scholarly journals Anaerobic Digestion for Producing Renewable Energy—The Evolution of This Technology in a New Uncertain Scenario

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Cristián Arenas Sevillano ◽  
Alby Aguilar Pesantes ◽  
Elizabeth Peña Carpio ◽  
Elia J. Martínez ◽  
Xiomar Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Biological Treatment ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Fiscal Incentives ◽  
Chemical Products ◽  
Green Chemicals ◽  
By Products

Anaerobic digestion is a well-known technology with wide application in the treatment of high-strength organic wastes. The economic feasibility of this type of installation is usually attained thanks to the availability of fiscal incentives. In this review, an analysis of the different factors associated with this biological treatment and a description of alternatives available in literature for increasing performance of the process were provided. The possible integration of this process into a biorefinery as a way for producing energy and chemical products from the conversion of wastes and biomass also analyzed. The future outlook of anaerobic digestion will be closely linked to circular economy principles. Therefore, this technology should be properly integrated into any production system where energy can be recovered from organics. Digestion can play a major role in any transformation process where by-products need further stabilization or it can be the central core of any waste treatment process, modifying the current scheme by a concatenation of several activities with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the conversion. Thus, current plants dedicated to the treatment of wastewaters, animal manures, or food wastes can become specialized centers for producing bio-energy and green chemicals. However, high installation costs, feedstock dispersion and market distortions were recognized as the main parameters negatively affecting these alternatives.

High strength nitrogen removal from nightsoil and piggery wastes

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Choi ◽  
Y. Eum ◽  
K.-I. Gil ◽  
S.-W. Oa
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Biological Treatment ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Combined Treatment ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Soluble Nitrogen ◽  
Nitrogen Loads ◽  
Reactor Temperature ◽  
Nitrification And Denitrification

Nightsoil and piggery wastes generally present high strength organics and nitrogen. This study evaluated the nitrogen removal characteristics with the existing and modified nightsoil and piggery waste treatment plants. The existing conventional plants showed 20 to 40% nitrogen removal, but the modification with SBR or MLE process could remove effectively both nitrogen and organics with the minimum COD/TN and alkalinity/TN ratios of 6 and 3.6, respectively. Nitrite nitrification and denitrification rates obtainable at higher nitrogen loads were faster than the rates of nitrate nitrification and denitrification resulting in less reactor volume requirement. However, the higher nitrogen loads increased the organic loads resulting in the reactor temperature inhibiting nitrification. Thus, a combined treatment with anaerobic digestion with the adjustment of influent bypass rates was proposed to reduce the reactor temperature and the external carbon requirement. The biological treatment could discharge about 1,100 mg/L soluble COD and 50 mg/L soluble nitrogen, respectively.

scholarly journals Environmental and Economic Evaluation of a Mechanical Biological Treatment System for a Small and Medium-Sized Waste Treatment Facility Considering the Karatsu Smart Disaster-Resilience Base Construction Project

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 984-998
Author(s):  
Akihisa Ogawa ◽  
◽  
Andante Hadi Pandyaswargo ◽  
Daiki Yoshidome ◽  
Hiroshi Onoda
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Biological Treatment ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Feasibility Assessment ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Generation Capacity ◽  
City Water

We evaluated the feasibility of waste-generated heat using a 100-kW digestion gas engine at the Karatsu City Water Purification Center by evaluating its disaster resilience through four indicators. We achieved the best outcome, i.e., a power generation rate of 1,122 kW and a power self-sufficiency rate of 22% when two or more digestion gas engines were installed to supply waste-generated heat to the absorption chiller/heater of a water-pool. Additionally, we evaluated the environmental and economic aspects of a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) system installed in Karatsu City. The results suggested that by installing an MBT system, the annual cost could be reduced by ∼100 million Yen and the power generation capacity could be increased to 4,310 kW; this could also help reduce 19,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions with increased power generation. The environmental and economic feasibility assessment tool developed here is configurable; hence, applicable to other regions.

scholarly journals Process Optimisation of Anaerobic Digestion Treating High-Strength Wastewater in the Australian Red Meat Processing Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (21) ◽  
pp. 7947
Author(s):  
Peter W. Harris ◽  
Bernadette K. McCabe
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Trace Element Composition ◽  
Red Meat ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Meat Processing ◽  
Processing Industry ◽  
Anaerobic Lagoon

