Development and Testing of the Performance of

Biogas Engine from Gasoline Engine with the Use of Different Blends of Biogas
with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as additive

A Project Proposal
Presented to
The Faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Central Philippine University
Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

By
Miado, Alistair Ray M.

August 16, 2016

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Background and Rationale of the Study

In todays world there are a host of serious environmental problems, and
industrial farming is one of the top causes of pollution. Industrial farming produces
massive amounts of animal waste on relatively small plots of land. When too much waste
is produced in one place, theres no safe, cost-effective way to either use it productively
or dispose of it. People often believe that animal manure is harmless, but in truth it can be
quite hazardous. Factory livestock facilities pollute the air and release over 400 separate
gasses, mostly due to the large amounts of manure they produce. The principal gases
released are hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. Gasses can be
dangerous air pollutants that threaten both the environment and human health.
Today the main resources of energy are coal; crude oil, natural gas and nuclear
energy will be depleted within the next generation such as hydroelectric, wind, solar and
bioenergy are gaining more and more importance in terms of research and development
as well as implemented systems, since they are renewable energies and sometimes
available through in an even individual approach. This creates a chance to generate
energy in your own backyard or at ones disposal. There is lot of potential for renewable
energies but it is not sufficiently exploited for reasons like lack of capital research, and
expertise. Countries are feeling the burden of the depletion of non-renewable energy

source like coal and the increasing its cost while the renewable energy that the countries
possess still is not used or is exploited to its maximum potential.
Gasoline is a fuel made from crude oil and other petroleum liquids. Gasoline is
mainly used as an engine fuel in light-duty vehicles. Gasoline use to contribute to air
pollution, since gasoline is a toxic and highly flammable liquid. The vapors given off
when gasoline evaporates and the substances produced when it is burned (carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and unburned hydrocarbons) contribute to
air pollution. Burning gasoline also produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to
global climate change.
Biogas is any gas fuel derived from the decay of organic matter, as the mixture of
methane and carbon dioxide produced by the bacterial decomposition of sewage, manure,
garbage, or plant crops. Farmers produce biogas in large tanks called digesters where they
place manure and bedding material from their barns. Some farmers cover their manure
ponds to capture biogas. Biogas digesters and manure ponds contain the same anaerobic
bacteria found in landfills. The methane in the biogas can be used for heating and can
also be used for generating electricity on the farm. Biogas can be a source of renewable
energy in a pig farm and can reduce or eliminate energy costs of electricity. However, if
untapped, biogas contributes about 60% of the total on-farm greenhouse gas emissions in
a pig farm.
The largest underutilized resources for biogas production are found in agriculture.
Approx. 4-5% of the animal manure produced is currently used for biogas production,

corresponding to just over 1.2 million m3 /year. Biogas coming from agriculture products
must be use more often for electricity generation to help solve the problem in energy.
The purpose of this research is to develop a simple method of conversion from
gasoline to biogas fueled small engine with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as an additive
and to determine the highest power the engine can get in a biogas engine .
Objectives of the Study
This research aims to develop a conversion of gasoline engine to biogas engine
with different blends of biogas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the fuel and
compare it to pure gasoline fuel without changing the compression ratio of original spark
ignition engine.

Specifically, this research aims to:

1. Design a biogas engine
2. Develop a biogas engine from an existing gasoline engine
3. Compare the performance of the gasoline engine with a converted biogas
engine using different blend of biogas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
using following performance parameters:
a. Brake Power
b. Break Mean Effective Pressure
c. Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
d. Break Thermal Efficiency

