Microbial production of biogas form organic wastes

Biogas production through bacterial digestion of water hyacinth, rice straw and sawdust inoculated with cow dung was investigated in a batch loading of laboratory digestors. It was found that the overall gas yield was 368.00 l from water hyacinth having 77.13% methane, 310.00 l from rice straw with 77.80% methane, and 144.80 l from sandust containing 62.28% methane. Along with the production of gas, the change in pH and microbial population were also monitored. The pH of the digestion mixture was initially low and found to be increasing as the digestion progressed. The total microbial population of bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, cellulolytic organisms, and coliform bacteria were found to decrease with time.     

Batch digester studies on biogas production from Cannabis sativa,water hyacinth and crop wastes mixed with dung and poultry litter

The potentiality of some plant wastes plus poultry litter as feedstocks for biogas production was determined. Some wastes could substitute for cowdung when dung is in short supply.     

Fractionation of organic substances during anaerobic digestion of farm wastes for biogas generation

Summary Generation rate of biogas and its methane component, as well as changes of major organic fractions during anaerobic digestion of fresh cow dung alone and in combination with each of air-dry rice straw, maize stalks, and cotton stalks at a ratio of 11 (on the basis of 70°C dry weight of either source) have been monitored in laboratory fermenters for 75 days at 35°C. Mixtures of cow dung + maize stalks produced the highest cumulative volumes of both biogas and its methane component; i.e. 17.9 and 8.31/1 fermented material respectively, cow dung alone surpassed all of the tested biomass regarding the yield of methane production in relation to the volatile solids consumed which gave 636 l/kg; the other materials came in the succession: cow dung + maize stalks, cow dung + rice straw and cow dung + cotton stalks. Acetic, propionic, and butyric were the major detectable fatty acids formed during the digestion course. Cow dung excelled the other treatments in amounts of such acids produced. Combination between cow dung and crop residues resulted in reducing the formation of fatty acids and NH ₄ ⁺ and loss of nitrogen, but enhanced the disappearance of volatile solids, fats, hemicellulose and cellulose. The lignin content remained unchanged.

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Fractionnement de substances organiques pendant la digestion anaerobie de déchets de ferme pour la genèse de biogaz

Résumé La vitesse de genèse du biogaz et son contenu en méthane, ainsi que les modifications des principales fractions organiques pendant la digestion anaérobie a été examinée en fermenteurs de laboratoire pendant 75 jours à 35°C pour les bouses bovines fraîches, seules et en mélange 11 (sur la base du poids sec à 70°C) soit avec la paille de riz séchée au soleil, les fânes de maïs ou les tiges de cotonniers. Le mélange de bouses de vache et de fânes de maïs a produit le volume cumulatif le plus élevé tant de biogaz que de son constituant, le méthane, notamment respectivement 17.9 et 8.31/l de matériel fermenté. Les bouses de vache ont surpassé toutes les biomasses testées quant au rendement de la production de méthane par rapport aux solides volatils consommés qui donna 6361/kg; les autres matières viennent dans l'ordre décroissant: bouses de vache plus fânes de maïs, bouses de vache plus paille de riz et bouses de vaches plus tiges de cotonniers. Les acides gras principaux détectés et formés pendant le cours de la digestion étaient l'acide acétique, l'acide propionique et l'acide butyrique. La biométhanisation de bouses de vache a excellé par rapport à celle d'autres substrats quant aux quantités produites de ces acides. Le mélange de bouses de vache et de résidus agricoles a résulté dans la diminution de la formation d'acides gras et d'ammonium et de la perte en azote mais dans l'augmentation de la disparition des solides volatils, des graisses, de l'hémicellulose et de la cellulose. Le contenu en lignine est resté inchangé.

     

pH调控对厨余物厌氧发酵产沼气的影响

利用间隙调控pH的方法研究不同pH下厨余物厌氧发酵产沼气的情况。结果表明,当反应前期将pH控制为5、6时,相应反应瓶中沼气产量有明显的提高。其中,pH控制为6的反应瓶中沼气量最大,每g挥发性固体产气236．1mL,比空白试样提高了4．48倍。同时,该反应瓶中甲烷体积分数高达75．58％。从对各反应瓶中污泥所含辅酶F420以及胞外聚合物（EPS）,质量分数测定结果来看,F420以及W（EPS）的变化与沼气产量呈正相关。     

Changes in biogas production due to different ratios of some animal and agricultural wastes

