Feasibility of biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure

The objective of this work was to examine the feasibility of biogas production from the anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure. Batch and semi-continuous experiments were carried out under mesophilic anaerobic conditions. Batch experiments revealed that the highest specific biogas yield was 294 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solids added, obtained at 50% of herbal-extraction residues and 3.50 g volatile solids g⁻¹ mixed liquor suspended solids. Specific methane yield from swine manure alone was 207 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solid added d⁻¹ at 3.50 g volatile solids g⁻¹ mixed liquor suspended solids. Furthermore, specific methane yields were 162, 180 and 220 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solids added d⁻¹ for the reactors co-digesting mixtures with 10%, 25% and 50% herbal-extraction residues, respectively. These results suggested that biogas production could be enhanced efficiently by the anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure.     

Pathogen removal in farm-scale psychrophilic anaerobic digesters processing swine manure

This study assessed the efficiency of commercial-scale psychrophilic anaerobic digestion in sequencing batch reactors (PADSBRs) for pathogen removal from pig manure. The impact of treatment cycle length and of hydraulic flow regimes on pathogen removal efficiency was investigated. Two conventionally operated SBRs (BR1 and BR2) and two SBRs simultaneously fed during the draw step (BR3 and BR4) were monitored over a two-year period. PADSBRs significantly decreased the concentration of coliforms, Salmonella, Campylobacter spp., and Y. enterocolitica, respectively from about 10⁶, 10³ CFU g⁻¹, 10³, and 10⁴ CFU g⁻¹ to undetectable levels in most samples. Densities of the gram-positive Clostridium perfringens and Enterococcus spp. remained high (10⁵ CFU g⁻¹) in the digesters throughout treatment. The PADSBRs maintained the same level of pathogen removal when the treatment cycle length was reduced from 2 to 1 week. Mass balances on volatile fatty acids (VFAs) revealed short-circuits of inlet flow respectively averaging 6.3% and 6.4% for BR3 and BR4, significantly reducing the overall performance of these reactors regarding pathogens removal. The results obtained in this study show the ability of low temperature anaerobic digestion to remove or significantly reduce indicator and pathogen concentration from raw pig manure.     

Mesophilic batch anaerobic co-digestion of pulp and paper sludge and monosodium glutamate waste liquor for methane production in a bench-scale digester

This paper presented results from anaerobic co-digestion of pulp and paper sludge (PPS) and monosodium glutamate waste liquor (MGWL). A bench-scale anaerobic digester, 10 L in volume was developed, to operate under mesophilic (37 ± 2 °C) batch condition. Under versatile and reliable anaerobic conduct, high efficiency for bioconversion of PPS and MGWL were obtained in the system. The accumulative methane yield attained to 200 mL g⁻¹ VS_added and the peak value of methane daily production was 0.5 m³/(m³ d). No inhibitions of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and ammonia on anaerobic co-digestion were found. pH 6.0-8.0 and alkalinity 1000-4000 mg CaCO₃/L were got without adjustment. This work showed that there was a good potential to the use of PPS and MGWL to anaerobic co-digestion for methane production.     

Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of abattoir wastewater and fruit and vegetable waste in anaerobic sequencing batch reactors

Anaerobic co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) and abattoir wastewater (AW) was investigated using anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBRs). The effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and temperature variations on digesters performances were examined. At both 20 and 10 days biogas production for co-digestion was greater thanks to the improved balance of nutrients. The high specific gas productions for the different digestion processes were 0.56, 0.61 and 0.85 l g⁻¹ total volatile solids (TVS) removal for digesters treating AW, FVW and AW + FVW, respectively. At an HRT of 20 days, biogas production rates from thermophilic digesters were higher on average than from mesophilic AW, FVW and AW + FVW digestion by 28.5, 44.5 and 25%, respectively. However, at 10 days of HRT results showed a decrease of biogas production rate for AW and AW + FVW digestion processes due to the high amount of free ammonia at high organic loading rate (OLR).     

