Optimising biogas production with process analyser tech

Process analysers ensure quality, regulatory compliance, and environmental sustainability while enhancing efficiency and methane output in the growing biogas energy sector, Harry Burton and Michael Gaura tell OGN

- ABDULAZIZ KHATTAK

THE creation of fuels and energy from various sources is a constantly evolving process. Economic considerations drive the use of inexpensive feed stocks and lower operational expenditures.

Safety nets exist to protect the workers and facilities, and environmental regulations or societal pressures are introduced to minimise the impacts on nature and global climate.

Satisfactorily balancing these often competing objectives requires constant evaluation of energy production activities.

"Thankfully, a useful tool exists to assist in plant operation management process analytics. Process analytics combines the direct measurement of temperature, pressure, flow, chemical composition, and other variables with sophisticated algorithms," Harry Burton and Michael Gaura from AMETEK Process Instruments, in Newark, Delaware, tell OGN energy magazine.

The output of this information gathering and processing drives automated activities such as management of heater temperatures, incoming and process throughput flows and mixing, and pressurisation activities.

The result is economically viable, safe, and environmentally responsible operations with a final product that meets or exceeds established quality specifications.

In most instances, a process analyser is the most crucial contributor of critical information, as it is measuring specific component concentrations throughout the production process.

The process analyser is used to ensure incoming, in process, and final products contain the correct components, at the appropriate concentrations, to support the plant's production capabilities and capacities.

In this article, we specifically focus on analytical measurements in Biogas production, as this sustainable energy is of increasing importance as attempts are made to balance increasing energy demands with the health of the global ecosystem.