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Anaerobic Digestion of Biomass
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August 25th, 2008
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The generation and disposal of organic waste without adequate Forums Photos DIY
treatment result in significant environmental pollution. Besides health Videos Sitemap
concerns for the people in the vicinity of disposal sites, degradation of About Contact
waste leads to uncontrolled release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into Privacy Policy
the atmosphere. Conventional means, like aeration, is energy intensive,
expensive and also generates a significant quantity of biological sludge. In this context, Latest News
anaerobic digestion offers potential energy savings and is a more stable process for medium
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and high strength organic effluents. Waste toEnergy (WTE) plants, based on anaerobic
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digestion of biomass, are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped renewable energy
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potential of organic waste by converting the biodegradable fraction of the waste into high
Cleantech Blog calorific gases. Apart from treating the wastewater, the methane produced from the biogas Hydrogen News
facilities can be recovered, with relative ease, for electricity generation and Solar Power News
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industrial/domestic heating.
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Anaerobic digestion plants not only decrease GHGs emission but also reduce dependence
Peak Oil on fossil fuels for energy requirements. The anaerobic process has several advantages over
PESWiki other methods of waste treatment. Most significantly, it is able to accommodate relatively
high rates of organic loading. With increasing use of anaerobic technology for treating
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various process streams, it is expected that industries would become more economically
competitive because of their more judicious use of natural resources. Therefore, anaerobic
digestion technology is almost certainly assured of increased usage in the future.
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Benefits of Anaerobic Digestion Environment
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Anaerobic digestion provides a variety of benefits. These may be classified into three groups
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viz. environmental, economic and energy benefits:
Future Energy
The environmental benefits include: Geothermal Energy
1. Elimination of malodorous compounds. Human Power
2. Reduction of pathogens. Hybrid Cars
3. Deactivation of weed seeds. Hydro Power
4. Production of sanitized compost. Hydrogen Fuel
5. Decrease in GHGs emission. Industry
6. Reduced dependence on inorganic fertilizers by capture and reuse of nutrients. Inventions
7. Promotion of carbon sequestration Pedal Power
8. Beneficial reuse of recycled water Politics
9. Protection of groundwater and surface water resources. PhotoVoltaics
10. Improved social acceptance
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Anaerobic digestion is advantageous in terms of energy in the following manner: Solar Power
1. Anaerobic digestion is a net energyproducing process. Tidal Power
2. A biogas facility generates highquality renewable fuel. Transportation
3. Surplus energy as electricity and heat is produced during anaerobic digestion of Waste Energy
biomass. Wave Power
4. Anaerobic digestion reduces reliance on energy imports. Wind Farms
5. Such a facility contributes to decentralized, distributed power systems. Wind Power
6. Biogas is a rich source of electricity, heat, and transportation fuel. Wind Turbines
The economic benefits associated with a biomasstobiogas facility are:
1. Anaerobic digestion transforms waste liabilities into new profit centers.
2. The time devoted to moving, handling and processing manure is minimized.
3. Anaerobic digestion adds value to negative value feedstock.
4. Income can be obtained from the processing of waste (tipping fees), sale of organic
fertilizer, carbon credits and sale of power.
5. Power tax credits may be obtained from each kWh of power produced.
6. A biomasstobiogas facility reduces water consumption.
7. It reduces dependence on energy imports.
8. Anaerobic digestion plants increases selfsufficiency.
Feedstock for Anaerobic Digestion Plants
A wide range of feedstock is available for anaerobic digesters. In addition to MSW, large
quantity of waste, in both solid and liquid forms, is generated by the industrial sector like
breweries, sugar mills, distilleries, foodprocessing industries, tanneries, and paper and pulp
industries. Out of the total pollution contributed by industrial subsectors, nearly 40% of the
total organic pollution is contributed by the food products industry alone. Food products and
agrobased industries together contribute 65% to 70% of the total industrial wastewater in
terms of organic load. Poultry waste has the highest per tonne energy potential of electricity
per tonne but livestock have the greatest potential for energy generation in the agricultural
sector.
Most small scale units such as tanneries, textile bleaching and dying, dairy,
slaughterhouses cannot afford effluent treatment plants of their own because of economies
of scale in pollution abatement. Recycling/recovery/re use of products from the wastes of
such small scale units by adopting suitable technology could be a viable proposition.
Generation of energy using anaerobic digestion process has proved to be economically
attractive in many such cases. The urban municipal waste (both solid and liquid) – industrial
waste coming from dairies, distilleries, pressmud, tanneries, pulp and paper, and food
processing industries, etc., agrowaste and biomass in different forms – if treated properly,
has a tremendous potential for energy generation. Fig 1 lists the possible feedstock for
wastetoenergy plants based on anaerobic digestion of biomass.