This work represents and reviews a compilation of investigations into improving anaerobic digestion performance of high-strength wastewater in the Australian Red Meat Processing industry. The industry produces significant quantities of organic-rich wastewater which requires treatment prior to release to the environment. Anaerobic lagoons are a cost-effective method of waste treatment where land availability is not an issue; however, the high fat load in the wastewater can negatively impact the anaerobic lagoon system and result in compromised anaerobic digestion performance. This paper will discuss the importance of upstream primary pre-treatment and review a series of investigations focused on optimising digester performance and improving fat biodegradability. These studies include: 1. the effect of temperature and mixing; 2. the influence of feedstock trace element composition and supplementation, and; 3. the potential benefit from pre-treatments such as chemical, thermobaric, thermochemical and bio-surfactant. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for covered anaerobic lagoon operation and provides recommendations to promote optimum digester performance and future opportunities in adopting alternate anaerobic digestion technology options. Finally, the paper provides recent trends toward the use of other waste streams for co-digestion and discusses this in terms of digester optimization and technology options.

scholarly journals Comparison of Potential Environmental Impacts and Waste-to-Energy Efficiency for Kitchen Waste Treatment Scenarios in Central Taiwan

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 696
Author(s):  
Meng-Fen Shih ◽  
Chiu-Yue Lin ◽  
Chyi-How Lay
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Kitchen Waste ◽  
Central Taiwan ◽  
Solid Waste Recycling

Taiwan has a sound solid waste recycling system, and waste-to-energy is attractive under the encouragement policy and economic feasibility, especially in central and southern regions with vast agricultural wastes. The four scenarios evaluated in this study relating to current use or under consideration for kitchen waste treatment strategy in Taiwan were incineration, landfill, composting, and anaerobic digestion. These scenarios were compared through life cycle assessment to obtain the most preferable treatment solution. The analysis was based on a functional unit, i.e., 1 metric ton of kitchen waste treated, and considered all impact categories through the CML_IA baseline 2000 method. It has shown that energy recovery had enormous effects on all scenarios with the anaerobic digestion having the highest environmental performance change. A comparison between actual electricity consumption and estimated electricity generation by kitchen waste treatment through anaerobic digestion indicates that decentralized electricity generation was suitable for central Taiwan and could be considered as the energy solution in a short-term context. This study provides an experience in selecting a proper waste-to-energy method with the most negligible environmental impact.

Integrated energy production and reduction of the environmental impact at alcohol distillery plants

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.C. van Haandel
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Alcohol Production ◽  
Nutrient Demand ◽  
By Products ◽  
Sole Product ◽  
Current Alcohol

In Brazil cane is being been grown at large scale to produce alcohol as an automotive fuel. Alcohol is the sole product, but there is generation of a large quantity of gaseous (CO2), liquid (vinasse) and solid (bagasse) by-products, which currently have very little or even negative value. By using steam turbines fuelled with bagasse combustion, electric power can be generated at a rate of 1 MWh per m3 of produced alcohol. Anaerobic digestion can be applied to vinasse to produce enough biogas for 0.5 MWh per m3 of alcohol, bringing total electric power production from subproducts to 1.5 MWh per m3 of alcohol. These operations are presently implemented at some distilleries at full scale. It has been shown at bench scale that by applying anaerobic digestion also to bagasse and burning the non-biodegradable residual, the power output can be increased to 2.25 MWh per m3 of alcohol, but the economic feasibility of this option depends on the maximum loading rate of the bagasse digester and the energy price. At the current alcohol production level of 13 × 106 m3/year, the power generation potential is 2.2 GW, which represents 4% of the power demand in Brazil. The digested waste water contains about 70% of the nutrient demand of the cane fields, which can be recycled. A preliminary economic evaluation shows that productive use of the subproducts of alcohol distilleries is economically feasible if the price is more than US$30 per MWHh, which is the current sales price in Brazil. Another important advantage of the rational use of by-products is that the generation of electric power has the potential to reduce the emission of CO2 to the atmosphere by 0.8–1.2 t per m3 of alcohol compared to generation using natural gas.

scholarly journals Co-Management of Sewage Sludge and Other Organic Wastes: A Scandinavian Case Study

