Commissioning of a biogas pilot plant: From brown grease to paper mill-generated organic wastes

TAPPI Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
RICARDO B. SANTOS ◽  
PETER W. HART ◽  
GARY W. COLSON ◽  
SIMON EVERS ◽  
DENNIS EVERS
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Plant ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Paper Mill ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Technical Approach ◽  
Engineering Data ◽  
Brown Grease

The MeadWestvaco mill in Evadale, TX, USA, in conjunction with VOW Resources LLC, has constructed and commissioned a green biogas skid-mounted pilot plant to evaluate the potential of various organic waste streams to produce high-quality biogas. It is the fourth plant in the world incorporating this technical approach to biogas production. At initial startup, the plant used cow manure as organic feedstock. To commission the plant for verifying the VOW bioaugmentation process, the transition was made to using brown grease. After the brown grease commissioning trials are completed, the plant will be transitioned to a number of paper mill-generated organic wastes to acquire the design parameters and engineering data that will aid in construction of a full-scale biogas facility.

scholarly journals Characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates Produced at Pilot Scale From Different Organic Wastes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Lorini ◽  
Andrea Martinelli ◽  
Giorgio Capuani ◽  
Nicola Frison ◽  
Maria Reis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Waste ◽  
Pilot Scale ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Organic Fraction ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Primary Sludge ◽  
Molecular Weights ◽  
North East ◽  
Mixed Microbial Cultures

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production at pilot scale has been recently investigated and carried out exploiting different process configurations and organic wastes. More in detail, three pilot platforms, in Treviso (North-East of Italy), Carbonera (North-East of Italy) and Lisbon, produced PHAs by open mixed microbial cultures (MMCs) and different organic waste streams: organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge (OFMSW-WAS), cellulosic primary sludge (CPS), and fruit waste (FW), respectively. In this context, two stabilization methods have been applied, and compared, for preserving the amount of PHA inside the cells: thermal drying and wet acidification of the biomass at the end of PHA accumulation process. Afterward, polymer has been extracted following an optimized method based on aqueous-phase inorganic reagents. Several PHA samples were then characterized to determine PHA purity, chemical composition, molecular weight, and thermal properties. The polymer contained two types of monomers, namely 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) at a relative percentage of 92.6–79.8 and 7.4–20.2 w/w, respectively, for Treviso and Lisbon plants. On the other hand, an opposite range was found for 3HB and 3HV monomers of PHA from Carbonera, which is 44.0–13.0 and 56.0–87.0 w/w, respectively. PHA extracted from wet-acidified biomass had generally higher viscosity average molecular weights (Mv) (on average 424.8 ± 20.6 and 224.9 ± 21.9 KDa, respectively, for Treviso and Lisbon) while PHA recovered from thermally stabilized dried biomass had a three-fold lower Mv.

Overcoming barriers to codigestion

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Parry ◽  
L. Fillmore
Keyword(s):  
Organic Waste ◽  
Loading Rate ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Wastewater Sludge ◽  
Organic Loading Rate ◽  
Organic Loading ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Loading Rates

Codigestion of organic waste with municipal wastewater sludge is growing rapidly. It has many benefits, including diversion of organic waste from landfills, increased renewable energy from biogas production, and potential for revenue from tipping fees. However, there are still barriers to greater widespread application of codigestion. Economics, need for collaboration between utilities, impacts on wastewater application, unsupportive regulations and risks to core wastewater treatment business are obstacles that slow wider adoption of codigestion throughout the world. The research presented analyzes the economic impacts of codigestion, predicts the additional biogas production, and determines the allowable organic loading rate and fats oils and grease (FOG) addition for stable digestion operation. The economic impacts were analyzed on a life cycle cost basis and presented in terms of required tipping fees for different organic wastes, electric rates and residuals handling costs. Standard biochemical methane potential tests were conducted to estimate biogas production from various organic wastes. The specific energy loading rate (SELR) was used to express the allowable organic loading rate. Results from the economic analysis showed that codigestion using existing digesters at a municipal water reclamation facility is more economical than building new digesters. Codigestion was more economical at facilities with high electricity costs and low cost of residuals. Tipping fees for receiving organic waste would be required to offset the net cost of codigestion for wastes other than FOG. There was a net positive economic benefit of receiving FOG without a tipping fee. The upper limit of FOG for stable digestion was found to be 60 percent of the feed by chemical oxygen demand (COD). Stable digestion can be achieved with an SELR of less than 0.25 kgCOD/day/kgVS. The SELR accounts for the strength or energy content of the organic feed measured in COD. It was observed and accounted for by the SELR that anaerobic digesters loaded at higher solids concentrations (resulting in greater inventory of microorganisms in the digesters) can be fed at higher loading rates. Insights into the economics of codigestion and allowable organic loading rates for high strength organic wastes help to overcome some of the barriers to widespread application of codigestion.

