenter_init