Thermal pre-treatment of solid fraction from mechanically-separated raw and digested slurry to increase methane yield

Anaerobic digestion plants rely on large-capacity storage tanks to manage the agronomic utilisation of the digestate. As a consequence, many Italian A.D. plants have introduced mechanical separation of the digested slurry to simplify process requirements. This study evaluated the possibility of reusing mechanically-separated solid fraction as a further biomass input anaerobic digestion plants. The effects of storage and thermal pre-treatment on digested solid fraction were assessed through biogas and methane yield measures, and then compared to the yields associated with undigested solid fraction of raw pig slurry. The specific CH4 yields of digested solid fractions ranged between 71.4 and 156.9 lN/kg VS, whereas the biogas yield from undigested solid fractions was 78.7 lN/kg VS. Solid fraction storage showed no significant effect on specific CH4 yields in any of the examined samples. However, in the case of the undigested solid fraction, thermal pre-treatment proved to be an effective method to increase CH4.     

Starting-up an anaerobic hybrid filter for the fermentation of wastewater from food industry

The wastewater from a food processing factory, characterised by fluctuations of flow rate, organic strength, and pH, were originally treated by a traditional suspended-biomass digester working at about 25?°C. In order to improve the digester efficiency, either in terms of degradation ability or biogas production yield, a set of tests has been carried out on laboratory scale, whose results indicated the way to correctly transform it into an anaerobic hybrid filter. The unacceptable conversion yield of organic substances into biogas observed in the original system has been improved by the presence of the filling medium, due to a marked increase in biomass retention time. The start-up of anaerobic digestion has been studied in this reactor at two different temperatures (25 and 30?°C), in order to evaluate the possible advantage of heating the system, simulating continuous variations in feed strength, pH, and composition.     

Anaerobic digestion of cellulose fraction of domestic refuse by means of rumen microorganisms

The anaerobic digestion of a cellulose-enriched fraction of domestic refuse by means of rumen microorganisms in an "artificial rumen" digester was studied. Various combinations of solid and liquid retention times and loading rates were applied to establish optimum conditions for the acidogenic phase digestion of the refuse fraction. An optimal substrate conversion of about 72% was obtained at a loading rate of 23.4 g volatile solids (VS)/L d and a solids retention time of 90 h. Variation of dilution rate between 1.04 and 3.14 fermentor volume turnovers per day had no effect on degradation efficiency. At a loading rate of 23.4 g VS/L d a differential removal rate of solids and liquids appeared to be necessary to obtain an effective degradation of the refuse fraction.     

Production and characterization of β-glucosidase from Aspergillus niger fermentation: Application for organic fraction of municipal solid waste hydrolysis and methane enhancement

The anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is currently an attractive treatment process with energy production in the form of biogas. Hydrolysis is the rate-limiting step for the anaerobic digestion of solid wastes. Thus, in the present study fungal enzymatic pretreatment of OFMSW was applied to enhance biogas production. Two enzyme cocktails rich on β-glucosidase were produced from submerged fermentation of Aspergillus niger on basal medium using OFMSW as carbon source and urea (Urea cocktail) and Ulva rigida as nitrogen source (Ulva cocktail). Ulva cocktail displayed an important effect on OFMSW solubilization. Therefore, an increase of reducing sugar concentration about 60% was obtained which was in correlation with chemical oxygen demand (COD) increase. The performance of enzymatic pretreatment on anaerobic digestion of OFMSW was studied by conducting biochemical methane potential tests. Results showed that the enzymatic pretreatment improved methane yield of OFMSW even at high solid concentration. High methane yield about 500 ml/g total volatile solid was obtained, which corresponds up to 68% enhancement over the control.     

Production of biogas from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) (Mart) (Solms) in a two-stage bioreactor

A two-stage rumen-derived anaerobic digestion process was tested for the conversion of water hyacinth shoots and a mixture of the shoots with cowdung (7:3) into biogas. Under conditions similar to those of the rumen and loading rates (LR) in the range of 11.6–19.3g volatile solids (VS) l–1d–1 in the rumen reactor, the degradation efficiencies were 38% for the shoots and 43% for the mixture. The major fermentation products were volatile fatty acids (VFA) with a maximum yield of 7.92mmolg–1 VS digested, and biogas with a yield of 0.2lg–1 VS digested. The effect of varying LR, solid retention time (SRT) and dilution rates on the extent of degradation of the water hyacinth–cowdung mixture was examined. Overall conversion of the substrate was highest at the loading rate of 15.4gVS.l–1d–1. Varying the retention times between 60 and 120h had no effect on the degradation efficiency, but a decrease was observed at retention times below 60h. The overall performance of the reactor was depressed by changing the dilution rate from 0.5 to 0.34h–1. By applying a LR of 15.4VS. l–1d–1, a SRT of 90h and a dilution rate of 0.5h–1 in the rumen reactor, and connecting it to a methanogenic reactor of the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket type, 100% conversion efficiency of the VFA into biogas with a methane content of 80% was achieved. The average methane gas yield was 0.44lg–1 VS digested.     

