Marcus,
On 10/28/2010 3:03 PM, Markus Schlattmann wrote:
I don't know if I have understood this 100% correctly, but if you have inlet air you will get a potentially explosive atmosphere inside the digester.
If the digester needs to be refilled then it must be opened. And if it has methane in it, there is no question that at some point, when air is introduced, there will be a potentially explosive mix. That will be the case whether one opens the door on the digester without previous evacuation, whether one introduces air rapidly or slowly, whether the digester is flexible and allows [only most] of the biogas to be "squeezed out" before opening, etc. Whatever process is used, at some point between operating the digester and opening it, air will have to mix with biogas and a potentially explosive mix will result.
But an actual explosion will require not merely an explosive mix, but as well a spark of some sort. Methane is not self-igniting. As such, if air can be introduced into the digester in a way that insures that no spark or flame is introduced, and as well that if any of the biogas/air mix that is being evacuated does ignite, it cannot in turn ignite the biogas/air mix in the digester, then there will not nor cannot be an explosion in the digester. A water trap is one of the simplest ways of accomplishing the task, since flames cannot travel down a column of bubbles.
That was the principle to which I was referring in suggesting to Yvonne that two flame traps be used, one to force air in, and one to allow the biogas/air mix out. As long as the mix being forced out is evacuated into moving air, outside, then in the presence of a spark it may ignite, but it will not explode because it is not contained. Likewise, if it ignites, the flame front will not be able to travel down the column of bubbles into the digester. Sparks and flames would likewise be excluded from the incoming air by the same means, since incoming air would likewise be introduced to the digester via a column of bubbles.
This is a very simple, and if well designed, very reliable means of insuring that enough methane can be flushed out of the digester so that any traces which remain cannot ignite or explode, and at that point the digester can be safely opened. Using simple measurements-- properly made, i.e. at the pressures experienced when using both flame traps-- one can find out how much air is forced into the digester during a given period, and one can then choose a duration for the evacuation process which will insure a non-flammable mix in the digester.
My apologies if this was not clear from my short explanation. d. -- David William House "The Complete Biogas Handbook" |www.completebiogas.com| /Vahid Biogas/, an alternative energy consultancy |www.vahidbiogas.com | "Make no search for water. But find thirst, And water from the very ground will burst." (Rumi, a Persian mystic poet, quoted in /Delight of Hearts/, p. 77) http://bahai.us/
_______________________________________________ Digestion mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address digest...@bioenergylists.org to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org for more information about digestion, see Beginner's Guide to Biogas http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/ and the Biogas Wiki http://biogas.wikispaces.com/
