Fox Digester Flow Meters
30 September 2016
Monitoring Biogas in Digester Applications
Gases produced from anaerobic digesters are commonly monitored by thermal mass flow meters. Biogas is produced when organic matter decomposes in the absence of oxygen and digesters are often the vessels used in this process. Landfills, farms, and wastewater treatment plants are becoming common sites for the use of digesters to produce biogas.
Typically, biogas is made up of 70% methane and 30% carbon dioxide; however, digester gas is known to change composition from time to time. A remedy for this is to have a portable gas analyzer to check periodically for any changes in the gas composition. If your meter is calibrated to measure a particular mixture, you may encounter accuracy errors if the gas composition changes. The larger the change, the greater the error.
Fox has developed a product, the Model FT1, with a solution to this changing gas composition problem in mind. The innovative design of the DDC-Sensor™ on the Model FT1 allows the meter to be calibrated on a single gas, while the meter is programmed to measure up to 11 pure gases and a 3-Gas Mix option, too. The 3-Gas Mix helps solve the changing gas composition issue by allowing the user to choose any 3 gases available in the Gas-SelectX® gas selection menu and program their concentrations in 1% increments (gas mixture total must equal 100%).
By allowing the gas composition to be programmed in the meter, Fox is helping its customers find a versatile meter that will reduce errors in accuracy and extra costs associated with competitor’s meters that would need to be returned to the factory for recalibration.
Thermal gas mass flow meters are often used in digester gas applications, including:
- Digester gas flowmeters for Livestock manure management systems
- Swine and dairy farms
- Liquid systems (lagoons and holding tanks)
- Digester Gas Meters for Landfills
- Municipal Solid waste systems
- Digester Gas Flow Meters for Wastewater Treatment Plants