Biogas methane content is a relevant variable in anaerobic digestion processing where knowledge of process kinetics or an early indicator of digester failure is needed. The contribution of this work is the development of a novel, simple and low cost automatic carbon dioxide-methane gas sensor based on the solubility of gases in water as the precursor of a sensor for biogas quality monitoring. The device described in this work was used for determining the composition of binary mixtures, such as carbon dioxide-methane, in the range of 0–100%. The design and implementation of a digital signal processor and control system into a low-cost Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform has permitted the successful application of data acquisition, data distribution and digital data processing, making the construction of a standalone carbon dioxide-methane gas sensor possible.
References
[1]
Rego, R.; Mendes, A. Carbon dioxide/methane gas sensor based on the permselectivity of polymeric membranes for biogas monitoring. Sens. Actuators B 2004, 103, 2–6, doi:10.1016/j.snb.2004.01.013.
[2]
Sedla?ík, R.; Dvo?á?ková, M.; Hru?ka, F. Application experiences of measurement devices of methane and carbon dioxide concentration. Arch. Mater. Sci. 2007, 28, 1–4.
[3]
Hoppe, M.; Schley, P.; Uhrig, M. Metrological issues in energy measurement on biogas. Accredit. Qual. Assur. 2009, 14, 677–683, doi:10.1007/s00769-009-0546-3.
[4]
Edinburgh Instruments. Available online: http://www.edinst.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[5]
Nordberg, ?.; Hansson, M.; Sundh, I.; Nordkvist, E.; Carlsson, H.; Mathisen, B. Monitoring of biogas process using electronic gas sensors and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR). Water Sci. Technol. 2000, 41, 1–8. 11414238
[6]
Foss NIRSystems. Available online: http://www.foss-nirsystems.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[7]
Steyer, J.P.; Bouvier, J.C.; Conte, T.; Gras, P.; Sousbie, P. Evaluation of a four year experience with a fully instrumented anaerobic digestion process. Water Sci. Technol. 2002, 45, 495–502. 11936672
[8]
Siemens. Available online: http://www.siemens.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[9]
Werle, P.; Slemr, F.; Maurer, K.; Kormann, R.; Mücke, R.; J?nker, B. Near- and mid-infrared laser-optical sensors for gas analysis. Opt. Lasers Eng. 2002, 37, 101–114, doi:10.1016/S0143-8166(01)00092-6.
[10]
Shimadzu. Available online: http://www.shimadzu.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[11]
Mandal, T.; Kiran, B.A.; Mandal, N.K. Determination of the quality of biogas by flame temperature measurement. Energy Convers. Manag. 1999, 40, 1225–1228, doi:10.1016/S0196-8904(99)00009-6.
[12]
Rego, R.; Caetano, N.; Mendes, A. Development of a new gas sensor for binary mixtures based on the permselectivity of polymeric membranes: Application to carbon dioxide/methane and carbon dioxide/helium mixtures. Anal. Chim. Acta. 2004, 511, 215–221, doi:10.1016/j.aca.2004.01.048.
[13]
Rozzi, A.; Burton, K.W.; Hawkes, D.L. Potentiometric method for the determination of carbon dioxide in biogas. J. Agric. Eng. Res. 1983, 28, 505–512, doi:10.1016/0021-8634(83)90114-2.
[14]
Carlson, J.E.; Martinsson, P.E. Ultrasonic measurement of molar fractions in gas mixtures by orthogonal signal correction. Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Joint Conference of IEEE International Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, Montreal, QC, Canada, 23– 27 August 2004; pp. 821–825.
[15]
Tardy, P.; Coulon, J.R.; Lucat, C.; Menil, F. Dynamic thermal conductivity sensor for gas detection. Sens. Actuators B 2004, 98, 63–68, doi:10.1016/j.snb.2003.09.019.
[16]
Gonzalez-Gil, G.; Kleerebezem, R.; Lettinga, G. Assessment of metabolic properties and kinetic parameters of methanogenic sludge by on-line methane production rate measurements. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol 2002, 58, 248–254, doi:10.1007/s00253-001-0831-5. 11876419
[17]
Lide, D.R. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics., 85th ed. ed.; CRC: Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2005; pp. 8:86–8:89.
[18]
ACDelco. Available online: http://www.acdelco.com/parts/wiper-products/windshield-washer-pump/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[19]
Tellurex. Available online: http://www.tellurex.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[20]
Cadena-Pereda, R.O.; Rivera-Mu?oz, E.M.; Herrera Ruiz, G. Automatic volumetric gas flow meter for monitoring biogas production from laboratory-scale anaerobic digester. Sens. Actuators B 2010, 147, 10–14, doi:10.1016/j.snb.2010.03.053.
[21]
Clark Solutions. Available online: http://www.clarksol.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[22]
Measurement Specialties. Available online: http://www.meas-spec.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[23]
Honeywell. Available online: http://www.honeywell.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[24]
National Semiconductor. Available online: http://www.national.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[25]
Xilinx. Available online: http://www.xilinx.com/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[26]
Devore, J.L. Probabilidad y Estadística Para Ingeniería y Ciencias, 4th ed. ed.; International Thomson: México City, México, 2003; pp. 278–281.
[27]
Mathworks. Available online: http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/polyfit.html (accessed on 1 May 2012).
[28]
Gerardi, M.H. The Microbiology of Anaerobic Digesters, 1st ed. ed.; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2003; pp. 135–139.
[29]
Samet, L.; Masmoudi, N.; Kharrat, M.W.; Kamoun, L. A Digital PID controller for real time and multi loop control. Proceedings of the 5ème Colloque d'Informatique Industrielle, Djerba, Tunisie, 8–10 February 1998.
[30]
Samet, L.; Masmoudi, N.; Kharrat, M.W.; Kamoun, L. A digital PID controller for real time and multi loop control: A comparative study. Proceedings of 1998 IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, Lisboa, Portugal, 7– 10 September 1998. Volume 1; pp. 291–296.
[31]
Lima, J.; Menotti, R.; Cardoso, J.M.P.; Marques, E. A methodology to design FPGA-based PID controllers. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Taipei, Taiwan, 8– 11 October 2006; pp. 2577–2583.
[32]
Chan, Y.F.; Moallem, M.; Wang, W. Design and implementation of modular FPGA-based PID controllers. IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. 2007, 54, 1898–1906, doi:10.1109/TIE.2007.898283.
[33]
Jeong-Seob, K.; Hyo-Won, J.; Seul, J. Hardware implementation of nonlinear PID controller with FPGA based on floating point operation for 6-DOF manipulator robot arm. Proceedings of the International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems 2007, Seoul, Korea, 17–20 October 2007; pp. 1066–1071.
[34]
Subasri, V.; Lavanya, K.; Umamaheswari, B. Implementation of digital PID controller in field programmable gate array (FPGA). Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics, Chennai, India, 19–21 December 2006; pp. 172–176.
[35]
INFRA. Available online: http://www.infra.com.mx/ (accessed on 1 May 2012).