Managing Biogas Plants

Driven by the increasing focus on sustainable energy production and recent advancements in anaerobic digestion technology, the Second Edition of Managing Biogas Plants: A Practical Guide, provides insights into optimizing biogas plant operations. This updated edition explores the latest developments in biochemical methane potential (BMP) testing, automatic measurement systems, and biological process management for industrial biogas plants. Drawing from extensive field experience, the book bridges theoretical concepts with hands-on applications. Features:

• Includes updated content on state-of-the-art BMP testing methods and their practical applications in energy production.

• Incorporates the latest technology in automatic methane potential measurement, including third-generation instruments with improved accuracy and capabilities.

• Provides critical analysis of current industry standards and presents enhanced sections on error propagation analysis and uncertainty margins in BMP testing.

• Equips professionals with proper methodologies for expressing BMP test results for business planning and decision making.

• Updates practical applications with current case studies reflecting real-world implementation.

Complete with updated figures, practical examples, and troubleshooting guidance, this book is aimed at biogas plant managers, researchers, and industry professionals.

Author Biography

Mario A. Rosato is an electrical, electronic, and environmental engineer, as well as a scientific journalist. He built his first home-sized digester in Argentina when he was 16 years old. The son of a university professor and researcher, since his childhood, he learnt to employ sophisticated instruments in his favorite playground—his father’s lab. At the age of 25, he obtained a scholarship to specialize in renewable energies in Italy. At 28, he chose to leave the academic research world and devoted himself to developing industrial solutions. In 2009, he founded Sustainable Technologies SL in Barcelona (Spain) and moved its headquarters to Portogruaro (Italy) in 2019. Since 2010, he has provided technical training to biogas researchers and professionals in several private institutes in Italy and Spain, expanding this activity to the rest of the world in collaboration with the World Biogas Association since 2022. He has been running a laboratory for applied research and routine anaerobic digestion tests in Italy since 2011. Since 2014, he has been responsible for the column on bioenergy for Agro Notizie, a specialized e-zine catering to Italian agronomists and agricultural entrepreneurs. In 2015, he was one of the experts in charge of drafting the Italian norm on the biochemical methane potential (BMP) test protocol, with his contributions focusing on error propagation analysis and improving both accuracy and precision. In 2022, the first edition of this volume was included in Book Authority’s lists of the best 100 books and 20 e-books on chemical engineering.