Significance of the study

This study will be significant to the following:
1. Enviroment. Biogas coming from pig manure is a solution for the
enviromental impact cause by agricultural waste. Also biogas, or
methane is a clean-burning which is a good substitue to the gasoline
fuel which produce a lot of greenhouse gases. Which does not
contribute to greenhouse gases that causes global warming.
2. Pig Farmers. Since most of the biogas comes from animal manure
which is a by-product in swine industry; it helps the farmers reduce
their electricity bill or even become independent to the commercial
electricity.
Scope and Delimitations
This study focuses on the making a biogas engine out of gasoline engine and
comparing the performance of a pure gasoline fuel and the biogas fuel with a Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG) with different blend as an additive to the biogas fuel.
1. Number of cylinders of the engine. Number of cylinders of the
gasoline engine to be used to be use is 1 cylinder.
2. Number of stroke of the engine. In this research a 4-stroke gasoline
engine.
3. Type of Biogas. The biogas use in this research comes from pig
manure

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Environmental Issues associated with hog wastes
Hog waste contains a very high amount of nitrogen that evaporates into the air as
ammonia, which is very reactive form of nitrogen and falls back to the land and water
bodies when it rains. A small portion of it is lost as nitrous oxide (N2O) which is the
"most damaging" greenhouse gas that depletes the ozone layer--320 times more
damaging than carbon dioxide. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition, though beneficial to the
extent that it may be easily absorbed as fertilizer if it falls due to rain on a crop, can
actually cause more harm than good to the environment.
Spills and leaks are prevalent in swine industry due to most of the swine raisers
do not confine hog wastes to their land. Animal wastes are carriers of parasites, bacteria
and viruses that will flow into the groundwater and surface water where it will
contaminate these bodies of water.
Most swine farmers spread untreated sewage on farmland as an organic fertilizer
even in fact it doesn't fertilize but runs off to the nearest river and lake, contaminating
drinking water and recreation areas.
Health Issues associated with hog wastes
Animal wastes are carriers of diseases .Harmful components of pig waste that
have effects on human health are pathogens, nitrates, and hydrogen sulfide. Pathogens
can contaminate water and cause gastrointestinal diseases. The vapor emitted by swine
farms, which contain noxious gases such as methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide,

filter through the skins and houses of people living near the farms. While methane and
ammonia are large contributors to greenhouse effect, hydrogen sulfide greatly affects
human health. Hydrogen sulfide, usually associated with a "rotten egg" smell, has caused
symptoms such as nausea, blackout periods, headaches and vomiting. The odor, once
absorbed into the lungs, moves into the bloodstream through gas exchange in the lungs.
A study was done which found that people living near hog farms suffered from
significantly higher levels of upper respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments than those
living near cattle farms or in non-livestock farming community.
Composition of pig manure
Liquid manure is a mixture of feces and water. The composition of pig manure
can be seen in Figure 1. There is a growing interest in agricultural biogas, which to a
large degree is associated with animal farming. The raw material used in its production is
biomass in the form of liquid manure, cow dung, animal and vegetable waste.
Percentage
content, %
Water
73.11
Dry solids
8.12
Suspended solids
6.50
COD
9.75
Amine N (including
0.65 (of that
ammonia N)
0.49)
P (as P2O5)
0.41
K (as K2O)
0.65
Ca (as CaO)
0.33
Mg (as MgO)
0.16
Cl
0.16
S (as SO42-)
0.16
Figure 1.Composition of a pig manure
Constituent

Biogas

Biogas is a gas produced by anaerobic process of fermentation of different forms

of organic matter and is composed mainly of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Biogas is supplied to a variety of uses or markets, including electricity, heat and
transportation fuels. In many countries using the gas for direct combustion in household
stoves and gas lamps is increasingly common, producing electricity from biogas is still
relatively rare in most developing countries. In industrialized countries, power generation
is the main purpose of most biogas plants; conversion of biogas to electricity has become
a standard technology. To improve overall efficiency of biogas utilization, combined heat
and power plants are often used.
The global potential of biogas is large enough to provide a substantial share of
future gas demand; estimations show that biogas could cover around 6% of the global
primary energy supply, or one quarter of the present consumption of natural gas (fossil
methane gas).
Methane and other hydrogen components make up the combustible part of biogas.
Methane is a colorless and odorless gas with a boiling point of -162C and it burns with a
blue flame. Methane is also the main constituent (77-90%) of natural gas. Pure methane
has an upper calorific value of 39.8 MJ/m3, which corresponds to 11.06 kWh/ m3. If
biogas is mixed with 10-20% air, you get a combustible air.

