Biogas Safety first!

General requirements
1. Introduction
It is immensely important that biogas plants are
operated safely, given the highly complex process
engineering involved and the fact that highly
flammable gases are produced and stored.
However, if the appropriate protective measures
are taken, hazards in and around biogas plants can
be limited and reduced to the extent that the potential
threats are manageable and the plant is operated
in the intended manner. To ensure that a plant can
be operated safely, it must be borne in mind that biogas
safety starts right from the planning phase and
continues through the whole operation of the plant,
requiring close collaboration between manufacturers,
planning consultants and operators.
But even if various technical, organisational and
personal protective measures are in place, threats to
people and nature may still occasionally arise from
biogas plants. The Social Insurance for Agriculture,
Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG) is the organisation
responsible for work insurance for farmers in Germany,
among other services. In 2012 it analysed the
personal injuries suffered by workers at biogas plants
between 2009 and 2012. As shown in Figure 1,
the most common accidents at biogas plants during
this period were of a mechanical nature (being
struck by something, falling, getting cut, crushed,
etc.). Of the accidents analysed, almost 50 % happened
during maintenance activities and less than
1 % resulted in persons being fatally injured.
The application of toxic, harmful and/or sensitising
chemicals to the process – the processing aids, biological
agents or compounds used to desulphurise
the biogas – was also a cause of various accidents in
biogas plants in Germany.
This illustration presents the situation in Germany at
the time when the survey was conducted. Thanks to
the high safety standards, accidents resulting in personal
injury, for example those caused by explosion
or fire, are relatively rare. In other countries these
statistics may look completely different. It is clear,
therefore, that compliance with specific provisions
(legislation, sets of regulations, standards) can indeed
have a substantial influence on safety in biogas
plants and significantly improve it.
Types of accidents with injured persons at biogas plants
Figure 1: Types of hazard relating to accidents resulting in personal injury (SVLFG, 2012)
7 %
4 %
1%
1%
1%
Mechanical
Chemical
Thermal
Radiation
Noise
86 %
Not specified
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