Model Predictive Control for Demand‐Driven Biogas Production in Full Scale

Abstract

Abstract Biogas plants have the potential to provide demand‐oriented electricity to compensate the occurring divergence between energy demand and supply by uncontrollable sources like wind and solar power. The general flexibility of the biological process is proofed in particular under full‐scale conditions for a biogas production according to the grid demand. A model predictive control was developed to calculate feeding strategies in order to fulfill a demand‐oriented gas utilization timetable. Full‐scale experiments showed a high intraday flexibility in a wide range of the average gas production and high process stability in reaction to pulse feeding. The gas storage demand could be reduced significantly compared to the common constant feeding operation.