Anaerobic digestion has been in use for more than a century and is both a "mature" technology and an area of active research. Most of the current research is focused on maximizing recovery of renewable energy in the form of biogas. Given it's history and a high level of interest at present, it is surprising that researchers do not use standardised software tools for working with biogas data. Instead, innumerable spreadsheet templates and other custom-made tools are currently in use. This approach limits the efficiency of research and the reliability of data. We have tried to address this problem through the development of new software.
As part of the BioChain project, we developed free, open-source software tools for biogas research, using a popular platform for data analysis: R (www.cran.r-project.org). The tools are available in the new biogas package, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/biogas).
Why is the biogas package useful? What can it be used for? It includes 10 functions for processing biogas data and predicting biogas production, which can, together, be used for:
1.Simple calculations and conversions, including volume standardisation and calculation of substrate chemical oxygen demand.
2.Calculation of biogas production, based on laboratory measurements of volume, pressure, or mass, along with gas composition.
3.Summarisation of biogas production, including subtraction of inoculum contribution and normalisation by substrate quantity (e.g., calculation of biochemical methane potential).
4.Prediction of methane and biogas production based on a flexible description of substrate composition, and other, optional, information.
We've spread the word about the package through two poster presentations and one workshop at international conferences. Are researchers using it? Yes! While it is impossible to exactly quantify the number of users, as of 1 July 2016, the package has been downloaded at least 5000 times since it was first published in May 2015. Our interest in free, useful software for biogas research hasn't ended with the launch of the biogas package. Currently, we are establishing a working group to improve and extend the package. Future additions will make the biogas package more useful, flexible, and accessible to a wider audience.