The Design and Construction of a Biogas Pressure Regulator for an Internal Combustion Engine

Abstract

This research project was performed to design and construct a regulator pressure valve for biogas supplied to a biogas engine to keep the gas pressure constant. It kept the mixture of air and fuel constant. The regulator pressure valve for biogas modification used the diaphragm of a boiler LPG brand LO GAS, SUPER model. The diameter of the diaphragm was 125 mm. It adjusted pressure gas from the biogas is fixed dome digester. Pressure biogas at 2.18 to 0.5 mH₂O reduced at 0.25 mH₂O.  The engine used for this test was a small gasoline engine, Honda model GX120 T1 with a displacement volume of 200 cm³ and a maximum power of 3.4 hp. It was used to drive a 1 kW generator workload while illuminating a light bulb. The results of testing were the performance of engine maximum power at 12.27% and electrical load 400 Watt. The rate of biogas fuel consumption was 7.7 liter/min. The biogas pressure valve regulator was able to maintain the biogas pressure before entering to the engine of 0.22 to 0.25 mH₂O; differential pressure 0.03 mH₂O. The margin of error was 12%.