Enhanced biogas recovery by applying post-digestion in large-scale centralized biogas plants

Optimization of Biogas Production from Sewage Sludge: Impact of Combination with Bovine Dung and Leachate from Municipal Organic Waste

Biogas is a bioenergy produced from organic or all types of biological degradable wastes and could make it possible to limit energy dependence. Sludge is the best alternative substrate for biogas production at a community-level biogas plant. The literature shows that co-digestion can increase the efficiency of sludge anaerobic digestion. This research, thus, focused on (i) determining the conditions of optimal biogas production in the co-digestion of primary sludge (PS) and bovine dung (BD), (ii) evaluating the impact of leachate from organic waste and cellulose on biogas production. Primary sludge was collected in Bacau town wastewater treatment plant in Romania. The sampling of municipal solid waste was carried out in Ouagadougou pre-collect centers (Burkina Faso). Batch tests were conducted in glass bottles through anaerobic digestion (1 L). The following parameters were monitored during the digestion process: pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA), volatile solids (VS) and biogas production. Primary sludge, bovine dung and leachate showed 50.51%, 72.41% and 70.48% of volatile solids content, respectively. Sludge showed good stability, unlike the other two substrates, such as bovine dung and leachate, with VFA to alkalinity ratio 0.54. Leachate from organic waste had high values of VFA to alkalinity ratio > 3600. Co-digestion could make it possible to raise the levels of organic matter and improve microbial growth and the stability of anaerobic biomass. The best biogas production yield of 152.43 mL/g VS was obtained with a combination of 30% bovine dung and 70% primary sludge at 45 °C, with a 21.57% reduction in organic matter. An improvement in biogas productivity was effective with the addition of leachate, which could be used as an additive element during anaerobic digestion.

Valorization of municipal organic waste into purified lactic acid

Municipal organic waste (biowaste) consists of food derived starch, protein and sugars, and lignocellulose derived cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and pectin. Proper management enables nutrient recycling and sustainable production of platform chemicals such as lactic acid (LA). This review gathers the most important information regarding use of biowaste for LA fermentation covering pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and downstream processing to achieve high purity LA. The optimal approach was found to treat the two biowaste fractions separately due to different pre-treatment and enzyme needs for achieving enzymatic hydrolysis and to do continues fermentation to achieve high cell density and high LA productivity up to 12 g/L/h for production of both L and D isomers. The specific productivity was 0.4 to 0.5 h^-1 but with recalcitrant biomass, the enzymatic hydrolysis was rate limiting. Novel purification approaches included reactive distillation and emulsion liquid membrane separation yielding purities sufficient for polylactic acid production.

SIMSWASTE-AD - A modelling framework for the environmental assessment of agricultural waste management strategies: Anaerobic digestion

On-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) has been promoted due to its improved environmental performance, which is based on a number of life cycle assessments (LCA). However, the influence of site-specific conditions and practices on AD performance is rarely captured in LCA studies and the effects on C and N cycles are often overlooked. In this paper, a new model for AD (SIMS_WASTE-AD) is described in full and tested against a selection of available measured data. Good agreement between modelled and measured values was obtained, reflecting the model capability to predict biogas production (r²=0.84) and N mineralization (r²=0.85) under a range of substrate mixtures and operational conditions. SIMS_WASTE-AD was also used to simulate C and N flows and GHG emissions for a set of scenarios exploring different AD technology levels, feedstock mixtures and climate conditions. The importance of post-digestion emissions and its relationship with the AD performance have been stressed as crucial factors to reduce the net GHG emissions (-75%) but also to enhance digestate fertilizer potential (15%). Gas tight digestate storage with residual biogas collection is highly recommended (especially in temperate to warm climates), as well as those operational conditions that can improve the process efficiency on degrading VS (e.g. thermophilic range, longer hydraulic retention time). Beyond the effects on the manure management stage, SIMS_WASTE-AD also aims to help account for potential effects of AD on other stages by providing the C and nutrient flows. While primarily designed to be applied within the SIMS_DAIRY modelling framework, it can also interact with other models implemented in integrated approaches. Such system scope assessments are essential for stakeholders and policy makers in order to develop effective strategies for reducing GHG emissions and environmental issues in the agriculture sector.

