[Digestion] Biogas Flashback, does it really happen?

Paul Harris paul.harris at adelaide.edu.au
Fri Aug 3 06:09:53 CDT 2012


G'day Mark et al,

I visited a digester (made from fibreglass) in Ireland that burned when 
an electrical fault ignited gas and in Australia a covered lagoon 
ignited after a contractor ripped the cover. I doubt if either count as 
"flashback" but it is best to be careful.

Happy Digesting,
HOOROO

Mr Paul Harris BEng (Ag) (Melbourne)
Visitor at The University of Adelaide

On 3/08/2012 5:50 PM, David Fulford wrote:
> Hello Mark,
>
> The only occurrence about which I have heard is of
> a  very  old  Indian  KVIC  design,  which  used a
> counter-balanced    drum.   The   idea   was  that
> sub-atmospheric  pressure allowed more gas to come
> from  the slurry, but the extra gas was all carbon
> dioxide.  The  idea  also allowed air to enter the
> drum. An over-enthusiastic local farmer opened the
> gas  valve in the top of the drum and lit the gas.
> The  floating  drum  took  off,  as  the gas in it
> exploded.
>
> The  only  result  was  that  a group of important
> visitors got cattle dung slurry all over them.
>
> Actually  biogas  is  quite  difficult  to ignite.
> Normal  spark  ignitors do not work well, you need
> one with a gas bottle which produces a flame.
>





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