Maintainance, Monitoring and Repair
The maintenance of a biogas plant comprises all work which is necessary to guarantee
trouble-free operation and a long working life of the plant. Repair reacts to breakdowns of the
biogas system. Maintenance services should be carried out by the manager or main operator
of the biogas plant or a well-trained biogas technician. One has to bear in mind that
measurements indicating problems may be wrong. All doubtful measurements have to be
verified. Often, one symptom has a variety of possible reasons.
Daily maintenance work
Control
gas pressure
substrate
temperature (heated
plants)
(bacteria are very
sensitive to
temperature
extremes and
fluctuations);
gas production
strong sludge odor
Mistakes
Removal
gas pressure too high;
(gas pressure rises, if gas
consumption is lower than the
production and if the gas storage is
full)
The pressure relief valve
malfunctions - it should be
cleaned or renewed;
gas pressure too low;
leakage in gas conducting
(gas pressure falls, if the consumption parts: find out the leakage
(including leakage!) is higher than the and seal;
production and if the gas storage is gas production has fallen:
empty);
check the sludge’s quality;
temperature too high;
defective heating control
system. Check control
system and repair or
exchange part(s)
concerned;
temperature too low;
gas production clearly under normal
levels;
plant is overloaded or
fermenting conditions are sub-
optimal;
defective heating control
system. Check control
system and other concerned
part(s), repair or exchange;
sediment layer on the
heating surface: remove
layer;
biological reasons:
temperature, substrate,
antibiotics, change of pH-
value;
leakage in digester or piping
system; blocked gas pipes
due to water or alien
elements;
identify problem and act
accordingly;
reduce substrate intake;
correct pH-value with
adequate means;
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