Microbiological contamination of digested products from anaerobic co-digestion of bovine manure and agricultural by-products

Aims: This study was performed to investigate the microbiological contamination of digestate product (DP) obtained from the anaerobic co‐digestion of bovine manure and agricultural by‐products. Methods and results: Microbiological analyses were performed on bovine manure, fresh DP, liquid and solid fractions and stored liquid fraction of DP. A statistically significant reduction of faecal bacterial indicator was found after anaerobic digestion except for enterococci. After liquid/solid DP separation, bacteria tend to be concentrated in the solid fraction. Storage does not seem to influence the indicator parameters, except for enterococci. Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Yersinia were not found in any samples analysed. Salmonella was rarely detected in DP samples and its derivates, while Listeria monocytogenes was encountered in many samples. Conclusions: The results obtained indicate that the hygienic quality of DP is for almost all microbiological parameters better than that of the bovine manure (range of reduction 1.6–3.1 log₁₀) and suggest the need to identify specific pathogen indicators related to the hygienic characteristics of DPs. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study highlights that the anaerobic co‐digestion of bovine manure and agricultural by‐products in a field‐scale biogas plant does not increase human health risk with respect to the use of animal manure for agricultural fertilization.     

Survival of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the intermediate and final digestion products of biogas plants

Aims

To evaluate the survival of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) during anaerobic digestion (AD), we studied two different biogas plants loaded with manure and slurry from paratuberculosis‐infected dairy herds.

Methods and Results

Both plants were operating under mesophilic conditions, the first with a single digester and the second with a double digester. Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis detection was performed by sampling each stage of the process, specifically the prefermenter, fermenter, liquid digestate and solid digestate stages, for 11 months. In both plants, MAP was isolated from the prefermenter stage. Only the final products, the solid and liquid digestates, of the one‐stage plant showed viable MAP, while no viable MAP was detected in the digestates of the two‐stage plant.

Conclusions

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis showed a significant decrease during subsequent steps of the AD process, particularly in the two‐stage plant. We suggest that the second digester maintained the digestate under anaerobic conditions for a longer period of time, thus reducing MAP survival and MAP load under the culture detection limit.

Significance and Impact of the Study

Our data are unable to exclude the presence of MAP in the final products of the biogas plants, particularly those products from the single digester; therefore, the use of digestates as fertilizers is a real concern related to the possible environmental contamination with MAP.     

Two-phase anaerobic digestion of spent tea leaves for biogas and manure generation

Anaerobic digestion of spent tea leaves from an instant tea manufacturing factory was studied in a two-phase digester. The hydrolysis and acidification phase resulted in the formation of high organic strength liquid called leachate, with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 12,880 mg/l, within the retention time of 10 days. The leachate was tested in a batch methanaogensis reactor for biogas production. An average biogas yield of 0.48 m3/kg of COD destroyed was obtained with an average COD reduction of 93%. The biogas was analyzed for 73% methane content.     

Performance of a fixed-bed reactor packed with carbon felt during anaerobic digestion of cellulose

The anaerobic digestion of cellulose was assessed in batch and semi-continuous studies using a carbon felt fixed-bed reactor. In the batch operation, the volatile solids reduction (%) and the cumulative methane production during the mesophilic and thermophilic digestion were 52.2% and 15.9%, 96.7 and 49.2 ml/g-total solid fed, respectively. After 99 days of semi-continuous mesophilic digestion, the degradation of cellulose reached its highest level of 67.6% at the hydraulic retention time of 9 days. The methane production and methane concentration of biogas from the bioreactor were maintained at a steady state. The fixed-bed reactor with carbon felt would be suitable for the efficient anaerobic digestion of cellulose. The biomass distribution in the reactor was, in the liquid phase 0.73 g/l-reactor, in the felt 1.59 g/l-reactor, and on the felt surface 9.86 g/l-reactor, which indicated that most of the microbes were immobilized on the carbon felt fixed-bed in the reactor.     