Impact of chlortetracycline on sequencing batch reactor performance for swine manure treatment

Treatment of aged (500 day, 4 °C stored) chlortetracycline (CTC; 0, 20, 40, 80 mg/L CTC)-amended swine manure using two cycle, 22 day stage anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBR) was assessed. Eighty milligrams per liter CTC treatment inhibited SBR treatment efficiencies, although total gas production was enhanced compared to the no-CTC treatment. The 20 and 40 mg/L CTC treatments resulted in either slight or no differences to SBR treatment efficiencies and microbial diversities compared to the no-CTC treatment, and were generally similar to no-CTC treatments upon completion of the first 22 day SBR cycle. All CTC treatments enhanced SBR gas generation, however CH₄ yields were lowest for the 80 mg/L CTC treatment (0.111 L CH₄/g tCOD) upon completion of the second SBR react cycle. After a 22 day acclimation period, the 80 mg/L CTC treatment inhibited methanogenesis due to acetate accumulation, and decreased microbial diversity and CH₄ yield compared to the no-CTC treatment.     

Behavior of methanogens during start-up of farm-scale anaerobic digester treating swine wastewater

The aim of this study was to monitor the changes in methanogenic community structures in an anaerobic digester (250 m³ working volume) during start-up including prolonged starvation periods. Redundancy analysis was performed to investigate the correlations between environmental variables and microbial community structures. The anaerobic digester was operated for 591 days at alternating operating temperatures. In initial start-up period at stage I (35 °C), growth of various species of mesophilic aceticlastic methanogens (AMs) and hydrogenotrophic methanogens (HMs) was observed. Methanobacteriales species survived better than other methanogens under long-term starvation conditions. In stage II (50 °C), HMs became dominant over AMs as the operating temperature changed from mesophilic to thermophilic due to increase of ammonia inhibition. In stage III (35 °C), only the Methanomicrobiales population significantly increased during 50 days of HRT while Methanobacteriales dominated over 15 days of HRT. The influent pH negatively correlated with all methanogenic populations especially in stage II.     

Biogas manufacture from co-digestion of untreated primary sludge with raw chicken manure under anaerobic mesophilic environmental conditions

This work aimed to co-digest various wastes to assess the best combination of all mixing ratio, also at choosing the best ratio between untreated primary sludge (UPS) singly from two sources, (South valley University (SUPS) and Abu tesht wastewater station (AUPS) and raw chicken manure (RCM) and comparing the results in either case. The co-digestions of untreated primary sludge from Abu tesht wastewater treatment stations with different levels of raw chicken manure (0:100, 10:90, 30:70, 50:50, 90:10, and 100:0) to obtain the best mixtures. Also, co-digestion of untreated primary sludge from south valley university with different levels of raw chicken manure at the same ratios, to obtain the best mixtures. Batch digestion tests were applied in 2.5 L digester with a working volume of 2.0 L. The samples in triplicates were separately loaded into the digesters locally fabricated and kept for 20 days as a retention period and diluted with the same amount of water. Mesophilic under 35 °C was adopted for untreated primary sludge as well as mixtures with raw chicken manure based on total solids (TS) and volatile solid (VS) proportions. The average biogas yields from AUPS/RCM mixture obtained ranged from 8570 to 5600 ml, by the following descending order, 10: 90 > 90:10 and so on >100:0, and the average biogas yields from SUPS/RCM obtained ranged from 6330 to 5635 ml, in the order of 90: 10 > 10:90 and so on >100:0. The results showed highest biogas yield from AUPS/RCM and SUPS/RCM mixtures with mixing ratio of 10:90 and 90:10, respectively, however, the lowest biogas production detected in separate digestion of AUPS and SUPS. The results indicated that co-digestion between the sludge and raw chicken manure could increase total biogas production volume, enhance sludge treatment process, and produce eco-friendly sludge because of co-digestion process than separate processing of each feedstock.     

