Biogas: An Alternative Source of Energy for Developing Economy

Abstract

There is an increase in energy demand due to increased population, leading to high waste generation, deforestation, and global warming. The world's reserves of fossil fuel that has resulted in an increase in energy price cannot be allowed to be depleted. There is a need to look more into economic biogas production, which can serve as an alternative source of energy. Biogas is now preferred because of its environmentally friendly, renewable, clean, cheap, high quality, and versatile fuel, which uses feedstocks. This paper looks more into the processes of production of biogas using the waste of plant-based materials that are typically rich in different polysaccharides that are generated from local farm production of plants and animals in rural Nigeria. Four main steps in biogas production are emphasized, and various factors that affect biogas production are stated. Various ways of manipulating these factors for maximal biogas production were suggested. One of the main challenges in biogas production is the high cost of biodigester, which is taken care of in the paper through a low-cost construction of an alternative biogas digester that serves effectively from used materials. Economic production of biogas is given a probable investment, as described in this work.