A Study On The Limitations And Strategies For The Development Of Biogas Digesters In Gansu Province

Demonstration and extension of biogas digester technology is an available way to cope with world potential energy crisis, mitigate global climate change, and improve rural ecological environment.It is discussed and analyzed in the paper that the development process, trend and hot topic of biogas technology in the countries where biogas facilities were well developed. A comparative study was then conducted between China and the rest of the world in use of biogas so as to explore a reasonable biogas industry developmental model for Gansu province.In order to reveal the limitations of biogas use in Gansu province, the author conducted questionnaire surveys, semi-structured interviewsand empirical researches in Yongjing county, Lanzhou city, Jingyuan county, Baiyin city, and Kongtong district, Pingliang city, respectively, so as to identify possible limitations of biogas use and extension during the period of construction, daily operation and maintenance of rural family-sized biogas digesters in Gansu province. Furthermore, a comparative study was conducted between the traditional biogas digesters with the Chinese National Standard and the 200 newly improved biogas digesters developed with a project funding of Gansu Provincial Department of Science and Technology.Moreover, the author surveyed the energy consumption status by comparing both the farm households using the traditional family-sized hydraulic pressure biogas digesters and the improved ones and the households with biogas digesters with those without installing the biogas digesters, obtaining useful data and information in effectiveness of improved and traditional biogas digesters, biogas production rate, biogas production stability, heat preservation, the proportion of biogas in household applied energy, as well as the capability to substitute fossil energy... Then, an evaluation was conducted in the area of the efficiency of the utilization of biogas digesters in energy saving and emission reduction, ecological conservation, booming rural economy by taking the energy consumption status of the families without biogas digesters as a control group. Finally, the value of technical and managerial improvement in the process of biogas digester construction in rural regions of Gansu was identified.Finally, the necessity, feasibility and selectable development model of factory intensified biogas plants in Gansu province were discussed in the paper. And the choice of ecological developmental model, integrated use of the byproducts of biogas, biogas development policies and the management measures for household biogas digesters were analyzed so as to propose recommendations for the government in working out biogas development policies and regulations.