Anaerobic treatment of winery wastewater using laboratory-scale multi- and single-fed filters at ambient temperatures

A lab-scale investigation was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a multi-fed upflow anaerobic filter process for the methane production from a rice winery effluent at ambient temperatures. The experiment was carried in two identical 3.0-l upflow filters, a single-fed reactor and a multi-fed reactor. The results showed that the multi-fed reactor, operated at the ambient temperatures of 19–27 °C and influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 8.34–25.76 g/l, could remove over 82% of COD even at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 37.68 g-COD/l d and a short hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h. This reactor produced biogas with a methane yield of 0.30–0.35 l-CH₄/g-COD_removed. The multi-fed upflow anaerobic filter was proved to be more efficient than the single-fed reactor in terms of COD removal efficiency and stability against hydraulic loading shocks. A linear-regression model with influent COD concentration and HRT terms adequately described the multi-fed upflow anaerobic filter system for the treatment of rice winery wastewater at ambient temperatures.     

Enhancement of bioenergy production from organic wastes by two-stage anaerobic hydrogen and methane production process

The present study investigated a two-stage anaerobic hydrogen and methane process for increasing bioenergy production from organic wastes. A two-stage process with hydraulic retention time (HRT) 3 d for hydrogen reactor and 12 d for methane reactor, obtained 11% higher energy compared to a single-stage methanogenic process (HRT 15 d) under organic loading rate (OLR) 3 gVS/(L d). The two-stage process was still stable when the OLR was increased to 4.5 gVS/(L d), while the single-stage process failed. The study further revealed that by changing the HRT_hydrogen:HRT_methane ratio of the two-stage process from 3:12 to 1:14, 6.7%, more energy could be obtained. Microbial community analysis indicated that the dominant bacterial species were different in the hydrogen reactors (Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum-like species) and methane reactors (Clostridiumthermocellum-like species). The changes of substrates and HRT did not change the dominant species. The archaeal community structures in methane reactors were similar both in single- and two- stage reactors, with acetoclastic methanogens Methanosarcina acetivorans-like organisms as the dominant species.     

Effect of pig manure to grass silage ratio on methane production in batch anaerobic co-digestion of concentrated pig manure and grass silage

Anaerobic co-digestion of concentrated pig manure (PM) with grass silage (GS) at five different PM to GS volatile solid (VS) ratios of 1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 and 0:1 was evaluated by examining operation stability and methane (CH₄) production potentials. The highest specific CH₄ yields were 304.2 and 302.8 ml CH₄/g VS at PM to GS ratios of 3:1 and 1:1, respectively. The digestion systems failed at the ratio of 0:1. The lag phase lasted 29.5, 28.1, 24.6 and 21.3 days at the ratios of 1:0, 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3, respectively. The daily methane yield was linearly correlated with the acetic acid concentration, indicating methane production was probably associated with acetoclastic methanogenesis. The hydrolysis constant linearly decreased with increasing the fraction of GS in the feedstock. This study recommends applying the PM to GS ratio of 1:1 in practice due to a high specific methane yield and a short lag phase.     

Development of a pilot scale anaerobic digester for biogas production from cow manure and whey mix

This paper presents results from anaerobic digestion of cow manure and whey mix. A pilot scale anaerobic digester, 128 l in volume, has been developed, to operate under batch and fed-batch conditions. The versatile and unique characteristics of the instrument allowed testing the methane production directly in the farm. The digester performance was evaluated with two calibration tests, the main for a period of 56 days. The study test was divided into three phases, one for each type of feeding operation (batch, fed-batch, batch). The initial phase of digestion resulted in 57 l-CH₄/kg-VS, the second phase had a yield of 86.6 l-CH₄/kg-VS and the third one had a production of 67 l-CH₄/kg-VS. The total methane yield was equal to 211.4 l-CH₄/kg-VS. Using the obtained pilot plant results to a real scale diary production cycle, it was possible to evaluate an electricity production equal to 8.86 kwh per 1 t/d. The conducted tests did show that there is a good potential to the use of a cow manure and whey biomass mix for biogas production.     