scholarly journals Technical possibilities of biogas production from olive and date waste in Jordan

BioResources ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 9383-9395
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al-Addous ◽  
Mohammad Alnaief ◽  
Christina Class ◽  
Abdullah Nsair ◽  
Kerstin Kuchta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Waste ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Chicken Manure ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Promising Solution ◽  
Valid Solution ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Disposal Problem

Using renewable energy sources provides a promising solution to minimize the overuse of conventional energy sources as well as to reduce pollution. Biogas technology is one solution that offers the conversion of waste streams to a renewable source of higher value. Anaerobic digestion of organic waste from industrial processes produces energy in the form of biogas, which has an advantage of preventing odor release, and has minimal pathogens. In this study, two different sources of bio-waste were investigated for their biogas potential, namely palm date waste and olive pomace. All of the samples produced biogas; however, the amount produced was only 20% to 40% of what conventional substrates typically produced. Producing biogas that uses only olive biomass offers a solution to the waste disposal problem, but it is not efficient for biogas production. For optimal heat utilization and maximizing biogas production, mixing of different feedstock was identified as a valid solution. Hence, a model of mixing other sources of bio-waste, such as chicken manure, can activate sludge and is proposed to boost the biogas production.

scholarly journals Biogas Production Systems and Upgrading Technologies: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Andlar ◽  
Halina Belskaya ◽  
Galina Morzak ◽  
Mirela Ivančić Šantek ◽  
Tonči Rezić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Gas Emission

The underutilized biomass and different organic waste streams are today in the focus of research for renewable energy production due to the effusive use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases emission. In addition, one of the major environmental problems is also a constant increase of the number of organic waste streams. In lot countries, sustainable waste management, including waste prevention and reduction, has become a priority as a means to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emission. To provide solutions for both energy-related and environmental tasks, application of biogas technologies is one of the promising solutions. This review is aimed to present conventional and novel biogas production systems, as well as purification and upgrading technologies, nowadays applicable in the large scale, with a special focus on the CO2 and H2S removal. It also gives an overview of feedstocks and prominent parameters for biogas production, together with the digestate utilization and application of molecular biology in order to improve the biogas production.

Conversion of organic wastes into fly larval biomass: bottlenecks and challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Pastor ◽  
Y. Velasquez ◽  
P. Gobbi ◽  
S. Rojo
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Recycling Systems ◽  
Insect Biomass ◽  
By Products ◽  
Dipteran Species

The large volume of organic wastes and by-products produced every year usually generates environmental problems, such as water, air and soil contamination and it can be also a focus for pathogen dispersion. Sustainable waste management strategies should be developed, that can favour the value of the organic waste instead of its disposal. A sustainable strategy would be the use of the organic waste as substrate for intensive production of insect biomass. The insects associated with manure and organic waste can play a key role for the sustainable valorisation of organic waste streams as high add value products as they could be used as feed. This review is an overview of the research related with intensive insect farming of saprophagous dipteran species (flies) on manure and other organic wastes and the by-products obtained after the process. Using dipterans as recyclers of waste means that the mass-production systems of these organisms have to be efficient and competitive with other recycling systems. This review describes the possibilities of the dipterans to become active agents in waste management systems and, at the same time, an important resource of protein for feed and the main aspects and bottlenecks that have to be improved in order to achieve competitive insect farming.

Possibilities of joint treatment of spent sugar beet pulp and waste water from a sugar factory

2012 ◽  
pp. 756-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Hutnan ◽  
Štefan Tóth ◽  
Igor Bodík ◽  
Nina Kolesárová ◽  
Michal Lazor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Sugar Beet Pulp ◽  
Spare Capacity ◽  
Anaerobic Reactor ◽  
Sugar Factory ◽  
Beet Pulp ◽  
Joint Treatment

The possibility of joint treatment of spent sugar beet pulp and wastewater from a sugar factory was studied in this work. Works focused on processing of spent sugar beet pulp separately or together with other substrates can be found in the literature. In the case of some sugar factories, which have spare capacity in the anaerobic reactor on an anaerobic-aerobic wastewater treatment plant, joint processing of spent sugar beet pulp and wastewater from the sugar factory might be an interesting option. The results of the operation of a pilot plant of an anaerobic reactor with a capacity of 3.5 m3 are discussed. Operation of the pilot plant confirmed the possibility of cofermentation of these materials. The organic loading rate achieved in the anaerobic reactor was higher than 6 kg/(m3·d) (COD), while more than half of the load was provided by spent sugar beet pulp. The addition of sugar beet pulp decreased the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the anaerobic reactor and it was even necessary to add nitrogen. However, the nitrogen content in sludge water depends on the C:N ratio in the processed sugar beet pulp, therefore this knowledge cannot be generalized. About 1.5 to 2-fold biogas production can be expected from the cofermentation of wastewater with sugar beet pulp in an anaerobic reactor, compared with the biogas production from just wastewater treatment.

