Benefits of supplementing an industrial waste anaerobic digester with energy crops for increased biogas production
- Department of Biotechnology, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE 221 00 Lund (Sweden)
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This study demonstrates the feasibility of co-digestion food industrial waste with energy crops. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Laboratory batch co-digestion led to improved methane yield and carbon to nitrogen ratio as compared to mono-digestion of industrial waste. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Co-digestion was also seen as a means of degrading energy crops with nutrients addition as crops are poor in nutrients. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Batch co-digestion methane yields were used to predict co-digestion methane yield in full scale operation. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It was concluded that co-digestion led an over all economically viable process and ensured a constant supply of feedstock. - Abstract: Currently, there is increasing competition for waste as feedstock for the growing number of biogas plants. This has led to fluctuation in feedstock supply and biogas plants being operated below maximum capacity. The feasibility of supplementing a protein/lipid-rich industrial waste (pig manure, slaughterhouse waste, food processing and poultry waste) mesophilic anaerobic digester with carbohydrate-rich energy crops (hemp, maize and triticale) was therefore studied in laboratory scale batch and continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) with a view to scale-up to a commercial biogas process. Co-digesting industrial waste and crops led to significant improvement in methane yield per ton of feedstock and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio as compared to digestion of the industrial waste alone. Biogas production from crops in combination with industrial waste also avoids the need for micronutrients normally required in crop digestion. The batch co-digestion methane yields were used to predict co-digestion methane yield in full scale operation. This was done based on the ratio of methane yields observed for laboratory batch and CSTR experiments compared to full scale CSTR digestion of industrial waste. The economy of crop-based biogas production is limited under Swedish conditions; therefore, adding crops to existing industrial waste digestion could be a viable alternative to ensure a constant/reliable supply of feedstock to the anaerobic digester.
- OSTI ID:
- 21612927
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Vol. 32, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2011.09.009; PII: S0956-053X(11)00390-4; Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BIOGAS PROCESS
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBON
CROPS
ECONOMICS
FOOD PROCESSING
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
MAIZE
MANURES
METHANE
NITROGEN
NUTRIENTS
SWEDEN
YIELDS
AGRICULTURAL WASTES
ALKANES
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOCONVERSION
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
CEREALS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIGESTION
ELEMENTS
EUROPE
GRAMINEAE
HYDROCARBONS
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
MATERIALS
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
PLANTS
PROCESSING
SCANDINAVIA
WASTES
WESTERN EUROPE