Integrated anaerobic/aerobic biological treatment for intensive swine production

Manure processing could help farmers to effectively manage nitrogen (N) surplus load. Many pig farms have to treat wastewater. Piggery wastewater treatment is a complex challenge, due to the high COD and N concentrations and low C/N ratio. Anaerobic digestion (AD) could be a convenient pre-treatment, particularly from the energetic view point and farm income, but this causes further reduction of C/N ratio and makes denitrification difficult. N removal can only be obtained integrating anaerobic/aerobic treatment by taking into account the best use of electron donors. Experiences gained in Italy during development of integrated biological treatment approaches for swine manure, from bench to full scale, are reported in this paper. Solid/liquid separation as pre-treatment of raw manure is an efficient strategy to facilitate liquid fraction treatment without significantly lowering C/N ratio. In Italy, two full scale SBRs showed excellent efficiency and reliability. Current renewable energy policy and incentives makes economically attractive the application of AD to the separated solid fraction using high solid anaerobic digester (HSAD) technology. Economic evaluation showed that energy production can reduce costs up to 60%, making sustainable the overall treatment.     

Swine manure fermentation for hydrogen production

Biohydrogen fermentation using liquid swine manure as substrate supplemented with glucose was investigated in this project. Experiments were conducted using a semi-continuously-fed fermenter (8 L in total volume and 4 L in working volume) with varying pHs from 4.7 through 5.9 under controlled temperature (35 ± 1 °C). The hydraulic retention time (HRT) tested include 16, 20, and 24 h; however, in two pH conditions (5.0 and 5.3), an additional HRT of 12 h was also tried. The experimental design combining HRT and pH provided insight on the fermenter performance in terms of hydrogen generation. The results indicated that both HRT and pH had profound influences on fermentative hydrogen productivity. A rising HRT would lead to greater variation in hydrogen concentration in the offgas and the best HRT was found to be 16 h for the fermenter in this study. The best pH value in correspondence to the highest hydrogen generation was revealed to be 5.0 among all the pHs studied. There was no obvious inhibition on hydrogen production by methanogenesis when methane content in the offgas was lower than 2%. Otherwise, an inverse linear relationship between hydrogen and methane content was observed with a correlation coefficient of 0.9699. Therefore, to increase hydrogen content in the offgas, methane production has to be limited to below 2%.     

Characterizing and modeling hydrogen sulfide production in anaerobic digestion of livestock manure,agro-industrial wastes,and wastewater sludge

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is the most undesirable inorganic gas in biogas from anaerobic digestion (AD). However, H₂S production in AD is complex and understanding of its processes is still limited. This study performed six controlled batch anaerobic co-digestion experiments to investigate H₂S production. Materials were obtained from four field anaerobic digester systems and co-digestion feedstocks from agroindustry. An additional precipitation experiment was conducted to further examine H₂S production dynamics. Digesters containing highly soluble, carbohydrate-based wastes had a high H₂S final specific production (FSP) value. Additionally, the FSP values were negatively correlated with the initial Fe(II):S ratios in the digester liquid of the batch tests. The precipitation experiment indicated that iron sulfide precipitation was preferred in the presence of an anaerobic community. The H₂S production as a time series was successfully modeled using a generalized additive model (R² > 0.82). This study revealed that sulfate, phosphorus, and iron concentrations are important predictors and potential inhibitors of H₂S production in AD. Further examination of real-time H₂S modeling in AD is warranted.     

