scholarly journals A Review of the Role of Critical Parameters in the Design and Operation of Biogas Production Plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiplu Sarker ◽  
Jacob J. Lamb ◽  
Dag R. Hjelme ◽  
Kristian M. Lien

Many operating parameters, individually or together, may influence the performance of anaerobic digestion towards biogas or digestate yield and quality maximization. The most preferred method of optimizing an anaerobic digestion plant often relies on how carefully the crucial parameters, such as pH, temperature, organic loading rate, hydraulic retention time, and pressure, are chosen. There is a large amount of literature available on optimization of anaerobic digestion; however, given the continued development and implementation of innovative technologies, together with the introduction of increasingly complex systems, it is necessary to update present knowledge on process parameters and their role on operational ranges and flexibilities in real-life anaerobic digestion system. Accordingly, the present review discusses the importance of the selection of operational parameters in existing technologies and their impact on biogas yield. Notably, the four broad areas of feedstock utilization (substrate, inoculum, codigestion and pretreatment), process condition (pH, temperature, pressure, and reactor design), reactor control (HRT and OLR) and inhibition (Ammonia and VFAs) are covered in this review. In addition, particular emphasis is placed on the most recent innovations that have been or may be implemented in current or future biogas plants.

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Dębowski ◽  
Marcin Zieliński ◽  
Marta Kisielewska ◽  
Joanna Kazimierowicz

The aim of this study was the performance evaluation of anaerobic digestion of dairy wastewater in a multi-section horizontal flow reactor (HFAR) equipped with microwave and ultrasonic generators to stimulate biochemical processes. The effects of increasing organic loading rate (OLR) ranging from 1.0 g chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L·d to 4.0 g COD/L·d on treatment performance, biogas production, and percentage of methane yield were determined. The highest organic compounds removals (about 85% as COD and total organic carbon—TOC) were obtained at OLR of 1.0–2.0 g COD/L·d. The highest biogas yield of 0.33 ± 0.03 L/g COD removed and methane content in biogas of 68.1 ± 5.8% were recorded at OLR of 1.0 g COD/L·d, while at OLR of 2.0 g COD/L·d it was 0.31 ± 0.02 L/COD removed and 66.3 ± 5.7%, respectively. Increasing of the OLR led to a reduction in biogas productivity as well as a decrease in methane content in biogas. The best technological effects were recorded in series with an operating mode of ultrasonic generators of 2 min work/28 min break. More intensive sonication reduced the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of dairy wastewater as well as biogas production. A low nutrient removal efficiency was observed in all tested series of the experiment, which ranged from 2.04 ± 0.38 to 4.59 ± 0.68% for phosphorus and from 9.67 ± 3.36 to 20.36 ± 0.32% for nitrogen. The effects obtained in the study (referring to the efficiency of wastewater treatment, biogas production, as well as to the results of economic analysis) proved that the HFAR can be competitive to existing industrial technologies for food wastewater treatment.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Nsair ◽  
Senem Onen Cinar ◽  
Ayah Alassali ◽  
Hani Abu Qdais ◽  
Kerstin Kuchta

The biogas production technology has improved over the last years for the aim of reducing the costs of the process, increasing the biogas yields, and minimizing the greenhouse gas emissions. To obtain a stable and efficient biogas production, there are several design considerations and operational parameters to be taken into account. Besides, adapting the process to unanticipated conditions can be achieved by adequate monitoring of various operational parameters. This paper reviews the research that has been conducted over the last years. This review paper summarizes the developments in biogas design and operation, while highlighting the main factors that affect the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process. The study’s outcomes revealed that the optimum operational values of the main parameters may vary from one biogas plant to another. Additionally, the negative conditions that should be avoided while operating a biogas plant were identified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 05025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagor Kumar Pramanik ◽  
Fatihah Binti Suja ◽  
Biplob Kumar Pramanik ◽  
Shahrom Bindi Md Zain

Solid organic wastes create potential risks to environmental pollution and human health due to the uncontrolled discharge of huge quantities of hazardous wastes from numerous sources. Now-a-days, anaerobic digestion (AD) is considered as a verified and effective alternative compared to other techniques for treating solid organic waste. The paper reviewed the biological process and parameters involved in the AD along with the factors could enhance the AD process. Hydrolysis is considered as a rate-limiting phase in the complex AD process. The performance and stability of AD process is highly influenced by various operating parameters like temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen ratio, retention time, and organic loading rate. Different pre-treatment (e.g. mechanical, chemical and biological) could enhance the AD process and the biogas yield. Co-digestion can also be used to provide suitable nutrient balance inside the digester. Challenges of the anaerobic digestion for biogas production are also discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1171-1176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schmidt