Agricultural Origin
Livestock manure
Agricultural residues
Animal mortalities
Energy crops
Industrial Origin
Wastewater
Industrial sludges
Industrial byproducts
Slaughterhouse waste
Spent beverages
Biosolids
Municipal Origin
Sewage sludge
Municipal solid waste
Food residuals
Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock Manure
The livestock industry is an important contributor to the economy of any country. More than
one billion tons of manure is produced annually by livestock in the United States. Animal
manure is a valuable source of nutrients and renewable energy. However, most of the
manure is collected in lagoons or left to decompose in the open which pose a significant
environmental hazard. The air pollutants emitted from manure include methane, nitrous
oxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, which
can cause serious environmental concerns and health problems.
Anaerobic digestion is a unique treatment solution for animal agriculture as it can deliver
positive benefits related to multiple issues, including renewable energy, water pollution, and
air emissions. Anaerobic digestion of animal manure is gaining popularity as a means to
protect the environment and to recycle materials efficiently into the farming systems.
WastetoEnergy (WTE) plants, based on anaerobic digestion of biomass, are highly
efficient in harnessing the untapped renewable energy potential of organic waste by
converting the biodegradable fraction of the waste into high calorific gases.
Potential biogas yield from various animals
Animal Biogas Yield/Ton Manure (ft3/ton/day)
Dairy 920
Beef 1148
Swine 741
Poultry 2266
The establishment of anaerobic digestion systems for livestock manure stabilization and
energy production has accelerated substantially in the past several years. There are more
than 111 digesters operating at commercial livestock facilities in the United States which
generated around 215 million kWh equivalent of useable energy. Besides generating
electricity (170 million kWh), biogas is used as boiler and domestic fuel. Many of the
projects that generate electricity also capture waste heat for various inhouse requirements.
In the past, livestock waste was recovered and sold as a fertilizer or simply spread onto
agricultural land. The introduction of tighter environmental controls on odor and water
pollution means that some form of waste management is necessary, which provides further
incentives for biomasstoenergy conversion.
Important Factors to Consider
Important Factors to Consider
The main factors that influence biogas production from livestock manure are pH and
temperature of the feedstock. It is well established that a biogas plant works optimally at
neutral pH level and mesophilic temperature of around 35o C. Carbonnitrogen ratio of the
feed material is also an important factor and should be in the range of 20:1 to 30:1. Animal
manure has a carbon nitrogen ratio of 25:1 and is considered ideal for maximum gas
production. Solid concentration in the feed material is also crucial to ensure sufficient gas
production, as well as easy mixing and handling. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) is the most
important factor in determining the volume of the digester which in turn determines the cost
of the plant; the larger the retention period, higher the construction cost.
An emerging technological advance in anaerobic digestion that may lead to increased
biogas yields is the use of ultrasound to increase volatile solids conversion. This process
disintegrates solids in the influent, which increases surface area and, in turn, allows for
efficient digestion of biodegradable waste.
Process Description of WTE Facility Based on
Livestock Manure
The layout of a typical biogas facility using livestock manure as raw material is shown in Fig
3. The fresh animal manure is stored in a collection tank before its processing to the
homogenization tank which is equipped with a mixer to facilitate homogenization of the
waste stream. The uniformly mixed waste is passed through a macerator to obtain uniform
particle size of 5 10 mm and pumped into suitable capacity anaerobic digesters where
stabilization of organic waste takes place.
In anaerobic digestion, organic material is converted to biogas by a series of bacteria
groups into methane and carbon dioxide. The majority of commercially operating digesters
are plug flow and completemix reactors operating at mesophilic temperatures. The type of
digester used varies with the consistency and solids content of the feedstock, with capital
investment factors and with the primary purpose of digestion.
Biogas contain significant amount of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas which needs to be stripped
off due to its highly corrosive nature. The removal of H2S takes place in a biological
desulphurization unit in which a limited quantity of air is added to biogas in the presence of
specialized aerobic bacteria which oxidizes H2S into elemental sulfur.
Gas is dried and vented into a CHP unit to a generator to produce electricity and heat. The
size of the CHP system depends on the amount of biogas produced daily. The digested
substrate is passed through screw presses for dewatering and then subjected to solar
drying and conditioning to give highquality organic fertilizer. The press water is treated in an
effluent treatment plant based on activated sludge process which consists of an aeration
tank and a secondary clarifier. The treated wastewater is recycled to meet in house plant
requirements. A chemical laboratory is necessary to continuously monitor important
environmental parameters such as BOD, COD, VFA, pH, ammonia, C:N ratio at different
locations for efficient and proper functioning of the process.