Gas
Methane (CH4)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)

%
55 70
30 45

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S)

Hydrogen (H 2 )
12
Ammonia (NH 3 )
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Nitrogen (N2)
Trace
Oxygen (O2)
Figure2. Composition of a traditional biogas
Biogas production
Organic substances exist in wide variety from living beings to dead organisms.
Organic matters are composed of Carbon (C), combined with elements such as Hydrogen
(H), Oxygen (O), Nitrogen (N), and Sulphur (S) to form variety of organic compounds
such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. In nature (microorganisms), through digestion
process breaks the complex carbon into smaller substances. The digestion process
occurring without oxygen is called anaerobic digestion which generates mixtures of
gases. The gas produced which is mainly methane produces 5200-5800 KJ/m3 which
when burned at normal room temperature and presents a viable environmentally friendly
energy source to replace fossil fuels. Anaerobic digestion is also referred to as
biomethanization, it is a natural process that takes place in absence of oxygen. It involves
biochemical decomposition of complex organic material by various biochemical
processes with release of energy rich biogas and production of nutrious effluents. The
three important biological processes (microbiology) in anaerobic digestion are:
1. Hydrolysis- It is the first step in making a biogas. Bacteria decompose long chains
of complex carbohydrates, proteins, & lipids into small chains. For example,
Polysaccharides are converted into monosaccharide. Proteins are split into
peptides and amino acids.

2. Acidification- Acid-producing bacteria involved in this step, it convert the

intermediates of fermenting bacteria into acetic acid, hydrogen and carbon
dioxide. These bacteria are anaerobic and can grow under acidic conditions. To
produce acetic acid, they need oxygen and carbon. For this, they use dissolved O2
or bounded-oxygen. Hereby, the acid-producing bacterium creates anaerobic
condition which is essential for the methane producing microorganisms.
3. Methanogenesis- (Methane formation) Methane-producing bacteria, which were
involved in the third step, decompose compounds having low molecular weight.
They utilize hydrogen, carbon dioxide and acetic acid to form methane and
carbon dioxide.
Internal Combustion Engine Using Biogas
Biogas can be used as fuel in both diesel and Otto engine. In diesel engine, the
heat due compression is not enough for self-ignition of biogas. Therefore, diesel engine
uses a second oil-based fuel, together with biogas, for ignition. The biogas is mixed with
the combustion air. The oil-based fuel is injected near the top of the compression stroke
where it immediately ignites by the compression heat together with the biogas. A
common name for these diesel engines is dual-fuel engines or pilot injection engines,
since it uses two kinds of fuel.
Otto engines on the other hand only use biogas as fuel. They have spark plugs for
ignition and a gas/air mixing system for providing a combustible mixture to the engine.
Otto engines are constructed for power generation using a lean burn technology,
including turbocharger, with a surplus of air for improving efficiency and reducing
emissions. Diesel engines can also be re-built to Otto engines, when using only biogas as

fuel, by adding an ignition system. Gas-Otto motors require biogas with a minimum of
45% methane content.
Hydrogen Sulfide in biogas
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) is a pollutant gas that can be found as a contaminant in
commercial gas. It is a smelly and deadly gas and very corrosive to certain type of metals.
The disadvantages of H2S contaminant have limited the application of biogas as fuel for
internal combustion engine. The result of combustion of the gas that contains H2S is
sulfur and sulfuric acid that is very corrosive to metals.
Utilization of Biogas from Different Agricultural Waste
Meggyes and Nagy develop a Biogas production and utilization methods that are
suitable for providing continuous operation of existing biogas plants and also for
determining the parameters of establishing biogas plants. They perform an experiment
with different kinds of variants by using different kinds of plant additives to produce
biogas based on liquid pig manure. Experimental variants (mixtures of liquid pig manure
and plant additives) were developed to produce biogas and intensify biogas yield, and
then gas engine tests were done for the energy utilization. The result of their experiment
shows that all the different additives use in the experiment (Bacteria, sweet sorghum
press residue, fruit marc, and maize marc) can be used as additive to the pig manure.

