Moisture Analyzer Technology Boosts Potential for Converting Biogas to Electric Power

The ability of an advanced gas analyzer to detect moisture, hydrogen sulfide and other contaminants in gases can smooth the way for biogas as a resource for electric utilities.

(PRWEB) April 16, 2008 -- Wouldn't it be great if only some of the expensive Green Power programs you hear about actually worked? A moisture analyzer (http://www.spectrasensors.com/h2s) technology is helping make it possible.

Experts and financiers are predicting it will take billions of investment dollars and decades to get any meaningful quantity of energy from alternative resources.

Maybe not. One of the oldest and most widespread forms of potential energy - methane gas - promises to give those efforts a sizable boost - right now.

'Although methane gas contains plenty of energy, until recently the gas available from many sources has been considered economically unviable as a source of energy,' explains Sam Miller, a senior official with SpectraSensors, Inc. (Rancho Cucamonga, CA). 'Whatever the source of methane, you have to get it to market, which often means getting it into a pipeline that delivers gas to users such as power plants and industrial companies.'

Transporting and marketing methane through pipelines requires that it meet safety and quality standards, Miller explains. Since virtually all biogas contains significant amounts and varieties of impurities that must be removed before pipelines will transport it and customers will accept it.

PG&E harnesses cow power

This spring BioEnergy Solutions (Bakersfield, CA) launched California's first biogas-to-pipeline injection project in Fresno County, central California. The project is using renewable natural gas derived from animal waste at a PG&E site.

'With nearly two million dairy cows in California, there is great potential for the state's agriculture and power sectors to work together to address the challenges of climate change,' said Roy Kuga, vice president of energy supply at PG&E. 'This project is yet another example of our company's commitment to add innovative forms of clean renewable energy to help meet our customers' future power needs.'

'We are using these moisture analyzers (http://www.spectrasensors.com/h2s) to monitor moisture in the methane,' explains David Albers, BioEnergy Solutions president. 'And of course we're checking for hydrogen sulfide content and carbon dioxide content. We're also sampling any pathogens, although we haven't found any and don't expect to. But we will test for them just the same.'

Albers says that the project, located in the town of Riverdale in western Fresno County, will use manure from the Vintage Dairy's 5,000 milk-producing cows and calves. The biogas is upgraded, or 'scrubbed,' to remove corrosive materials to meet PG&E's industry-leading environmental standards for power plants and then delivered to PG&E through the utility's pipeline.

Fast, accurate and lower in costs

Essentially, the SpectraSensors TDL-based gas analyzer uses laser (light) absorption spectroscopy to identify and measure one or more gases in a flow of mixed gases. This type of analyzer is typically 'tuned' to monitor a target gas (e.g. H20, CO2, H2S) by monitoring the absorption of light at wavelengths specific to the target gas.

The SpectraSensors gas moisture analyzer (http://www.spectrasensors.com/h2s) line is designed to provide extremely fast and accurate readings without expensive labor and replacement costs. That is because the gas is analyzed away from the stream in a sample cell. As the laser light passes through the gas sample in the cell, the presence of any target gas is detected and its concentration measured.

For information contact: SpectraSensors, Inc., 11027 Arrow Route, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730; Phone (800) 619-2861; Fax: (909) 948-4142; or visit the web site: http://www.spectrasensors.com/h2s

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