In Bangladesh, biomass, encompassing organic materials of modern biological origin, plays a pivotal role in addressing energy scarcity. Bioenergy, harnessed from biomass, is crucial for national develop- ment. Rural communities in Bangladesh heavily rely on biomass fuels, including wood, crop residues, and animal dung, for domestic use. The Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) anticipates a 25% increase in rural biomass fuel demand by 2041 due to population growth and changing cooking practices. Biogas-to-electricity initiatives gained momentum in the early 2000s, with organizations like IDCOL and Grameen Shakti leading the way. IDCOL’s Biogas Program initiated in 2004 marked a turning point by providing electricity to off-grid rural areas. Subsequent integration with solar home systems in 2008 enhanced energy reliability. In the 2010s, IDCOL expanded its efforts, aiming to install 4,000 biogas plants, contributing to clean cooking fuel and electricity. The government’s commitment to a 10% renewable energy share by 2021 further bolstered these initiatives. Biogas, gener- ated through anaerobic digestion, has emerged as a cost-effective and sustainable solution, particularly small household-based fixed dome models. IDCOL’s subsidy and support have driven the success of these renewable energy programs, achieving energy access and economic stability for rural households. The calorific value of biogas and its electricity potential hold promise for addressing energy demand challenges. Additionally, diverse biomass sources in Bangladesh exhibit varying sustainability and scal- ability scores, with agricultural residues showing high potential for both. Utilizing organic waste for biogas production in agricultural nations like Bangladesh holds promise for sustainable biogas technol- ogy and environmental impact reduction, contributing to the global transition towards cleaner energy sources. In summary, biogas-technology has emerged as a pivotal solution to combat energy scarcity, enhance sustainability, and promote economic stability in rural Bangladesh. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.1 Electricity Generation from Biogas: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.2 Electricity Generation and Biogas in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.3 Key Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.4 Environmental and Sustainability Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. BIOMASS RESOURCES AND USE IN BIO-GAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.1 Biomass Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.2 Biomass Feedstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.3 Biomass Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.4 Biogas and Its Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4. HISTORY OF BIO-GAS GROWTH IN BANGLADESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.1 Timeline of Bio-gas growth in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. SUSTAINABLE BIOGAS PROCESSING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.1 Biogas Generation and Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6. EXPLORING ELECTRICITY GENERATION POSSIBILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 6.1 Micro Gas Turbine System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 6.2 Fuel Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 6.2.1 Parts of A Fuel Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 6.2.2 Fuel Cell Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 6.2.3 Electricity Generation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 6.3 Internal Combustion Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 6.3.1 Working Principle of an IC Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 6.3.2 Electricity Generation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 7. EXPLORING CURRENT BIO GAS TECHNOLOGIES IN BANGLADESH . . . . . . . 20 7.1 Biogas Technology Providers in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 iii 7.1.1 Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7.1.2 The Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) . . . . . . . . 21 7.1.3 IDCOL’s Financial Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 7.1.4 IDCOL’s Development Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 7.2 Biogas Technology in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 7.2.1 Floating cover digester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 7.2.2 Fixed cover digester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 7.2.3 Plastic-tubular cover digester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 7.3 Cost of Biogas Plants in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 7.4 Motivation of Biogas Plants in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 7.5 Saving of Conventional Fuel Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 7.5.1 Financial gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 7.5.2 Financial Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 7.6 Energy Output Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 7.7 Assessing Electricity Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 7.7.1 Measurng Potential Electricity Generation from Biogas . . . . . . . . . . . 29 8. ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY AND SCALABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8.1 Acheiving Sustainable Development Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8.2 Impact on Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 9. FUTURE PROSPECTS AND POSSIBILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 9.1 Aspect of Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 10. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35