The biogas production and some biochemical parameters of anaerobic fermentation at 30 degrees C for 40 days were studied for eight experimental groups of fermentation media, as affected by two factors: (1) the type of the animal waste (sheep waste, S and goat waste, G), and (2) the ratio of waste to olive cake which constitutes four levels (100:0 for S1 and G1; 80:20 for S2 and G2; 60:40 for S3 and G3 and 40:60 for S4 and G4). The results indicated that there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the biogas production with an increase in the proportion of olive cake in place of animal waste. However, there was a significant increase in the biogas production for the S4 treatment compared with G4, reflecting an effect induced by the type of animal waste. The biogas production amounted to (l/kg VS/40 d): 62 (S1), 53 (S2), 49 (S3), 40 (S4), 58 (G1), 50 (G2), 44 (G3) and 25 (G4). The reduction in total solid (TS) weight, volatile solids (VS), neutral-detergent fiber decreased significantly (P < 0.05) with the increase in olive cake proportion in the digester. The reductions in VS were (% in DM): 58.2 (S1), 37.8 (S2), 26.6 (S3), 22.6 (S4), 58.1 (G1), 36 (G2), 33.4 (G3), 14.4 (G4). The rates of energy consumption were (MJ/kg DM/40 d): 15.36 (S1), 10.12 (S2), 7.84 (S3), 6.68 (S4), 14.16 (G1), 9.68 (G2), 8.41 (G3), 3.29 (G4).     

Anaerobic fermentation of sheep droppings for biogas production

Production of biogas in batch digesters at 30°C from sheep droppings produced 93 l gas/kg dry matter whereas cattle dung yielded 234 l/kg dry matter. When the sheep droppings and cattle dung were used at 25:75 (w/w), gas production per kg dry matter was equal to that of cattle dung only. The methane content of the biogas obtained from sheep droppings was 70 to 72% as compared to 56 to 60% from cattle dung.     

Feeding approaches for biogas production from animal wastes and industrial effluents

Different feeding approaches were applied to a 5 l anaerobic digester in order to improve the biogas production. During operation, the reactor was fed with a mixture (9.7% w/v total solids (TS) and 7.6% w/v volatile solids (VS) in average) of pig manure with fish oil waste and waste from bentonite of edible oil filtration process, at different intervals of 24, 12 and 4 h at 15 days of hydraulic retention time. Production and quality of the biogas were practically constant at 183.7 ml (average) of biogas per gram of volatile solids available in the reactor per day, and the best biogas composition was 73.6% v/v CH₄ and 26.4% v/v CO₂.     

Pyrolysis and biochar potential using crop residues and agricultural wastes in China

This preliminary study examines the feasibility and applications of pyrolysis and biochar in China to understand issues about bioenergy generation, agricultural cost savings and enhancement of atmospheric quality. Multiple agricultural and animal wastes are analyzed and quantitative measures of economic and environmental benefits are provided. The Poyang Lake, one of the most important clean water lakes in China, is examined to see how pyrolysis and biochar applications can be beneficiary to farmers and society in terms of the economic and greenhouse gas values. Rice straw, corn stover, poplar, orchard wastes, animal wastes and open pasture wastes are primary feedstocks for fast and slow pyrolysis. The results show that both fast and slow pyrolysis are profitable under current situations where corn stover-based pyrolysis yields the highest economic benefits but that of animal wastes-based can offset more GHG emissions. Rice straw yields a loss but it can still be a potential choice since the material is the most popular in study area. Sensitivity analysis is provided to understand the changes of economic and environmental benefits under various market conditions and the results indicate that in general, significant profits of pyrolysis and biochar application bring additional margin of safety and therefore, pyrolysis and biochar does not incur a loss unless input costs increase more than 53% to 64%.     

Production of biogas from solid organic wastes through anaerobic digestion: a review

Anaerobic digestion treatments have often been used for biological stabilization of solid wastes. These treatment processes generate biogas which can be used as a renewable energy sources. Recently, anaerobic digestion of solid wastes has attracted more interest because of current environmental problems, most especially those concerned with global warming. Thus, laboratory-scale research on this area has increased significantly. In this review paper, the summary of the most recent research activities covering production of biogas from solid wastes according to its origin via various anaerobic technologies was presented.     

产气抑制剂对污泥和食品废弃物混合发酵产酸过程的应用研究

为了提高有机酸的浓度,探讨污泥产酸工业化的可行性,考察了三种产气抑制剂对污泥和食 品废弃物混合发酵的VFA浓度及其组成、底物转化率、产气量及产甲烷势的影响.结果表明 ,采用BES、氯仿和碱(pH10)三种手段可以有效抑制发酵后期产气作用,提高底物产酸转化率,并且对有机酸组成也有一定影响.     