Survival of bacterial pathogens during the thermophilic anaerobic digestion of biowaste: laboratory experiments and in situ validation

Anaerobic digestion is continually gaining importance for the processing of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes. Although methods for studying the survival of pathogen exist, these methods often need adaptations, are expensive, time consuming or generally not well suited for the harsh conditions within an anaerobic digestion system. In the present study we investigated the applicability of commercially available, mechanically stable and inexpensive pathogen carriers to validate in situ pathogen inhibition within a 750,000l thermophilic, bio-waste treating anaerobic digester. None of the pathogens investigated (Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, and Campylobacter jejuni) was capable of survival under the conditions of the biogas reactor for more than 24 h indicating that the temperature and physico-chemical properties of the sludge of the fermenter were effective in inhibiting the survival of these microorganisms.     

Enhancing the solid-state anaerobic digestion of fallen leaves through simultaneous alkaline treatment

Previous studies have shown that alkali pretreatment prior to anaerobic digestion (AD) can increase the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass and methane yield. In order to simplify the process and reduce the capital cost, simultaneous alkali treatment and anaerobic digestion was evaluated for methane production from fallen leaves. The highest methane yield of 82 L/kg volatile solids (VS) was obtained at NaOH loading of 3.5% and substrate-to-inoculum (S/I) ratio of 4.1. The greatest enhancement in methane yield was achieved at S/I ratio of 6.2 with NaOH loading of 3.5% which was 24-fold higher than that of the control (without NaOH addition). Reactors at S/I ratio of 8.2 resulted in failure of the AD process. In addition, increasing the total solid (TS) content from 20% to 26% reduced biogas yield by 35% at S/I ratio of 6.2 and NaOH loading of 3.5%. Cellulose and hemicellulose degradation and methane yields are highly related.     

Integrated production of biogas and protein biomass from piggery manure

Summary An integrated process involving the production of biogas and the recovery of proteins by anaerobic digestion of piggery manure has been studied. the digestion, effected in a 616 L downflow stationary fixed film reactor, resulted in a biogas production rate of approximately 0.86 m³ per m³ reactor per day (35°C, hydraulic retention time 7.2 days). Treatment of the digested effluent by flocculation, decantation and/or sieving yielded a solid biomass with reduced coliform counts and a protein content of about 14%.     

Two-stage anaerobic fermentation of organic waste in CSTR and UFAF-reactors.

The mechanically separated liquid fraction of organic waste from households was used as a substrate for anaerobic fermentation. A two-step system consisting of a 2001 continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and a 501 upflow anaerobic filter filled with glass foam pearls was constructed. The CSTR was operated for 5 months with a loading rate of 9.8 kg CSB m(-3) day(-1). At a resulting hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 days, 68% COD was degraded and a gas productivity of 4.0 m3 m(-3) day(-1) was achieved. Further digestion of the CSTR output was separately optimised in a 20 l-UFAF and based on these results a 50 l-UFAF was connected to the CSTR. At a resulting hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6 days 38% COD was degraded and a gas productivity of 1.8 m3 m(-3) day(-1) was achieved with the 50 l-UFAF. Thus, the overall degradation efficiency of the two-phase system was 80%. The methane content (61%) of the biogas produced in the 50 l-UF     

Enzyme research and applications in biotechnological intensification of biogas production

Biogas technology provides an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels in many parts of the world. Using local resources such as agricultural crop remains, municipal solid wastes, market wastes and animal waste, energy (biogas), and manure are derived by anaerobic digestion. The hydrolysis process, where the complex insoluble organic materials are hydrolysed by extracellular enzymes, is a rate-limiting step for anaerobic digestion of high-solid organic solid wastes. Biomass pretreatment and hydrolysis are areas in need of drastic improvement for economic production of biogas from complex organic matter such as lignocellulosic material and sewage sludge. Despite development of pretreatment techniques, sugar release from complex biomass still remains an expensive and slow step, perhaps the most critical in the overall process. This paper gives an updated review of the biotechnological advances to improve biogas production by microbial enzymatic hydrolysis of different complex organic matter for converting them into fermentable structures. A number of authors have reported significant improvement in biogas production when crude and commercial enzymes are used in the pretreatment of complex organic matter. There have been studies on the improvement of biogas production from lignocellulolytic materials, one of the largest and renewable sources of energy on earth, after pretreatment with cellulases and cellulase-producing microorganisms. Lipids (characterised as oil, grease, fat, and free long chain fatty acids, LCFA) are a major organic compound in wastewater generated from the food processing industries and have been considered very difficult to convert into biogas. Improved methane yield has been reported in the literature when these lipid-rich wastewaters are pretreated with lipases and lipase-producing microorganisms. The enzymatic treatment of mixed sludge by added enzymes prior to anaerobic digestion has been shown to result in improved degradation of the sludge and an increase in methane production. Strategies for enzyme dosing to enhance anaerobic digestion of the different complex organic rich materials have been investigated. This review also highlights the various challenges and opportunities that exist to improve enzymatic hydrolysis of complex organic matter for biogas production. The arguments in favor of enzymes to pretreat complex biomass are compelling. The high cost of commercial enzyme production, however, still limits application of enzymatic hydrolysis in full-scale biogas production plants, although production of low-cost enzymes and genetic engineering are addressing this issue.     

