The production of biogas is a naturally occurring process in nature. In the absence of oxygen and without light, this accelerated process takes place almost everywhere where food is present for corresponding microorganisms.
Particularly interesting is the digestive system of many animals, which only feed on plant food. They must, in symbiosis with the microorganisms, break down the cellulose and hemi-cellulose in order to obtain appropriate nutrients, minerals and energy.
The basis for biogas production is simplified: proteins, starches, sugars, oils and fats. These are the primary linings.
The interaction of various microorganisms in the stomach of an herbivore, cellulose, hemi-cellulose and fibers are also digested, converted into complex starches and sugars and thus made available to the animal for recycling.
The main players are the microorganisms for hydrolysis, acidification, sedimentation and methane formation, as well as very specialized methanogens, which build up hydrogen and carbon dioxide; (methane).
Process in a biogas plant
From the very different process conditions it is easy to see that single-stage biogas plants can only be a compromise for the microorganisms.
In the single-stage process, the process conditions are optimized for the sensitive microorganisms for vinification and methane formation - the microorganisms for hydrolysis and acidification then have to work under these - for them bad - conditions.
This results in the fundamental difference between single-stage biogas plants and our multi-stage biogas plants.
In single-stage biogas plants, the microorganisms for hydrolysis and acidification cannot exploit the full feed potential for biogas production, as under the process conditions they are unable to digest cellulose, hemi-cellulose and fibres for further processing. This effect is particularly serious for feedstocks with high cellulose and fibre content.
In our multi-stage plants, the maximum feed utilisation - including cellulose, hemi-cellulose and fibres - and conversion is guaranteed under the optimum process conditions for the microorganisms in all process steps.
Our multi-stage compact biogas plant can work not only in two stages but even in several stages and provide the respective microorganisms with optimum conditions in order to guarantee maximum biogas or methane production.