Conversion of Gasoline to Biogas Fueled Engine

Nindhia and others conducted an experiment is to have a conversion method from

gasoline to biogas fuelled of the single cylinder four stroke engine of electric generator.
The biogas should be upgraded to the level of zero impurities of hydrogen sulfide H2S,
water (H2O) and reducing up to zero level of CO2 impurities. The carburetor of the
gasoline engine was replaced and only component of the mixer of the fuel and air were
used. But in some cases carbon dioxide removal is not implemented since it is costly but
the performance of the engine is lower and this is very good for small applications.

Figure 3. Schematic conversion method from gasoline to biogas fuel (1) digester (2)
desulfurizer (3) Dehumidifier (4) Bag of gas holder (5) Compressor (6) Gas container; (7)
Vacuum opened valve (8) Air intake (9) Biogas and air mixer (10) engine.
Removal of Hydrogen Sulfide from Biogas using Dry Desulfurization Systems
A study conducted by Magomnang and Villanueva investigated the effectiveness
of iron steel wool in eliminating hydrogen sulfide in a biogas, its efficacy and the amount
of H2S removed. A three-stage removal system was installed for the removal of Hydrogen
Sulfide. The raw gas was produced by a continuous flow type Biogas Digester. Hence,
iron oxide in the form of iron sponge is the most typical form of a dry sulfur scavenging

system as iron oxide can be regenerated several times before the material loses its activity
due to the buildup of elemental sulfur. The dry iron oxide sulfur scavenging system
typically consists of a series of vessels loaded with iron ores containing high levels of
iron oxide or iron oxide on a supported media called the iron sponge. The chemical

equation is:

2 Fe 2 O3 +6 H 2 S=2 Fe 2 S3 +6 H 2 O

Gasoline engine to biogas engine

According to von Mitzlatf, in his book, energies for biogas; the modification of an
Otto engine (spark ignition, petrol or gasoline engine) is comparatively easy as the engine
is designed to operate on an air/fuel mixture with spark ignition. The basic modification
is the provision of a gas-air mixer instead of the carburetor. The engine control is
performed by the variation of the mixture supply, i.e. the throttle valve position as has
been the case with petrol fuel. Pressure-controlled gas mixing valves are in frequent use
for motor vehicles which are driven by LPG. They are manufactured in large series and in
different types and sizes for differently sized engines.
Study of Performance Parameters of Gasoline - Ethanol Blends in Single Cylinder Fourstroke gasoline engine
An experimental investigation has been conducted by Agarwal and Chhabra on air
cooled 5 HP single cylinder spark ignition engine, fuelled with the various blends of
gasoline-ethanol. Engine performance is also evaluated using gasoline fuel without any
modification in a present engine. In the experiment the four performance factors that are
measured are: Brake Power, Break Mean Effective Pressure, Brake Specific Fuel
consumption, and Break Thermal Efficiency.

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This research is aimed to convert a gasoline engine into a biogas engine, and then
utilize biogas fuel from pig manure as fuel as an alternative fuel use for spark ignition
engines. To perform this experiment, we use different blends of biogas and Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG), as an additive with maximum blend of LPG at 20%. The
performance of the biogas engine using the mentioned types of fuel was then compared
with the gasoline engine.
These are the performance parameters that will be needed in the experiment:
1. Brake Power
2. Break Mean Effective Pressure
3. Brake Specific Fuel consumption
4. Break Thermal Efficiency
I.
Performance Parameters
1. Brake Power
When the power developed is measured by means of a dynamometer or similar
braking device, it is called brake power. This is the power actually delivered by the
engine and is therefore the capacity of the engine.
P=2 Tn

Where:

P= power ,T =torque ,n=engine speed

2. Break Mean Effective Pressure

This is the average effective cylinder pressure that does useful work calculated from
the brake horse power. The work accomplished during one engine cycle divided by the
engine swept volume. It is essentially the engine torque normalized by the engine
displacement. The word brake denotes the actual torque/power available at the engine
flywheel as measured on a dynamometer. Thus, BMEP is a measure of the useful power
output of the engine.

