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U.S. Department of Energy
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Thermophilic biogasification of biomass

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5595797

Mesophilic and thermophilic digestion runs were conducted with the pure land-based biomass species, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Coastal Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), and a blend of hyacinth, grass, MSW, and sewage sludge. A mixed biomass-waste hybrid feed was included because it has a superior nutritional balance relative to the pure feeds and it facilitates year-round operation of a biomass-to-SNG process. (7) The studies were conducted at 35/sup 0/ and 55/sup 0/C, generally believed to be optimum for mesophilic and thermophilic digestion of organic feeds. Results of mesophilic digestion were to provide baseline performance data for evaluation of thermophilic digester performance. It was decided that the feed affording the best thermophilic performance would be pretreated with dilute sodium hydroxide solution at the selected digestion temperature of 55/sup 0/C to improve methane production rate and yield. In addition, thermophilic runs were planned to investigate ways to reduce chemical requirements for alkaline pretreatment and feed slurry neutralization.

OSTI ID:
5595797
Report Number(s):
CONF-800352-3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English