Nutritive value of poultry wastes for sheep

The present study included four successive experiments to determine the chemical composition of the manures and the effects of including varying levels of poultry manure in sheep rations on nutrients digestibility, nitrogen balance and the possible adaptation to the experimental diets as the experimental period was prolonged. Four different poultry wastes were used. These wastes were: pure layer droppings, HELWAN (Experiment I); pure layer droppings, SAKHA (Experiment II); layer litter (Experiment III); and broiler litter (Experiment IV). Three levels of each waste (0, low and high) were tested in the rations of six mature Ossimi fat-tailed rams (two animals for each treatment).Results showed a wide variation in ash and crude protein contents of the different wastes. Layer droppings (HELWAN) contained the highest ash percentage (43·9), while broiler litter contained the lowest (18·8). For crude protein content, broiler litter had the highest value (34·0%) and layer droppings (SAKHA) the lowest (15·4%).Feed intake (g OM per kg^0.75 day⁻¹) decreased with increasing level of manure. Water intake and excretion were, in general, related to food and minerals intake. Feed intakes sometimes improved with advancing experimental period. In most experiments, digestibilities of ash and crude fiber increased while those of other components decreased with the inclusion of the waste materials in the diets.In vitro DMD or OMD were lower for diets containing waste materials than the control diets.Results of some rumen liquor parameters are tabulated and discussed.     

Continuously-stirred anaerobic digester to convert organic wastes into biogas: system setup and basic operation

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a bioprocess that is commonly used to convert complex organic wastes into a useful biogas with methane as the energy carrier. Increasingly, AD is being used in industrial, agricultural, and municipal waste(water) treatment applications. The use of AD technology allows plant operators to reduce waste disposal costs and offset energy utility expenses. In addition to treating organic wastes, energy crops are being converted into the energy carrier methane. As the application of AD technology broadens for the treatment of new substrates and co-substrate mixtures, so does the demand for a reliable testing methodology at the pilot- and laboratory-scale. Anaerobic digestion systems have a variety of configurations, including the continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), plug flow (PF), and anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) configurations. The CSTR is frequently used in research due to its simplicity in design and operation, but also for its advantages in experimentation. Compared to other configurations, the CSTR provides greater uniformity of system parameters, such as temperature, mixing, chemical concentration, and substrate concentration. Ultimately, when designing a full-scale reactor, the optimum reactor configuration will depend on the character of a given substrate among many other nontechnical considerations. However, all configurations share fundamental design features and operating parameters that render the CSTR appropriate for most preliminary assessments. If researchers and engineers use an influent stream with relatively high concentrations of solids, then lab-scale bioreactor configurations cannot be fed continuously due to plugging problems of lab-scale pumps with solids or settling of solids in tubing. For that scenario with continuous mixing requirements, lab-scale bioreactors are fed periodically and we refer to such configurations as continuously stirred anaerobic digesters (CSADs). This article presents a general methodology for constructing, inoculating, operating, and monitoring a CSAD system for the purpose of testing the suitability of a given organic substrate for long-term anaerobic digestion. The construction section of this article will cover building the lab-scale reactor system. The inoculation section will explain how to create an anaerobic environment suitable for seeding with an active methanogenic inoculum. The operating section will cover operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The monitoring section will introduce testing protocols using standard analyses. The use of these measures is necessary for reliable experimental assessments of substrate suitability for AD. This protocol should provide greater protection against a common mistake made in AD studies, which is to conclude that reactor failure was caused by the substrate in use, when really it was improper user operation.     

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.     

Exploitation of biological wastes for the production of value-added products under solid-state fermentation conditions

Biological wastes contain several reusable substances of high value such as soluble sugars and fibre. Direct disposal of such wastes to soil or landfill causes serious environmental problems. Thus, the development of potential value-added processes for these wastes is highly attractive. These biological wastes can be used as support-substrates in solid-state fermentation (SSF) to produce industrially relevant metabolites with great economical advantage. In addition, it is an environmentally friendly method of waste management. This paper reviews the reutilization of biological wastes for the production of value-added products using the SSF technique.     