Oil production from Jatropha curcas L. seeds generates large amounts of Jatropha press cake (JPC) which can be utilized as a substrate for biogas production. The objective of this work was to investigate anaerobic mono-digestion of JPC and the effects of an iron additive (IA) on gas quality and process stability during the increase of the organic loading rate (OLR). With the increase of the OLR from 1.3 to 3.2 gVS L−1 day−1, the biogas yield in the reference reactor (RR) without IA decreased from 512 to 194 LN kgVS−1 and the CH4 concentration decreased from 69.3 to 44.4%. In the iron additive reactor (IAR), the biogas yield decreased from 530 to 462 LN kgVS−1 and the CH4 concentration decreased from 69.4 to 61.1%. The H2S concentration in the biogas was reduced by addition of the IA to values below 258 ppm in the IAR while H2S concentration in the RR increased and exceeded the detection limit of 5000 ppm. The acid capacity (AC) in the RR increased to more than 20 g L−1, indicating an accumulation of organic acids caused by process instability. AC values in the IAR remained stable at values below 5 g L−1. The results demonstrate that JPC can be used as sole substrate for anaerobic digestion up to an OLR of 2.4 gVS l−1 day−1. The addition of IA has effectively decreased the H2S content in the biogas and has improved the stability of the anaerobic process and the biogas quality.


2012 ◽  
Vol 253-255 ◽  
pp. 897-902
Author(s):  
Li Jun Shi ◽  
Miao Huang ◽  
Wei Yu Zhang ◽  
Hui Fen Liu

In this paper anaerobic digestion of dairy manure and straw was conducted to produce biogas. Under the conditions of C/N=25-30 and T=36°C, five kinds of dry matter concentration of 20%, 15%, 10%, 5% and 2.5% were tested to investigate the effect of dry matter concentration on anaerobic digestion. The result showed that first 30 days was the biogas production peak phase and VFA concentrations in the leachate were also high during the same period. When dry matter concentration increased, biogas production appeared larger fluctuation, and alkalinity and NH4+-N concentration in the leachate also increased with higher organic loading rate. Among five kinds of dry matter concentration, 10% was more suitable for anaerobic digestion to produce biogas with total biogas production amount of 4710 mL after 30 days and volumetric biogas yield of 0.313 m3•m-3•d-1. These results could provide instructive meaning to the engineering application of dry anaerobic digestion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4452
Author(s):  
Pranshu Bhatia ◽  
Masaaki Fujiwara ◽  
Maria Cecilia D. Salangsang ◽  
Jun Qian ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
...  

In this study, semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of lignin-rich steam-exploded Ludwigia grandiflora (Lignin = 25.22% ± 4.6% total solids) was performed to understand better the effect of steam explosion on the substrate solubilisation and inhibitors formation during the process. Steam explosion pretreatment was performed at 180 °C for 30 min at a severity factor of 3.8 to enhance the biogas yield of the lignocellulosic biomass. The semi-continuous anaerobic digestion was performed in a continuously stirred tank reactor for 98 days at an initial hydraulic retention time of 30 days and an organic loading rate of 0.9 g-VS L−1day−1. The performed steam explosion pretreatment caused biomass solubilisation, resulting in enhanced biogas production during the process. During the anaerobic digestion process, the average biogas yield was 265 mL g-VS−1, and the pH throughout the operation was in the optimum range of 6.5–8.2. Due to fluctuations in the biogas yield, the hydraulic retention time and organic loading rate were changed on day 42 (50 days and 0.5 g-VS L−1day−1) and on day 49 (40 days and 0.7 g-VS L−1day−1), and 1 M of NaOH was added to the liquid fraction of the steam-exploded L. grandiflora during the latter part of the operation to maintain the stability in the reactor. Therefore, the steam explosion pretreatment helped in the degradation of L. grandiflora by breaking the lignocellulose structure. In addition, changes in the operating conditions of the anaerobic digestion led to an increase in the biogas production towards the end of the process, leading to the stability in the CSTR.


Author(s):  
Lubomír Hnilica ◽  
Jiří Fryč ◽  
Bořivoj Groda

This work compares the operating system of anaerobic fermentation of agricultural biogas plants with realization using biowaste. It deals with the operation system of anaerobic fermentation of agricultural biogas plants and implement an appropriate system to enable the use of biowaste. Based on the comparison of technological solutions and operational parameters of specific sites has been designed to allow the system biowaste were made a practical experiment to verify the assumption of increased biogas production. In experiments used substrates, which are industrially produced from the available bio-wastes, treated and then provide to operator of biogas plants. The work was carried out practical measurements to verify the production of biogas from different substrates. Utilize of nominal electric power using biowaste amounted up to 97.66%. Processing of such modified substrates in anaerobic digestion technology can greatly affect the amount of energy crops. Benefit of waste is governed primarily by such projects, where is the problem of ensuring sufficient energy crops. The proposed composition of raw materials also allows the implementation of the existing ope­ra­tion of anaerobic digestion. Operational data on real operations demonstrate the real possibility of further development of the area and secondly the use of biogas plants as well as in the preparation of suitably prepared substrates for the operators. The entire data set underwent a complete statistical analysis. Differences between variants were statistically significant.


Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka A. Pilarska ◽  
Krzysztof Pilarski ◽  
Agnieszka Wolna-Maruwka ◽  
Piotr Boniecki ◽  
Maciej Zaborowicz

It was the objective of this study to verify the efficiency and stability of anaerobic digestion (AD) for selected confectionery waste, including chocolate bars (CB), wafers (W), and filled wafers (FW), by inoculation with digested cattle slurry and maize silage pulp. Information in the literature on biogas yield for these materials and on their usefulness as substrate in biogas plants remains to be scarce. Owing to its chemical structure, including the significant content of carbon-rich carbohydrates and fat, the confectionery waste has a high biomethane potential. An analysis of the AD process indicates differences in the fluctuations of the pH values of three test samples. In comparison with W and FW, CB tended to show slightly more reduced pH values in the first step of the process; moreover an increase in the content of volatile fatty acids (VFA) was recorded. In the case of FW, the biogas production process showed the highest stability. Differences in the decomposition dynamics for the three types of test waste were accounted for by their different carbohydrate contents and also different biodegradabilities of specific compounds. The highest efficiency of the AD process was obtained for the filled wafers, where the biogas volumes, including methane, were 684.79 m3 Mg−1 VS and 506.32 m3 Mg−1 VS, respectively. A comparable volume of biogas (673.48 m3 Mg−1 VS) and a lower volume of methane (407.46 m3 Mg−1 VS) were obtained for chocolate bars. The lowest volumes among the three test material types, i.e., 496.78 m3 Mg−1 VS (biogas) and 317.42 m3 Mg−1 VS (methane), were obtained for wafers. This article also proposes a method of estimation of the biochemical methane potential (theoretical BMP) based on the chemical equations of degradation of sugar, fats, and proteins and known biochemical composition (expressed in grams).


2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Hernández-Shek ◽  
L. S. Cadavid-Rodríguez ◽  
I. V. Bolaños ◽  
A. C. Agudelo-Henao

The potential to recover bioenergy from anaerobic digestion of water hyacinth (WH) and from its co-digestion with fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) was investigated. Initially, biogas and methane production were studied using the biochemical methane potential (BMP) test at 2 g volatile solids (VS) L−1 of substrate concentration, both in the digestion of WH alone and in its co-digestion with FVW (WH-FVW ratio of 70:30). Subsequently, the biogas production was optimized in terms of total solids (TS) concentration, testing 4 and 6% of TS. The BMP test showed a biogas yield of 0.114 m3 biogas kg−1 VSadded for WH alone. On the other hand, the biogas potential from the WH-FVW co-digestion was 0.141 m3 biogas kg−1 VSadded, showing an increase of 23% compared to that of WH alone. Maximum biogas production of 0.230 m3 biogas kg−1 VSadded was obtained at 4% of TS in the co-digestion of WH-FVW. Using semi-continuously stirred tank reactors, 1.3 m3 biogas yield kg−1 VSadded was produced using an organic loading rate of 2 kg VS m−3 d−1 and hydraulic retention time of 15 days. It was also found that a WH-FVW ratio of 80:20 improved the process in terms of pH stability. Additionally, it was found that nitrogen can be recovered in the liquid effluent with a potential for use as a liquid fertilizer.


Author(s):  
Kai Schumüller ◽  
Dirk Weichgrebe ◽  
Stephan Köster

AbstractTo tap the organic waste generated onboard cruise ships is a very promising approach to reduce their adverse impact on the maritime environment. Biogas produced by means of onboard anaerobic digestion offers a complementary energy source for ships’ operation. This report comprises a detailed presentation of the results gained from comprehensive investigations on the gas yield from onboard substrates such as food waste, sewage sludge and screening solids. Each person onboard generates a total average of about 9 kg of organic waste per day. The performed analyses of substrates and anaerobic digestion tests revealed an accumulated methane yield of around 159 L per person per day. The anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste (50:50 VS) emerged as particularly effective and led to an increased biogas yield by 24%, compared to the mono-fermentation. In the best case, onboard biogas production can provide an energetic output of 82 W/P, on average covering 3.3 to 4.1% of the total energy demand of a cruise ship.


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