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Biogas Potential Calculator

Estimate how much biogas (and usable methane) a given amount of organic waste could produce through anaerobic digestion, based on its volatile solids content and feedstock type.

Estimated biogas yield35.0 m³
Of which methane (~60%)21.0 m³

How to measure your inputs

  • Volatile solids mass: from a lab test of your specific feedstock, or estimated as roughly 70-90% of its dry-matter weight.

Methodology

Biogas volume = VS mass (kg) × yield coefficient (m³/kg VS). Coefficients are corroborated across multiple sources (university extension fact sheets, peer-reviewed bioenergy-conversion studies): manure ~0.2-0.5, food/vegetable waste ~0.4-0.55, mixed municipal organic waste ~0.4-0.66 m³/kg VS. Methane share uses the commonly cited ~60% typical fraction of raw biogas.

Why this calculator asks for volatile solids, not raw waste weight

Volatile solids are what actually produces biogas

Raw waste is mostly water and non-digestible material — only the volatile solids fraction (the biodegradable organic portion) actually gets converted into biogas by anaerobic digestion. This calculator works from VS mass directly rather than chaining a %total-solids-then-%volatile-solids conversion from raw waste weight, since compounding two separately uncertain percentages would produce a falsely precise final number.

Why yield varies by feedstock type

Food and vegetable waste tends to be more readily digestible (higher biogas yield per kg VS) than fibrous manure, which contains more lignin and cellulose that anaerobic bacteria break down more slowly and less completely — which is why the preset yield coefficients differ meaningfully by feedstock category.

Biogas vs. methane — what you can actually use as fuel

Raw biogas is a mix of roughly 50-70% methane (the usable fuel component) and 30-50% CO₂ plus trace gases. This calculator shows both the total biogas volume and the methane fraction specifically, since methane content is what determines actual energy value — the same biogas volume with a lower methane fraction is worth meaningfully less as fuel.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my waste’s volatile solids content?

A lab test of your specific feedstock gives the most accurate figure. As a rough estimate without lab testing, volatile solids typically make up 70-90% of a material’s dry-matter weight — dry-matter weight itself is usually 10-30% of the wet/raw weight, varying significantly by material.

Why does food waste produce more biogas than manure per kg of VS?

Food waste is generally more readily biodegradable — manure contains more fibrous, slow-to-digest material (from the animal’s own digestive process already having extracted much of the easily available energy), so a given mass of volatile solids in manure yields less biogas than the same VS mass in fresh food waste.

Can I burn raw biogas directly, or do I need to purify it?

Raw biogas can be burned directly in simple appliances designed for it (some stoves, some generators), but the CO₂ content reduces its energy density compared to purified biomethane or natural gas — for use in equipment designed for pure methane, additional purification (scrubbing out CO₂ and impurities) is typically needed.

Is small-scale home/farm biogas actually practical?

It can be, for the right situation — a farm with consistent manure or organic waste output and a use for the resulting gas (cooking, heating, small-scale power) is the classic viable case. It’s a real engineering project (a sealed digester, gas storage/handling, safety considerations), not a casual weekend build.