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3411
Author(s):  
Clara Fernando-Foncillas ◽  
Maria M. Estevez ◽  
Hinrich Uellendahl ◽  
Cristiano Varrone
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Resource Recovery ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Industrial Wastes ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Sewage Sludge Management ◽  
The Common ◽  
Green Chemicals

Wastewater and sewage sludge contain organic matter that can be valorized through conversion into energy and/or green chemicals. Moreover, resource recovery from these wastes has become the new focus of wastewater management, to develop more sustainable processes in a circular economy approach. The aim of this review was to analyze current sewage sludge management systems in Scandinavia with respect to resource recovery, in combination with other organic wastes. As anaerobic digestion (AD) was found to be the common sludge treatment approach in Scandinavia, different available organic municipal and industrial wastes were identified and compared, to evaluate the potential for expanding the resource recovery by anaerobic co-digestion. Additionally, a full-scale case study of co-digestion, as strategy for optimization of the anaerobic digestion treatment, was presented for each country, together with advanced biorefinery approaches to wastewater treatment and resource recovery.

Two-Stage anaerobic digestion in agroindustrial waste treatment: A review

2021 ◽  
Vol 281 ◽  
pp. 111854
Author(s):  
Paulo André Cremonez ◽  
Joel Gustavo Teleken ◽  
Thompson Ricardo Weiser Meier ◽  
Helton José Alves
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Agroindustrial Waste

scholarly journals Critical Issues and Opportunities for Producing Biomethane in Italy

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2431
Author(s):  
Roberto Murano ◽  
Natascia Maisano ◽  
Roberta Selvaggi ◽  
Gioacchino Pappalardo ◽  
Biagio Pecorino
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Biogas Plants ◽  
High Level ◽  
By Products ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Nowadays, most Italian biogas produces electricity even though recent political incentives are promoting biomethane from biogas by “upgrading” it. The aim of this paper is to focus on the regulatory framework for producing biomethane from new or already-existent anaerobic digestion plants. The complexity and lack of knowledge of the regulations on biofuel production and of anaerobic digested biomethane from waste and by-products create difficulties of both interpretation and application. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze the regulations for producing biomethane, underline the critical issues and opportunities, and evaluate whether an electrical plant built in the last 10 years in Italy can really be converted to a biomethane plant, thereby lengthening its lifespan. Three case studies were considered to look more closely into applying Italian biomethane incentives and to simulate the types of incentivization in agriculture with examples based on certain fuel types typical of a standard biomethane plant of 500 standard cubic meter per hour. All the considered cases put in evidence that biomethane is a further opportunity for development with a high level of efficiency for all biogas producers, especially for many biogas plants whose incentivization period is about to finish.

scholarly journals Solar Integrated Anaerobic Digester: Energy Savings and Economics

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4292
Author(s):  
Lidia Lombardi ◽  
Barbara Mendecka ◽  
Simone Fabrizi
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Solar Integration

Industrial anaerobic digestion requires low temperature thermal energy to heat the feedstock and maintain temperature conditions inside the reactor. In some cases, the thermal requirements are satisfied by burning part of the produced biogas in devoted boilers. However, part of the biogas can be saved by integrating thermal solar energy into the anaerobic digestion plant. We study the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in biowaste mesophilic/thermophilic anaerobic digestion, with the aim of reducing the amount of biogas burnt for internal heating and increasing the amount of biogas, further upgraded to biomethane and injected into the natural gas grid. With respect to previously available studies that evaluated the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in anaerobic digestion, we introduce the topic of economic sustainability by performing a preliminary and simplified economic analysis of the solar system, based only on the additional costs/revenues. The case of Italian economic incentives for biomethane injection into the natural gas grid—that are particularly favourable—is considered as reference case. The amount of saved biogas/biomethane, on an annual basis, is about 4–55% of the heat required by the gas boiler in the base case, without solar integration, depending on the different considered variables (mesophilic/thermophilic, solar field area, storage time, latitude, type of collector). Results of the economic analysis show that the economic sustainability can be reached only for some of the analysed conditions, using the less expensive collector, even if its efficiency allows lower biomethane savings. Future reduction of solar collector costs might improve the economic feasibility. However, when the payback time is calculated, excluding the Italian incentives and considering selling the biomethane at the natural gas price, its value is always higher than 10 years. Therefore, incentives mechanism is of great importance to support the economic sustainability of solar integration in biowaste anaerobic digestion producing biomethane.

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