Degradation efficiency of agricultural biogas plants--a full-scale study

The degradation efficiency of 21 full-scale agricultural CSTR biogas plants was investigated. The residual methane potential of the digestion stages was determined in batch digestion tests (20.0 and 37.0 °C). The results of this study showed that the residual methane yield is significantly correlated to the HRT (r=-0.73). An almost complete degradation of the input substrates was achieved due to a HRT of more than 100 days (0.097±0.017 Nm(3)/kg VS). The feedstock characteristics have the largest impact to the degradation time. It was found that standard values of the methane yield are a helpful tool for evaluating the degradation efficiency. Adapting the HRT to the input materials is the key factor for an efficient degradation in biogas plants. No influence of digester series configuration to the VS degradation was found. The mean VS degradation rate in the total reactor systems was 78±7%.

Influence of temperature and pretreatments on the anaerobic digestion of wastewater grown microalgae in a laboratory-scale accumulating-volume reactor

This laboratory-scale study investigated the performance of a low-cost anaerobic digester for microalgae. Low (∼2%) solids content wastewater-grown microalgal biomass (MB) was digested in an unmixed, accumulating-volume reactor (AVR) with solid and liquid separation that enabled a long solids retention time. AVRs (2 or 20 L) were operated at 20 °C, 37 °C or ambient temperature (8-21 °C), and the influence of two pretreatments - low-temperature thermal (50-57 °C) and freeze-thaw - on algal digestion were studied. The highest methane yield from untreated MB was in the 37 °C AVR with 225 L CH4 kg volatile solids (VS)(-1), compared with 180 L CH4 kg VS(-1)added in a conventional, 37 °C completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR), and 101 L CH4 kg VS(-1)added in the 20 °C AVR. Freeze-thaw and low-temperature thermal pretreatments promoted protein hydrolysis and increased methane yields by 32-50% at 20 °C, compared with untreated MB. Pretreatments also increased the mineralisation of nitrogen (41-57%) and phosphorus (76-84%) during digestion. MB digestion at ambient temperature was comparable with digestion at 20 °C, until temperature dropped below 16 °C.

Performance of up-flow anaerobic fixed bed reactor of the treatment of sugar beet pulp lixiviation in a thermophilic range

The acclimatization and performance study of lixiviation of sugar beet pulp are carried out in upflow anaerobic fixed bed reactor in thermophilic range of temperature (55°C). Several hydraulic retention time is conducted (11, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 1.5 days). The performance study showed that Chemical Oxygen Demand removal efficiency is 90% for 6 days-HRT. While COD removal efficiency was reduced within the range of 74.3% and 59.4% in others HRT. Organic loading rates greater than 10 kg COD/m(3)d in influent, (2 days-HRT), produces a destabilization of the process due to total acidity accumulation in reactors although is the HRT with highest methane production. The results showed that an increase in OLR was directly correlated with active biomass inside reactor but not with the amount in microbial community. The bacterial concentration inside the reactor is strongly influenced by the content of microorganisms in the lixiviation of sugar beet pulp.

Effects of storage on characteristics and hygienic quality of digestates from four co-digestion concepts of manure and biowaste

This study evaluated the effects of storage in northern winter conditions (5 degrees C) on the characteristics and nutrients separation of digestates from co-digestion of manure and biowaste as well as the hygienic quality of the digestates after digestion and storage. During 3-11 months' storage average nitrogen losses and reductions of total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) were 0-15%. With some exceptions, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) had increased slightly (from approximately 6.5 to approximately 7.5g/l) after 3 months' storage, while after 9-11 months' it had decreased from 8.3-11 to 5.6-8.4g/l. The concentrations of P(tot) and PO4-P in the separated liquid fractions decreased 40-57% after 3 months' storage and 71-91% after 9 months' storage compared to the initial concentrations. The methane potential losses during 9-11 months' storage corresponded 0-10% of the total methane potential without storage. The hygienic quality of the digestates from the 55 degrees C reactor and during storage fulfilled the Animal By-Products Regulation (ABPR) demands while the 35 degrees C digestate contained 0-105cfu/g of indicator bacteria (faecal coliforms, enterobacteria, enterococcus) and >10cfu/g of spiked salmonella, which amounts decreased slowly during storage. Sulphite reducing clostridia was not affected by either digestion or storage.