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Comparison of Variable and Constant Loading for Mesophilic Food Waste Digestion in a Long-Term Experiment

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  • He Song

    (Biomass Group, College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, 40 Dianjiangtai Road, Nanjing 210031, China
    Water and Environmental Engineering Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK)

  • Yue Zhang

    (Water and Environmental Engineering Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK)

  • Sigrid Kusch-Brandt

    (Water and Environmental Engineering Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK
    Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy)

  • Charles J. Banks

    (Water and Environmental Engineering Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK)

Abstract

Operators of commercial anaerobic digestion (AD) plants frequently note the challenge of transferring research results to an industrial setting, especially in matching well-controlled laboratory studies at a constant organic loading rate (OLR) with full-scale digesters subject to day-to-day variation in loadings. This study compared the performance of food waste digesters at fluctuating and constant OLR. In a long-term experiment over nearly three years, variable daily OLR with a range as wide as 0 to 10.0 g VS L −1 day −1 (weekly average 5.0 g VS L −1 day −1 ) were applied to one laboratory-scale digester, while a pair of control digesters was operated at a constant daily loading of 5.0 g VS L −1 day −1 . Different schemes of trace elements (TE) supplementation were also tested to examine how they contributed to process stability. Variable loading had no adverse impact on biogas production or operational stability when 11 TE species were dosed. When TE addition was limited to cobalt and selenium, the stability of the variable-load digester was well maintained for nearly 300 days before the experiment was terminated, while the control digesters required re-supplementation with other TE species to reverse an accumulation of volatile fatty acids. This work demonstrated that variation in daily OLR across quite a wide range of applied loadings is possible with no adverse effects on methane production or stability of food waste digestion, giving confidence in the transferability of research findings. The positive effect of variable OLR on TE requirement requires further investigation considering its practical significance for AD industry.

Suggested Citation

  • He Song & Yue Zhang & Sigrid Kusch-Brandt & Charles J. Banks, 2020. "Comparison of Variable and Constant Loading for Mesophilic Food Waste Digestion in a Long-Term Experiment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:5:p:1279-:d:330655
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abdullah Nsair & Senem Onen Cinar & Ayah Alassali & Hani Abu Qdais & Kerstin Kuchta, 2020. "Operational Parameters of Biogas Plants: A Review and Evaluation Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-27, July.
    2. Tsigkou, Konstantina & Tsafrakidou, Panagiota & Zagklis, Dimitris & Panagiotouros, Anastasios & Sionakidis, Dimitris & Zontos, Dimitris Marios & Zafiri, Constantina & Kornaros, Michael, 2021. "Used disposable nappies and expired food products co-digestion: A pilot-scale system assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 109-117.

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