ix.Limited awareness and capacity building

Awareness among the public is a major challenge in many countries leading to limited adoption of biogas technology in many owing to limited institutional and technical capacity in these countries that would have actively promoted the adoption resulting in its lack of popularity as an energy source [67, 81, 82]. For this technology to gain massive adoption, especially at local or community levels, proper awareness and capability programs are necessary.

x.Lack of economies of scale and sufficient demand

Households in rural areas having significant feedstock for biogas production are often small with limited energy demand making investment in biogas production unattractive as most of the biogas produced may not be used. Biodigesters running with no biogas consumption leads to emission of highly potent methane which is a

*Biogas Production and Process Control Improvements DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113061*

greenhouse gas. Connection to grids may create extra demand to sustain higher levels of biogas production [83].

There is need for governments and policy developers to provide a comprehensive policy and legislative environment that facilitate biogas digester production, installation and maintenance as well as other financial and non-financial incentives to encourage biogas production and uses [2]. Biodigester acquisition and use is primarily influenced by socio-economic factors like availability of household labor resources, family, or household financial income, and availability and type of feedstock for biogas production. Digestors require labor input of labor for operation and maintenance and provide the energy demand for biogas, hence lack of it has a negative impact. Families with higher income may prefer alternative sources of energy which also negatively affects biogas production and use [2, 84, 85].

#### **2.3 Benefits of biogas production and use**

There are several socioeconomic and environmental advantages with biogas production and use [83], these benefits include.

i.Boost for decentralized generation.

The biogas plants deliver biogas for heating homes and farms, digested manure to boost food production rate; delivery and export excess power to the grid via decentralized generation which improves the economic position farmers [83].

ii.Job creation

Biogas production creates jobs in the supply chain right from equipment manufacturers, dealers and farm works which helps improve the social and economic conditions of local people [83].

iii.Better crop yields and sustainable agriculture

Digestate from biodigesters is proven biofertilizer whose application to fields reduces water needs and improves crop yields while saving cost incurred in buying expensive and polluting chemical fertilizers [83].

iv.Biogas forms the basis of energy independence.

By substituting the fossil fuels with biogas, the oil importing countries and regions acquire some energy self-sufficiency which saves their foreign exchange reserves and a cleaner environment. Biogas production and use is more reassuring for many countries since biodegradable biomass resources are abundant in all countries and regions of the world. By increasing decentralized generation as opposed to centralized energy systems, supply interruptions are easier to manage locally while enhancing the stability of the main grid hence higher reliability of energy supply [13].

v.Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

Disposal of agricultural wastes by means of open fires and natural decomposition releases huge quantities GHG and other pollutants to the atmosphere which

contributes to global warming and environmental pollution. This is avoided or minimized by controlled biodegradation in digester for biogas production, while producing a clean energy resource to substitute polluting fossil fuels. Since the global warming potential of methane is about 25 times higher than CO2 it will be scandalous to freely release tons of methane to the atmosphere, when this can be avoided by controlled biodegradation [13, 54]. Controlled biogas production and its use encourages waste accumulation and digestion which avoids methane emissions to the atmosphere from uncontrolled bio digestion of biomass in fields [83].

vi.Carbon dioxide sequestration potential by the anaerobic fermentation process

Biogas use has the possibility to uptake and sequester carbon dioxide to meet the climate target of below 1.5°C temperature rise. Methane from biodigesters has about 30% carbon dioxide. By upgrading biogas to biomethane, this CO2 is removed and can be used in multiple applications like feedstock for food and biomaterials production [13].

vii.Water purification through anaerobic digestion implementation

Anaerobic digestion can be used to treat effluents with a high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and reduce BOD levels. This is the oxygen demand for microbial metabolism of organic materials (including trash). The BOD levels in wastewater from the dairy industry are 25–40 times greater than those seen in wastewater from the average household. Through bio digestion, between 70 and 90% of the BOD can be removed cost-effectively compared to aerobic systems [13].
