Performance of insulated biogas plant under cold climate of Sikkim

The energy requirement of Sikkim has been traditionally met by mostly using the frewood and LPG. Since the use of frewood causes deforestation and LPG is non renewable energy source, there is an urgent need to identify the renewable energy source in Sikkim. As animal and crop residues are available plenty in Sikkim, biogas could be an effective source of alternate energy for fuel and light as well organic manure. But the problem lies in the climate of the state which goes under 20°C for more than 3 months which is a prohibitive factor for biogas production. To overcome an insulated 3 m³ biogas plant was design, developed and established at college campus and performance was evaluated for its potential biogas production under Sikkim climate. High density thermo coal sheet of 12mm thickness was used to insulate the biogas plant to conserve the temperature. The results showed that the biogas produced remained in the range of 1.69 m³-2.4m³ throughout the year. The peak biogas production was noticed in the months of June and July and the lowest was recorded in the months of December and January. Hence the insulation of biogas plant with the thermo coal material conserves the temperature and aids in biogas production even in the colder environments.