Up-flow roughing filtration: rehabilitation of a water treatment plant in Tarata, Bolivia

1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 105-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana María Ingallinella ◽  
Luis María Stecca ◽  
Martin Wegelin
Keyword(s):  
Water Treatment ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
Laboratory Tests ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Water Treatment Plant ◽  
Horizontal Flow ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Sand Filters ◽  
Chemical Products ◽  
Made In

This paper presents the methodology used for the rehabilitation of the pretreatment stage in a water treatment plant for a village located in Bolivia which has 3500 inhabitants. The treatment plant was initially composed by horizontal-flow roughing filters and slow sand filters, but due to the high contents of colloidal turbidity of the providing source, it did not work properly. A plan of rehabilitation was made which comprised laboratory tests, pilot tests and proposal of modifications based on the results of previous stages. The laboratory tests were made in order to find the optimum conditions to coagulate the raw water. It was found that horizontal-flow roughing filters must be turned into up-flow roughing filters, so a pilot plant was built and was operated for three months in order to find suitable design parameters. The results obtained obtained during the operation of the pilot plant and the proposal of modifications are presented. The results of operation of the final plant, which are also reported, demonstrated the advantages of the up-flow roughing filtration as a pretreatment stage when it is necessary to add chemical products in small treatment plants.

A comprehensive overview and recent advances on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production using various organic waste streams

2021 ◽  
Vol 325 ◽  
pp. 124685
Author(s):  
Rijuta Ganesh Saratale ◽  
Si-Kyung Cho ◽  
Ganesh Dattatraya Saratale ◽  
Avinash A. Kadam ◽  
Gajanan S. Ghodake ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Waste ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Pha Production

scholarly journals Sugarcane Bagasse as a Co-Substrate with Oil-Refinery Biological Sludge for Biogas Production Using Batch Mesophilic Anaerobic Co-Digestion Technology: Effect of Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 590
Author(s):  
Aiban Abdulhakim Saeed Ghaleb ◽  
Shamsul Rahman Mohamed Kutty ◽  
Gasim Hayder Ahmed Salih ◽  
Ahmad Hussaini Jagaba ◽  
Azmatullah Noor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Sugarcane Bagasse ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Oil Refinery ◽  
Methane Yield ◽  
Oil Refineries ◽  
Biological Sludge

Man-made organic waste leads to the rapid proliferation of pollution around the globe. Effective bio-waste management can help to reduce the adverse effects of organic waste while contributing to the circular economy at the same time. The toxic oily-biological sludge generated from oil refineries’ wastewater treatment plants is a potential source for biogas energy recovery via anaerobic digestion. However, the oily-biological sludge’s carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is lower than the ideal 20–30 ratio required by anaerobic digestion technology for biogas production. Sugarcane bagasse can be digested as a high C/N co-substrate while the oily-biological sludge acts as a substrate and inoculum to improve biogas production. In this study, the best C/N with co-substrate volatile solids (VS)/inoculum VS ratios for the co-digestion process of mixtures were determined empirically through batch experiments at temperatures of 35–37 °C, pH (6–8) and 60 rpm mixing. The raw materials were pre-treated mechanically and thermo-chemically to further enhance the digestibility. The best condition for the sugarcane bagasse delignification process was 1% (w/v) sodium hydroxide, 1:10 solid-liquid ratio, at 100 °C, and 150 rpm for 1 h. The results from a 33-day batch anaerobic digestion experiment indicate that the production of biogas and methane yield were concurrent with the increasing C/N and co-substrate VS/inoculum VS ratios. The total biogas yields from C/N 20.0 with co-substrate VS/inoculum VS 0.06 and C/N 30.0 with co-substrate VS/inoculum VS 0.18 ratios were 2777.0 and 9268.0 mL, respectively, including a methane yield of 980.0 and 3009.3 mL, respectively. The biogas and methane yield from C/N 30.0 were higher than the biogas and methane yields from C/N 20.0 by 70.04 and 67.44%, respectively. The highest biogas and methane yields corresponded with the highest C/N with co-substrate VS/inoculum VS ratios (30.0 and 0.18), being 200.6 mL/g VSremoved and 65.1 mL CH4/g VSremoved, respectively.

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