The continuous monitoring of the biogas plant is achieved by using a remote control system
such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. This remote system
facilitates immediate feedback and adjustment, which can result in energy savings.
Utilization of Biogas and Digestate
An anaerobic digestion plant produces two outputs, biogas and digestate, both can be
further processed or utilised to produce secondary outputs. Biogas can be used for
producing electricity and heat, as a natural gas substitute and also a transportation fuel. A
combined heat and power plant system (CHP) not only generates power but also produces
heat for inhouse requirements to maintain desired temperature level in the digester during
cold season. CHP systems cover a range of technologies but indicative energy outputs per
m3 of biogas are approximately 1.7 kWh electricity and 2.5kWh heat. The combined
production of electricity and heat is highly desirable because it displaces non renewable
energy demand elsewhere and therefore reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released into
the atmosphere.
In Sweden, the compressed biogas is used as a transportation fuel for cars and buses.
Biogas can also be upgraded and used in gas supply networks. The use of biogas in solid
oxide fuel cells is being researched.
The surplus heat energy generated may be utilized through a district heating network. Thus,
there is potential scope for biogas facilities in the proximity of new housing and development
areas, particularly if the waste management system could utilise kitchen and green waste
from the housing as a supplement to other feed stock.
Digestate can be further processed to produce liquor and a fibrous material. The fiber, which
can be processed into compost, is a bulky material with low levels of nutrients and can be
used as a soil conditioner or a low level fertilizer. A high proportion of the nutrients remain in
the liquor, which can be used as a liquid fertilizer.
Conclusions
Anaerobic digestion of biomass offer two important benefits of environmentally safe waste
management and disposal, as well as the generation of clean electric power. The growing
use of digestion technology as a method to dispose off livestock manure has greatly
reduced its environmental and economic impacts. Biomass tobiogas transformation
mitigates GHGs emission and harness the untapped potential of a variety of organic waste.
Anaerobic digestion technology affords greater water quality benefits than standard slurry
storage due to lower pollution potential. It also provides additional benefits in terms of
meeting the targets under the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental legislations.
The livestock industry is a vitally important contributor to the economy of any country,
regardless of the degree of industrialization. Animal manure is a valuable source of
renewable energy; additionally, it has soil enhancement properties. Anaerobic digestion is a
unique treatment solution for animal agriculture as it can deliver positive benefits related to
multiple issues, including renewable energy, water pollution, and air emissions. Anaerobic
digestion of animal manure is gaining popularity as a means to protect the environment and
to produce clean energy. There is an urgent need to integrate the digester with manure
management systems for effective implementation of the anaerobic digestion technology to
address associated environmental concerns and to harness renewable energy potential of
livestock.
By Salman Zafar, Renewable Energy Expert
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Harvesting Hydrogen from Farm Waste
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2 Responses to “Anaerobic Digestion of
Biomass”
Gail Feddern:
September 1st, 2008
1
Bio gas made from sewage and lawn, weeds, and tree trimmings is the answer. We
should not be wasting corn, which is so valuable as food and feed, on manufacturing
bio fuel. The whole corn bio fuel thing is a big fiasco, causing world famine and
economic strife. The real solution is always to take a problem (sewage pollution) and
flip it over to make it a viable solution (a new source of energy). People should be
thinking “How can I turn this disadvantage into an advantage?” rather than trying to
dispose of it. Yes, find new uses for the unwanted biproduct. That is the proper way
to eliminate the problems of pollution without causing other, often greater, problems.
Ram Bux Singh in India invented the Bio Gas Digester back in the 60s. Villages in
China run their electric lights from crude bio gas technology, consisting of a pit dug
in the ground with a floating lid & pipe on it to collect the methane gas. Rudimentary
technology is there now; it’s usable as is, or we can refine it so every backyard has
a bio digester. The big question is WHY AREN’T WE DOING ANYTHING WITH IT
NOW????
GaltKnows:
September 1st, 2008
2
You’re absolutely RIGHT!!!! One American man is doing something about it. He is
teaching a workshop about how individuals can make their own biomass or trash
gasifier. Check it out in Treehugger.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/builddoityourselfbiomass
gasifier.php
Great article and the guy is showing people how to build one hands on. If people are
real and want to walk the walk instead of just talk green, then they should attend his
workshop. T i c k e t s a r e a v a i l a b l e a c c o r d i n g t o t r e e h u g g e r b y g o i n g t o
VictoryGasworks.com
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