International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161 ©2016 INPRESSCO ® , All Rights Reserved Available at http://inpressco.com/category/ijcet Research Article 1553| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.6, No.5 (Oct 2016) Biogas Monitoring System for Measuring Volume using Micro- controller & GSM Suruchi Dedgaonkar * , Ankita Mohire, Ajinkya Jadhav, Sonali Pawar and Rushikesh Bane Information Technology, University of Pune, Kondwa (Bk),Pune, India Accepted 01 Sept 2016, Available online 02 Sept 2016, Vol.6, No.5 (Oct 2016) Abstract Biogas plants are slowly becoming popular due to the benefits associated with them like non-polluting and renewable energy source, reduces landfill and cheaper. They are already being used for public transport, industrial heating and many more applications. The demand for monitoring and control process is increasing. Better monitoring and control system can improve process stability and enhance process performance for better economy of the biogas plants. Biogas plant monitoring system gives an overall picture of the biogas generation process. It will be used to predict the current level of biogas so as to manage the input accordingly. Alerts will be sent using GSM and Android to monitor the input slurry. It will help to identify upcoming instabilities in anaerobic digesters before a crash happens. It can also accompany a successful start-up or re-start of a plant. All the data will be stored for quick reference and data mining algorithms can be applied in order to predict the behavior of the plant in different conditions. An attempt has been made to find the different ways to improve the overall performance of biogas plant. The objective is to develop a method for assessing and improving the efficiency of agricultural and household biogas plant operation. Keywords: Biogas Monitoring System, GSM Etc. Introduction 1 Biogas plants are biological systems involving various interacting microorganisms that anaerobically degrade organic matter. The main product is biogas, a gas rich in methane (CH4) that can be used as a renewable fuel for vehicles or to generate heat or electricity for local use or for use via energy distribution grids(Bernhard Drosg,2012 ) .So Biogas is one of the major sources on which the world can survive in the future. Biogas refers to a gas produced by break down of organic matter in the absence of oxygen (Sunil MP ,2013 ). Organic wastes such as kitchen wastes can be converted in to a gaseous fuel called as biogas. Use of dung, firewood as energy is also harmful for the health of the masses due to the smoke arising from them causing air pollution. We need an eco-friendly substitute for energy. Biogas serves this, as it does not have any geographical limitations nor does it require advanced technology for producing energy, also it is very simple to use and apply (Sunil MP ,2013 ). Fig. 1 explains the importance of monitoring and control of a biogas plant. Process monitoring can help to understand what happens in a biogas plant and help to maintain a stable process. In many cases, a strongly inhibited microorganism population or a total crash of the whole plant can have severe financial *Corresponding author: Suruchi Dedgaonkar consequences for the biogas plant operator. In addition to the biological parameters, there are also technical parameters that need to be monitored in a biogas installation. The basic idea of the Biogas Monitoring system is to to use software system to make it reliable source to generate energy from portable equipment developed and controlled system for plant with minimal cost (Sunil MP ,2013 ). Various researches have been conducted to improve the production and yield of the biogas. Earlier the biogas plants in India were operated with animal dung as slurry and the gas produced was also known as gobar gas. But with time the type of substrate used in the biogas production has changed. In some parts around the world huge biogas plants have been developed which operate with agricultural wastes and food wastes as substrates. Biogas monitoring system aims to 1) Identify upcoming instabilities in anaerobic digesters before a crash happens. 2) Accompany a successful start-up or re-start of a plant. 3) Calculate volume of gas. 4) Detect gases. 5) Make Biogas Plant Intelligent. 6) Give accurate measurements of remaining gases.