Ultrasound-assisted hydrolysis and acidogenesis of solid organic wastes in a rotational drum fermentation system

The hydrolysis and acidogenesis of solid organic wastes in a rotational drum fermentation system (RDFS) were improved by direct ultrasonic irradiation (DUSI) and a modified ultrasonic treatment (MUST) composed of dilution, ultrasonic irradiation, and filtration. The effect of DUSI on VA desorption from particle surfaces was estimated. DUSI delivered few distinctions from the broth characteristics, but elevated pH and VS degradation rate (53% higher than the control) in the subsequent acidogenesis. The results demonstrated that DUSI could dislodge VA from particle surfaces and disrupt large-size particles by hydro-mechanical shear force. To improve VA desorption and removal, a MUST process was constructed. The influences of MUST on the characteristics of the fermentation broth and the subsequent acidogenic performance were investigated. MUST raise the broth pH level from 5.1 to 5.5 and remarkably decreased VA concentration from 11.0 to 3.5g/L. At the end of the subsequent acidogenesis, VA increasing ratios, VS degradation ratios, and surface based hydrolysis constants of the fermentors with the control broth (CF) and the treated broth (MUSTF) were 166.7% and 732.0%, 17.0% and 26.7%, and 16.9% and 26.8x10(-6)kgm(-2)d(-1), respectively. With the assistance of MUST, a considerably improved acidogenic performance of solid organic wastes was accomplished in terms of VA production, VS degradation, and particle hydrolysis.     

A rotational drum fermentation system with water flushing for enhancing hydrolysis and acidification of solid organic wastes

In this work, fresh soybean meal was used as the substrate for both batch and continuous experiments in a rotational drum fermentation (RDF) system to characterize the acidogenic process of solid organic waste degradation at high unionized volatile acid (U-VA) level and evaluate the effect of water flushing on the acidogenic performance. The experiments were conducted under mesophilic condition with a reaction time of 20 days. The results of the batch experiment showed that U-VA had a growing adverse effect on the volatile acid (VA) production and hydrolysis of the substrate as the initially added U-VA concentration increased (0, 5, 15, 25 g/L). VA formation deteriorated drastically when the initial U-VA concentration exceeded 5 g/L. VS degradation ratios decreased from 43.8% to 7.3%, and the hydrolysis rate constants varied between 28.8 and 3.8 x 10(-3)/d in response to the initial U-VA concentration. In the continuous experiment, two cascade process configurations (CP1 and CP2) without and with VA removal by water flushing, respectively, were developed. The results showed that the hydrolysis rate constants and VS degradation ratios were 13.1 x 10(-3)/d and 23%, respectively, in CP2, while only 9.1 x 10(-3)/d and 16.7% in CP2. Compared to CP1, the VA spectrum varied little in CP2 with water flushing. It suggested that the higher U-VA level had a significant inhibition on the acidogenic process of solid organic waste degradation, and the VA removal by water flushing improved the acidogenic performance.     

Critical analysis of life cycle inventory datasets for organic crop production systems

Purpose

Organic agriculture (OA) has gained widespread popularity due to its view as a more sustainable method of farming. Yet OA and conventional agriculture (CA) can be found to have similar or varying environmental performance using tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA). However, the current state of LCA does not accurately reflect the effects of OA; thus the aim of the present study was to identify gaps in the inventory stage and suggest improvements.

Methods

This article presents for the first time a critical analysis of the life cycle inventory (LCI) of state-of-the-art organic crop LCIs from current and recommended LCA databases ecoinvent and AGRIBALYSE®. The effects of these limitations on LCA results were analyzed and detailed ways to improve upon them were proposed.

Results and discussion

Through this analysis, unrepresentative plant protection product (PPP) manufacturing and organic fertilizer treatment inventories were found to be the main limitations in background processes, due to either the lack of available usage statistics, exclusion from the study, or use of unrepresentative proxies. Many organic crop LCIs used synthetic pesticide or mineral fertilizer proxies, which may indirectly contain OA prohibited chemicals. The effect of using these proxies can contribute between 4–78% to resource and energy-related impact categories. In a foreground analysis, the fertilizer and PPP emission models utilized by ecoinvent and AGRIBALYSE® were not well adapted to organic-authorized inputs and used simplified modeling assumptions. These critical aspects can be transferred to respective LCAs that use this data, potentially yielding unrepresentative results for relevant categories. To improve accuracy and to contribute novel data to the scientific community, new manufacturing LCIs were created for a few of the missing PPPs, as well as recommendations for fertilizer treatment LCIs and more precise emission models for PPPs and fertilizers.

Conclusions

The findings in the present article add much needed transparency regarding the limitations of available OA LCIs, offers guidance on how to make OA LCIs more representative, allow for more accurate comparisons between conventional and OA, and help practitioners to better adapt LCA methodology to OA systems.

     

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.     

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.