Innovative Educational Program for Biogas Production Carried Out at University of Hradec Králové (CZ) and at University of Opole (PL)

Abstract

Recently, there is a growing pressure on a rapid construction of agricultural biogas plants, particularly in the Czech-Polish border region. It is an area with large expanses of agricultural land which can serve to supply biogas plants with biomass. This strategy should contribute to harmonize the common agricultural policy of the European Union. A need for qualified operators of these stations on this territory is also increasing. Therefore we first include a demonstration of an education program for students in the field of agricultural waste anaerobic fermentation and biogas production. We present here the first part of an innovative approach which we use in the teaching program "Physico-technical Measurements and Computer Technology" at the Faculty of Science at the University of Hradec Kralove and also in the education of internshipers from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology at the University of Opole. There are requirements to fulfil labour market expectations and to make this subject more attractive for the students. Students' theoretical and practical preparation constitutes a comprehensive source of knowledge and skills required in a real life job. Joined theoretical and practical knowledge gained by students, reinforced by the skills developed during task analysis followed by their solution, provides the future graduate higher quality abilities and better position in the labour market.

Innovative educational course II: Modelling of odour dispersion from agricultural biogas plants

“…This course follows up on our previously described course [1] concerning teaching about biogas stations, so the students will already know the principles and importance of biogas stations. In this follow-up training, the students will be acquainted also with a disadvantage of biogas stations which lies in unpleasant odour emissions.…”

“…In our previous article [1], we proposed an innovative approach to teaching physico-technical subjects which consists of theoretical lectures, excursions and practical exercises in a computer classroom. Excursions for cross-border teaching of Czech and Polish students from the University of Hradec Kralove and the University of Opole in the agricultural biogas plants Lhota pod Libcany were described in the publication [12].…”

“…In our previous article [1], we proposed an innovative approach to teaching physico-technical subjects which consists of theoretical lectures, excursions and practical exercises in a computer classroom. By this approach, the students gain good knowledge about biogas stations.…”

“…The course described in this paper builds on this knowledge and extends it. Instead of anaerobic fermentation and biogas production processes discussed in [1], now we focus on a significant problem associated with the operation of biogas stations, which is the odour caused by various gaseous products of biochemical processes, for example hydrogen sulphide or ammonia. The odour intensity is affected by the kind of input substrate and it also depends on the technical design of the biogas plant [2].…”