Biogas
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source[1] produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor.[2] The gas composition is primarily methane (CH
4) and carbon dioxide (CO
2) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H
2S), moisture and siloxanes. The methane can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purpose, such as in cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.[3]
After removal of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide it can be compressed in the same way as natural gas and used to power motor vehicles. In the United Kingdom, for example, biogas is estimated to have the potential to replace around 17% of vehicle fuel.[4] It qualifies for renewable energy subsidies in some parts of the world. Biogas can be cleaned and upgraded to natural gas standards, when it becomes bio-methane. Biogas is considered to be a renewable resource because its production-and-use cycle is continuous, and it generates no net carbon dioxide. From a carbon perspective, as much carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere in the growth of the primary bio-resource as is released, when the material is ultimately converted to energy.
Cannock (/ˈkænək/) is a town and the administrative centre of the Cannock Chase district, as of the 2011 census, it has a population of 29,018[1], and is one the most populous towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England.
Cannock lies to the north of the West Midlands conurbation on the M6, A34 and A5 roads, and to the south of The Chase, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Cannock is served by a railway station on the Chase Line. The town comprises four district council electoral wards and the Cannock South ward includes the civil parish of Bridgtown, but the rest of Cannock is unparished.
Cannock forms part of the Cannock Built-up Area (population 86,121 in the 2011 census)[2] which also includes Cheslyn Hay, Great Wyrley, Hednesford, Huntington, Heath Hayes and Wimblebury.[3]