Production of Methane Gas from Cow’s Residue: Biogas as Alternative Energy in Transportation and Electricity

Abstract

Biogas is known by many names such as swamp gas, marsh gas, gobar gas etc. It contains about 50 to 60 % methane in it. It is the primary constituent of natural gas. Biogas is also produced naturally from the degradation of plants in such situations as rice paddies, ponds, or marshes. Ancient Chinese experimented with burning the gas given off vegetables and manures were left to rot in a closed vessel. Recently Volto, Beachans, and Pasteur worked with biogas-producing organisms. At the turn of the 20th century, communities in England and Bombay, India, disposed of wastes in closed containers and collected the resulting gas for cooking and lighting. Germany, the United States, Australia, Algeria, France, and other nations constructed such methane digesters to supplement dwindling energy supplies during the two world wars.