Characteristics and biogas production potential of municipal solid wastes pretreated with a rotary drum reactor

This study was conducted to determine the characteristics and biogas production potential of organic materials separated from municipal solid wastes using a rotary drum reactor (RDR) process. Four different types of wastes were first pretreated with a commercial RDR system at different retention times (1, 2 and 3 d) and the organic fractions were tested with batch anaerobic digesters with 2.6 g VS L(-1) initial loading. The four types of waste were: municipal solid waste (MSW), a mixture of MSW and paper waste, a mixture of MSW and biosolids, and a mixture of paper and biosolids. After 20 d of thermophilic digestion (50+/-1 degrees C), it was found that the biogas yields of the above materials were in the range of 457-557 mL g VS(-1) and the biogas contained 57.3-60.6% methane. The total solid and volatile solid reductions ranged from 50.2% to 65.0% and 51.8% to 66.8%, respectively. For each material, the change of retention time in the RDR from 1 to 3d did not show significant (alpha=0.05) influence on the biogas yields of the recovered organic materials. Further studies are needed to determine the minimum retention time requirements in the RDR system to achieve effective separation of organic from inorganic materials and produce suitable feedstock for anaerobic digesters.     

The effect of acid pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion and dewatering of waste activated sludge

Waste activated sludge (WAS) is difficult to degrade in anaerobic digestion systems and pretreatments have been shown to speed up the hydrolysis stage. Here the effects of acid pretreatment (pH 6-1) using HCl on subsequent digestion and dewatering of WAS have been investigated. Optimisation of acid dosing was performed considering digestibility benefits and level of acid required. Pretreatment to pH 2 was concluded to be the most effective. In batch digestion this yielded the same biogas after 13 days as compared to untreated WAS at 21 days digestion. In semi-continuous digestion experiments (12 day hydraulic retention time at 35 °C) it resulted in a 14.3% increase in methane yield compared to untreated WAS, also Salmonella was eradicated in the digestate. Dewatering investigations suggested that the acid pretreated WAS required 40% less cationic polymer addition to achieve the same cake solid content. A cost analysis was also carried out.     

Enzyme research and applications in biotechnological intensification of biogas production

Biogas technology provides an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels in many parts of the world. Using local resources such as agricultural crop remains, municipal solid wastes, market wastes and animal waste, energy (biogas), and manure are derived by anaerobic digestion. The hydrolysis process, where the complex insoluble organic materials are hydrolysed by extracellular enzymes, is a rate-limiting step for anaerobic digestion of high-solid organic solid wastes. Biomass pretreatment and hydrolysis are areas in need of drastic improvement for economic production of biogas from complex organic matter such as lignocellulosic material and sewage sludge. Despite development of pretreatment techniques, sugar release from complex biomass still remains an expensive and slow step, perhaps the most critical in the overall process. This paper gives an updated review of the biotechnological advances to improve biogas production by microbial enzymatic hydrolysis of different complex organic matter for converting them into fermentable structures. A number of authors have reported significant improvement in biogas production when crude and commercial enzymes are used in the pretreatment of complex organic matter. There have been studies on the improvement of biogas production from lignocellulolytic materials, one of the largest and renewable sources of energy on earth, after pretreatment with cellulases and cellulase-producing microorganisms. Lipids (characterised as oil, grease, fat, and free long chain fatty acids, LCFA) are a major organic compound in wastewater generated from the food processing industries and have been considered very difficult to convert into biogas. Improved methane yield has been reported in the literature when these lipid-rich wastewaters are pretreated with lipases and lipase-producing microorganisms. The enzymatic treatment of mixed sludge by added enzymes prior to anaerobic digestion has been shown to result in improved degradation of the sludge and an increase in methane production. Strategies for enzyme dosing to enhance anaerobic digestion of the different complex organic rich materials have been investigated. This review also highlights the various challenges and opportunities that exist to improve enzymatic hydrolysis of complex organic matter for biogas production. The arguments in favor of enzymes to pretreat complex biomass are compelling. The high cost of commercial enzyme production, however, still limits application of enzymatic hydrolysis in full-scale biogas production plants, although production of low-cost enzymes and genetic engineering are addressing this issue.     

