[Charles CL]

Dear All,

The biogas dome is the membrane-like balloon that covers a tank which served as to collect the gas.

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

    When the dome flaccid, it will flat down which eventually touch the wastewater inside the tank.
    This scenario is not favorable and a supportive frame is used.

2. The attempt at a solution
    We plan to use wood as the supportive frame as it is resistant to corrosive gas.
    Pine wood is commonly used as the supportive frame, however it is not common to use in Malaysia.
    So, may i know is there any other kind of wood of supportive frame can be the alternative.
    Besides, please advice what is the parameters should be considered for choosing this material of the
    supportive frame.
     
Thanks,
Charles
   

[Enthalpy]

Here in Europe, pine is used because it's abundent, cheap, and can be bought with documented guaranteed properties. Chances are that it has no magic property that fits biogas especially well, and that this cheap wood happens to work.

Beware I'm no expert for biogas - hopefully one passes by.

Without better advice, my attempt would be to take some construction wood with guaranteed properties commonly used in Malaysia, and put a thin sample in an existing biogas dome for some time, with weight to stress it, and observe.

Bamboo maybe? I don't know if construction workers and engineers are used to work with it in Malaysia, but in some countries it's widespread enough to have guaranteed quality, and trusses of it outperform pinewood by far.

[Charles CL]

Dear Enthalpy,

Thanks for the solution.

I will try to do some simple experiments on the available sample wood.
Regarding to the bamboo, large supply of bamboo is hardly available in Malaysia.
Therefore, i will try to search for other kind of wood that is easily available in Malaysia.

Pinewood is a kind of softwood which is soft, light and resists to shrinking and swelling.
However, it is easily attacked by fungi or insects.
So, do we need to apply preservative such as creosote to make it last longer in case of application of light hardwood?

Light hardwood used because softwood is hardly available in Malaysia. Due to consideration of the density and cost, light hardwood or medium hardwood will be selected. It is stronger than softwood however it has pores in between.

Is it because of the pinewood properties, it has been selected to be the frame of the reactor? Plus, by using wood as the supportive frame, biogas scrubber can be substituted by activited carbon?

Is there any other reason for choosing pinewood as the supportive frame? e.g. it provides bed for anaerobic bacteria to grow.

Kind Regards,
Charles