Biohydrogen from thermophilic co-fermentation of swine manure with fruit and vegetable waste: maximizing stable production without pH control

Hydrogen production by dark fermentation may suffer of inhibition or instability due to pH deviations from optimality. The co-fermentation of promptly degradable feedstock with alkali-rich materials, such as livestock wastes, may represent a feasible and easy to implement approach to avoid external adjustments of pH.Experiments were designed to investigate the effect of the mixing ratio of fruit-vegetable waste with swine manure with the aim of maximizing biohydrogen production while obtaining process stability through the endogenous alkalinity of manure.Fruit-vegetable/swine manure ratio of 35/65 and HRT of 2 d resulted to give the highest production rate of 3.27 ± 0.51 L_H2 L⁻¹ d⁻¹, with a corresponding hydrogen yield of 126 ± 22 mL_H2 g⁻¹_VS-added and H₂ content in the biogas of 42 ± 5%. At these operating conditions the process exhibited also one of the highest measured stability, with daily productions deviating for less than 14% from the average.     

Characteristics of hydrogen and methane production from cornstalks by an augmented two- or three-stage anaerobic fermentation process

This paper presents the co-production of hydrogen and methane from cornstalks by a two- or three-stage anaerobic fermentation process augmented with effective artificial microbial community. Two-stage fermentation by using the anaerobic sludge and DGGE analysis showed that effective and stable strains should be introduced into the system. We introduced Enterobacter aerogens or Clostridium paraputrificum into the hydrogen stage, and C. paraputrificum was proven to be more effective. In the three-stage process consisting of the improved hydrolysis, hydrogen and methane production stages, the highest soluble sugars (0.482 kg/kg cornstalks) were obtained after the introduction of Clostridium thermocellum in the hydrolysis stage, under the thermophilic (55 °C) and acidic (pH 5.0) conditions. Hydrolysates from 1 kg of cornstalks could produce 2.61 mol (63.7 l) hydrogen by augmentation with C. paraputrificum and 4.69 mol (114.6 l) methane by anaerobic granular sludge, corresponding to 54.1% energy recovery.     

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.     

Optimization of biogas production from cattle manure by pre-treatment with ultrasound and co-digestion with crude glycerin

Biogas production by co-digestion of cattle manure with crude glycerin obtained from biodiesel production was studied after pre-treatment of the cattle manure or mixtures of cattle manure with different amounts of added glycerin with ultrasound. Batch experiments with 1750 mL of medium containing 1760 g of screened cattle manure or mixtures of cattle manure (screened or ground) and 70-140 mL or crude glycerin were incubated under mesophilic and thermophilic condition in stirred tank reactors. Under mesophilic conditions, the addition of 4% glycerin to screened manure increased biogas production by up to 400%. Application of sonication (20 kHz, 0.1 kW, and 4 min) to a mixture of manure + 4% glycerin increased production of biogas by up to 800% compared to untreated manure. The best results were obtained under thermophilic conditions using sonicated mixtures of ground cattle manure with 6% added glycerin (348 L methane/kg COD removed were obtained).     

Chemical properties of biocrude oil from the hydrothermal liquefaction of Spirulina algae, swine manure, and digested anaerobic sludge

This study explores the influence of wastewater feedstock composition on hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) biocrude oil properties and physico-chemical characteristics. Spirulina algae, swine manure, and digested sludge were converted under HTL conditions (300 °C, 10-12 MPa, and 30 min reaction time). Biocrude yields ranged from 9.4% (digested sludge) to 32.6% (Spirulina). Although similar higher heating values (32.0-34.7 MJ/kg) were estimated for all product oils, more detailed characterization revealed significant differences in biocrude chemistry. Feedstock composition influenced the individual compounds identified as well as the biocrude functional group chemistry. Molecular weights tracked with obdurate carbohydrate content and followed the order of Spirulina < swine manure < digested sludge. A similar trend was observed in boiling point distributions and the long branched aliphatic contents. These findings show the importance of HTL feedstock composition and highlight the need for better understanding of biocrude chemistries when considering bio-oil uses and upgrading requirements.