A multi-criteria ranking of different technologies for the anaerobic digestion for energy recovery of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes

This paper describes a conceptual framework and methodological tool developed for the evaluation of different anaerobic digestion technologies suitable for treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, by introducing the multi-criteria decision support method Electre III and demonstrating its related applicability via a test application. Several anaerobic digestion technologies have been proposed over the last years; when compared to biogas recovery from landfills, their advantage is the stability in biogas production and the stabilization of waste prior to final disposal. Anaerobic digestion technologies also show great adaptability to a broad spectrum of different input material beside the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (e.g. agricultural and animal wastes, sewage sludge) and can also be used in remote and isolated communities, either stand-alone or in conjunction to other renewable energy sources. Main driver for this work was the preliminary screening of such methods for potential application in Hellenic islands in the municipal solid waste management sector. Anaerobic digestion technologies follow different approaches to the anaerobic digestion process and also can include production of compost. In the presented multi-criteria analysis exercise, Electre III is implemented for comparing and ranking 5 selected alternative anaerobic digestion technologies. The results of a performed sensitivity analysis are then discussed. In conclusion, the performed multi-criteria approach was found to be a practical and feasible method for the integrated assessment and ranking of anaerobic digestion technologies by also considering different viewpoints and other uncertainties of the decision-making process.     

The effect of various pre‐treatment methods of chromium leather shavings in continuous biogas production

During leather manufacture, high amounts of chromium shavings, wet by‐products of the leather industry, are produced worldwide. They are stable towards temperatures of up to 110°C and enzymatic degradation, preventing anaerobic digestion in a biogas plant. Hitherto, chromium shavings are not utilized industrially to produce biogas. In order to ease enzymatic degradation, necessary to produce biogas, a previous denaturation of the native structure has to be carried out. In our projects, chromium shavings were pre‐treated thermally and mechanically by extrusion and hydrothermal methods. In previous works, we intensively studied the use of these shavings to produce biogas in batch scale and significant improvement was reached when using pre‐treated shavings. In this work, a scale‐up of the process was performed in a continuous reactor using pre‐treated and untreated chromium shavings to examine the feasibility of the considered method. Measuring different parameters along the anaerobic digestion, namely organic matter, collagen content, and volatile fatty acids content, it was possible to show that a higher methane production can be reached and a higher loading rate can be used when feeding the reactor with pre‐treated shavings instead of untreated chromium shavings, which means a more economical and efficient process in an industrial scenario.     

The effect of temperature variation on biomethanation at high altitude

The aim of the current study was to examine effects of daily temperature variations on the performance of anaerobic digestion. Forced square-wave temperature variations (between 11 and 25, 15 and 28, and 19 and 32 degrees C) were imposed on a bench-scale digester using a mixture of llama-cow-sheep manure in a semi-continuous process. The volumetric biogas production rate, methane yield, and the volatile solid reductions were compared with the results obtained from anaerobic digestion (AD) at constant temperatures. The forced cyclic variations of temperature caused large cyclic variations in the rate of gas production and the methane content. As much as 94-97% of the daily biogas was obtained in the 12h half-cycle at high temperature. The values for volumetric biogas production rate and methane yield increased at higher temperatures. The average volumetric biogas production rate for cyclic operation between 11 and 25 degrees C was 0.22Ld(-1)L(-1) with a yield of 0.07m3CH4kg(-1) VS added (VSadd), whereas for operation between 15 and 29 degrees C the volumetric biogas production rate increased by 25% (to 0.27Ld(-1)L(-1) with a yield of 0.08m3CH4kg(-1) VSadd). In the highest temperature region a further increase of 7% in biogas production was found and the methane yield was 0.089m(3)CH(4)kg(-1) VSadd. The employed digester showed an immediate response when the temperature was elevated, which indicates a well-maintained metabolic capacity of the methanogenic bacteria during the period of low temperature. Overall, periodic temperature variations appear to give less decrease in process performance than a priori anticipated.