Marches Biogas - Working together to maximise biogas quality control

Two solution focused industry leaders have formed a coalition to maximise anaerobic digestion (AD) plant efficiency through enhanced biogas quality analysis and control.

As the market leading gas analyser manufacturer, Geotech is constantly expanding its series of fixed and portable units. Last year Geotech and Marches Biogas came together to undertake a joint trial.

Marches Biogas is a leading UK based provider of Anaerobic Digestion technology with over 25 years’ experience, specialising in the design and build of industrial and on-farm AD plants as well as providing mechanical and biological support. In recent years the company has developed over 30 AD plants across the British Isles as well as supporting a number of local Water authorities.

The Brief

In 2014, Marches Biogas was commissioned to build a 500kWe AD plant near Ludlow, Shropshire, using its unique semi plug flow digester design. Alongside this modern digester Marches Biogas began the process of developing an innovative system to convert the hydrogen sulphide in biogas into elemental sulphur via chemical scrubbing, ensuring only the cleanest biogas makes it into the Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP). This complex method requires continuous gas monitoring and sampling before and after the biogas scrubbing procedure.

As such, Marches Biogas needed a high quality gas analyser that would monitor this progressive process. Consequently, a joint venture was proposed with Geotech, which was also in the process of developing a series of new fixed analysers. Marches Biogas already use Geotech’s GA3000 PLUS fixed unit as a standard on every new AD plant and the portable BIOGAS 5000 during plant commissioning and scheduled checks. Having been impressed with the capabilities of both products, Marches Biogas was very keen to test the new BIOGAS 3000 fixed analyser.

As a joint venture, this process cemented the relationship between Marches Biogas and Geotech. Pavel Psenicka, Process Engineer at Marches Biogas said; “There are alternative gas analysers on the market that would have been suitable for this trial, but Geotech was able to offer a state of the art analyser with two different H₂S detection cells for multiple measuring ranges, providing even higher accuracy.”

The Solution

Following the installation of the ground-breaking chemical scrubber in June 2016, Geotech was commissioned to install the new BIOGAS 3000* to monitor the gas quality of CH₄, CO₂, O₂ and two-range H₂S before and after the scrubber and provide the results to the plant operator and Marches Biogas R&D team. The device was installed by a Marches Biogas engineer and commissioned by Geotech product development engineers, who ensured it was correctly configured enabling immediate monitoring capabilities.

The BIOGAS 3000 provided Marches Biogas with detailed gas composition results, allowing them to control the H₂S levels in the biogas and to calculate the conversion rate of H₂S into elemental sulphur.

By using the valuable data supplied by the Geotech BIOGAS 3000 analyser during the initial trial, the biogas scrubber has undergone a series of further developments. It is now in its closing stage of evolution before its release to the AD industry. After the successful trial, Marches Biogas intends to use the BIOGAS 3000 as part of the product package.

Alongside the Marches Biogas trial, Geotech was able to test the BIOGAS 3000 in real time circumstances, assessing the upgraded monitoring software and improved outputs.

The trial process enabled both companies to develop and modernise their products in a safe and controlled environment. The valuable data accrued has furthered the development and upgrades of the Geotech gas analyser software ensuring their continued status as the market leading brand.

Graham Sanders, Major Account Manager at Geotech said; “The continued development of our products is key to Geotech’s position within the Anaerobic Digestion industry. With the help of the Marches Biogas team we have successfully tested and launched the BIOGAS 3000 and will continue to work closely with them in the future.”

Future Plans

Marches Biogas has exciting plans for expansion this coming year.

Pavel Psenicka continued; “We have a number of new AD plants in development for 2017 and the BIOGAS 3000 will be a standard component of each plant. Our future plan is to launch the H₂S scrubber to develop a similar technology to recover ammonia from the biogas, which would operate on a similar basis to the current system. This new process will also require gas monitoring for which we will look to Geotech.”

Please click here for more information or to request a pre order quote for the BIOGAS 3000 and the BIOGAS 5000, or call +44(0)1926 338111.

*superseded the GA3000 PLUS