THE EFFECTS OF OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL FACTORS ON THE ECONOMICS OF BIOGAS PRODUCTION FROM DAIRY COW FECES AND WASTEWATER

Biogas created from animal waste is a precious energy source. A practical and successful utilization of the biogas is not easy, because there lie some difficulties in biogas production and facilities investment. In this study, the requisites for a successful biogas utilization were discussed. The production results obtained in the previous operation of anaerobic digestion plant were used for the simulation. When the slurry heating was designed for constant biogas generation, depreciation costs of the facilities amounted 1,175,000 yen per year, and biogas productions at $24.5^{\circ}C$, $30.0^{\circ}C$ and $35.5^{\circ}C$ were $16.8m^3$, $17.6m^3$ and $25.1m^3$, respectively. Removal ratios of organic matters were not so high. At $35.5^{\circ}C$, energy value of the biogas produced was estimated 125.5 Mcal per day, and the following heat loss (y Mcal/day) was brought about by the temperature difference ($X^{\circ}C$) between the digester and atmosphere; y = 0.769X - 5.375. The costs of biogas production per cow were assumed to decrease according to enlargement of feeding scale, especially on scales of more than 30 cows. On recent levels of costs and prices of energy in Japan, they were nearly equal to 2 to 3 fold of the price of municipal mixed gas when a anaerobic digester was compulsorily heated and kept at $30.0^{\circ}C$ or $35.5^{\circ}C$.