An assessment of anaerobic digestion capacity in Bangladesh

K. Rahman, Ryan Woodard, Elizabeth Manzanares, Marie Harder

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This work scopes the potential for existing common feedstocks to be used in existing types of anaerobic digester units to produce biogas in Bangladesh. A preliminary study identified three commonly occurring scenarios of smallholdings with cattle, poultry farms and daily cattle markets which produce dung, poultry litter, and dung mixed with rice straw respectively. This third feedstock is proposed as a novel and significant newly recognised prevalent source. The main study involved carrying out surveys of representative samples of each of these (N=125,125, 30) for the district of Gazipur in order to determine the distribution of herd and flock sizes, and thus the relevant biogas plant types and potential yields. The results were scaled up for nationwide figures, which approximated that the total potential biogas energy from these feedstock types at 240 x106 MJ (240 TJ) per day, or 66.7 x 106 kWh, which in principle could meet the current cooking energy requirements of 30 million people in Bangladesh. Of this, 70% of the potential energy from AD could come from cattle feedstock (with 87% of this from domestic-sized plant); 16% from poultry feedstock (with 63% of that from medium-sized plant); and 14% from rice straw bedding from the cattle markets (all requiring large or very large plant). There is potential for around 2 million domestic units, 340,000 medium units and 20,000 large or very large units that might be more suited for larger users such as businesses, schools or hospitals.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)762-769
Number of pages8
JournalRenewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Volume32
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Feb 2014

Bibliographical note

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 32, April 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2014.01.026

Keywords

  • Anerobic digestion
  • biodigester
  • biogas
  • energy
  • EIA
  • Bangladesh
  • feedstock

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