BMEP=

Where:

4 T
Vd

T =torque , V d =displacement volume

Engine
BMEP
Naturally aspirated 4-stroke
700 to 900 kPa
diesels
Naturally aspirated spark850 to 1050 kPa
ignition engines
Turbocharged automotive spark
1250 to 1700 kPa
ignition engines
Turbocharged automotive 41400 to 1900 kPa
stroke diesels
Large 2-Stroke Diesel
1900 kPa
High performance ultra-boosted
2800 kPa
4-stroke
Top fuel dragster
8000 to 10000 kPa
Figure4. BMEP of different kinds of engine
3. Break Specific Fuel Consumption
Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) is the ratio of the engine fuel
consumption to the engine power output as measured at the flywheel. The BSFC is
dependent on engine load and speed. Typically the BSFC is poor at low load, maximum

load and at idle and high speed - this leaves a minimum somewhere in the center of this
map. This minimum is what is normally quoted for an engine.

BSFC =

mass of fuel
Engine Brake Power

4. Break Thermal Efficiency

Brake Thermal Efficiency is defined as break power of a heat engine as a function
of the thermal input from the fuel. It is used to evaluate how well an engine converts the
heat from a fuel to mechanical energy.
th =

P
m f Qf
P=Brake Power , mf =mass of fuel ,Q f =Heating value of fuel

Where:
II.

Design Plan
1

1. Digester
2
2. LPG

1. LPG valve
2. Air

3. Desulfirizer

3. Gas/Air
mixer
8. Engine

4. Biogas

Valve
4

Figure 5.Schematic Diagram of the Biogas engine to use

III.

Flowchart

Acquisition of Biogas

Acquisition of gasoline engine

Testing the different parameters

in gasoline engine

Converting gasoline engine

into biogas engine

Testing the different parameters

in biogas engine with different
blends of biogas and LPG
Comparing the different
parameters of different blends
of biogas and LPG with
gasoline fuel

Figure 6. Flowchart of activities

1. Acquisition of Biogas
The first step in this research is to acquisition of biogas. The biogas must come
from a digester. Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have a list of pig

farmers that are using biogas in Iloilo as a source of heating; after obtaining the list it is
necessary to evaluate the availability of biogas for the experiment.
2. Acquisition of Gasoline engine
The engine must be single-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine for this research.
The type of gasoline engine must be available in the market.
3. Testing the different parameters in gasoline engine
Test the performance of the gasoline engine base on the different performance
parameters that is said above with the use of gasoline fuel.
4. Converting gasoline engine into biogas engine
To convert a gasoline engine into a biogas engine, the carburetor must be
replaced by a gas/air mixer which the mixture of gases and air will go into the suction
port of the diesel engine. Other things to consider is that there is a need of filtering of
biogas coming out of the digester, so there is a desulphurizer which removes the H2S that
causes corrosion in the engine. Also to consider is the valves that will regulate the flow of
biogas and LPG into desired concentrations. The schematic diagram of the system is in
Fig. 5.
5. Testing the different parameters in biogas engine with different blends of biogas
and LPG
After the conversion of gasoline engine into a biogas engine the testing of different
performance parameters will occur. For the testing of different blends, the blends of

biogas and LPG that will be use in the experiment are (80:20, 85:15, 90:10, 95:5, and
100:0) respectively.
6. Comparing the different parameters of different blends of biogas and LPG with
gasoline fuel
After collecting the data, compare the performance parameter of different blends of
biogas and LPG with the one with gasoline engine.