A novel fed-batch digestion system for biomethanation of plant biomasses

Effects of organic loading rate and effluent recirculation on the performance of two-stage anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste

The effects of organic loading rates (OLR) and effluent recirculation on dynamics of acidogenic and methanogenic processes in two-stage anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste were investigated. Two systems were performed at OLRs of 1.3, 1.7, 2.1 and 2.6 g VS/L/d. One system recirculated the effluent from the methanogenic reactor to acidogenic reactor. With increasing OLRs, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration increased to approximately 8500 mg/L in acidogenic digester, where pH decreased from 6.4 to 5.2. Daily biogas production and methane content in methanogenic reactor increased from 1.2 to 4.4 L/d and from 27.4% to 60.5%, respectively. However, inhibition of hydrolysis in acidogenic reactor was demonstrated under the OLR of 2.6 g VS/L/d without recirculation, thus indicating system overloading. Effluent recirculation shown a considerable positive effect on alleviating VFA inhibition and improving biogas production in acidogenic reactor because of the effect of dilution and pH adjustment, particularly at high OLRs.

Anaerobic digestion of pineapple pulp and peel in a plug-flow reactor

The objective of this research was to study the production of biogas by using pineapple pulp and peel, the by-products from fruit processing plants, in a plug-flow reactor (17.5 L total volume). The effects of feed concentration, total solids (TS) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on degradation of the waste were investigated. The increase of pineapple pulp and peel of 2% (wt/vol) at HRT 7 d to 4% (wt/vol) at HRT 10 d showed increases in biogas production rate, biogas yield and methane yield - from 0.12 v/v-d, 0.26 m(3)/kg COD removed and 0.11 m(3)/kg COD removed, with COD removal at 64.1%, to 0.25 v/v-d, 0.43 m(3)/kg COD removed and 0.14 m(3)/kg COD removed, with COD removal at 60.41%. The methanogenic fermentation was more active in the middle and final parts of the reactor. The recirculation of fermentation effluent at 40% (vol/vol) of the working volume into the reactor could increase the biogas production rate and biogas yield up to 52% and 12%, respectively. The results showed technological potential for waste treatment of pineapple pulp and peel in a plug-flow reactor.

Biogas production from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) grown under different nitrogen concentrations

This paper reports the biogas production from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) grown under different nitrogen concentrations of 1-fold [28 mg/L of total nitrogen (TN)], 2-fold, 1/2-fold, 1/4-fold and 1/8-fold and plants harvested from a polluted water body. This study was carried out for a period of 4 months at ambient mesophilic temperatures of 30.3-31.3 degrees C using six 3-barreled batch-fed reactors with the innermost barrel (45 L) being used as the digester. There was no marked variation in the C/N ratios of the plants cultured under different nitrogen concentrations. The addition of fresh cow dung having a low C/N of 8 resulted in a significant reduction in the C/N ratios of the water hyacinth substrates. However, gas production commenced 3 days after charging the reactors and gas production rates peaked in 4-7 days. The volatile solids (VS) degradation and gas production patterns manifested that in conventional single-stage batch digesters acidogenesis and methanogenesis of water hyacinth requires a retention time of around 27-30 days and 27-51 days, respectively. Substrates in the f-1 digester (i.e., the digester containing plants grown under 28 TN mg/L) having the lowest VS content of 45.3 g/L with a highest C/N ratio of 16 showed fairly higher gas production rates consistently (10-27 days) with higher gas yields containing around 50-65% of CH4 (27-51 days). Moreover the highest overall VS (81.7%) removal efficiencies were reported from the f-1 digester. Fairly higher gas production rates and gas yields with fairly higher CH4 contents were also noticed from the f-2 digester containing substrates having a C/N of 14 and f-out digester (containing the plants harvested from the polluted water body) having the lowest C/N ratio of 9.7 with a fairly high VS content of 56 g/L. CH4 production was comparatively low in the f-1/8, f-1/4 and f-1/2 digesters having VS rich substrates with varying C/N ratios. We conclude that water hyacinth could be utilized for biogas production irrespective of the fact that the plants are grown under higher or lower nitrogen concentrations and that there is no necessity for the C/N ratio to be within the optimum range of 20-32 required for anaerobic digestion. Further it is concluded that several biochemical characteristics of the substrates significantly influences biogas production besides the C/N ratio.

Biomethanization of mixtures of fruits and vegetables solid wastes and sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant

The possible management of Fruit and Vegetable Solid Wastes (FVSWs) through their simultaneous digestion with the primary sludge of Municipal Wastewater Treatment plants is investigated. This alternative allows the recovery of energy and a solid product that can be used as an amendment for soils that generated the residue, while is not expensive. Results indicate that the ratio of FVSWs to sludge and the pH control are the main variables determining the methane production and concentration. NaHCO3 was selected to achieve the pH control. The results for a ratio of 50% sludge together with 10 g NaHCO3/kg of residue are among the best obtained, with a methane yield of about 90 L per kg of volatile solids, and a methane concentration of 40% (v/v) of the biogas. A 50% reduction of the total solids; 21% reduction of the volatile solids (in terms of total solids); and a pH value of the sludge, which is 6.9 indicate that the digested sludge can be a good material for soil amendment.

Environmental challenge vis a vis opportunity: the case of water hyacinth

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a noxious weed that has attracted worldwide attention due to its fast spread and congested growth, which lead to serious problems in navigation, irrigation, and power generation. On the other hand, when looked from a resource angle, it appears to be a valuable resource with several unique properties. As a result, research activity concerning control (especially biological control) and utilization (especially wastewater treatment or phytoremediation) of water hyacinth has boomed up in the last few decades. Investigations on biogas/compost production from water hyacinth have also come up very well mainly from few research groups in India. This review presents a comprehensive view of the research related to water hyacinth with special emphasis on the recent investigations on water hyacinth control and utilization technologies conducted in the last 2-3 decades. Based on these significant research achievements, now it is desirable to identify a management strategy so that the excessive growth can be controlled and the plant can be used in beneficial ways. In the rural areas, water hyacinth could be used in an integrated manner for decentralized wastewater treatment systems coupled to biogas and compost production from the resulting biomass. There is a need to work out the techno-economic viability of such integrated model systems.