IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v6y2013i11p5642-5655d29988.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biogas Production from Thin Stillage on an Industrial Scale—Experience and Optimisation

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Moestedt

    (Department of Biogas R&D, Tekniska verken i Linköping AB (public), Box 1500, Linköping SE-581 15, Sweden
    Department of Microbiology, BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7025, Uppsala SE-750 07, Sweden)

  • Sören Nilsson Påledal

    (Department of Biogas R&D, Tekniska verken i Linköping AB (public), Box 1500, Linköping SE-581 15, Sweden)

  • Anna Schnürer

    (Department of Microbiology, BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7025, Uppsala SE-750 07, Sweden)

  • Erik Nordell

    (Department of Biogas R&D, Tekniska verken i Linköping AB (public), Box 1500, Linköping SE-581 15, Sweden)

Abstract

With the increasing demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste treatment, biogas production is expanding. Approximately four billion litres of bio-ethanol are produced annually for vehicle fuel in Europe, resulting in the production of large amounts of stillage residues. This stillage is energy-rich and can be used for biogas production, but is a challenging substrate due to its high levels of nitrogen and sulphate. At the full-scale biogas production plant in Norrköping, Sweden (Svensk Biogas i Linköping AB), thin grain stillage is used as a biogas substrate. This paper describes the plant operation and strategies that have been implemented to digest thin stillage successfully. High ammonia concentrations in the digester have resulted in syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) becoming the major pathway for acetate degradation. Therefore, a long hydraulic retention time (HRT) (40–60 days) is used to allow the syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacteria time to grow. The high sulphate levels in thin stillage result in high levels of hydrogen sulphide following degradation of protein and the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), the presence of which has been confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. To optimise biogas production and maintain a stable process, the substrate is diluted with tap water and co-digested with grain residues and glycerine to keep the ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 -N) concentration below 6 g L −1 . Combined addition of iron, hydrochloric acid and cobalt successfully precipitates sulphides, reduces ammonia toxicity and supplies microorganisms with trace element. Mesophilic temperature (38 °C) is employed to further avoid ammonia toxicity. Together, these measures and doubling the digester volume have made it possible to increase annual biogas production from 27.7 TJ to 69.1 TJ.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Moestedt & Sören Nilsson Påledal & Anna Schnürer & Erik Nordell, 2013. "Biogas Production from Thin Stillage on an Industrial Scale—Experience and Optimisation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-14, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:5642-5655:d:29988
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/11/5642/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/11/5642/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abubaker, J. & Risberg, K. & Pell, M., 2012. "Biogas residues as fertilisers – Effects on wheat growth and soil microbial activities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 126-134.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alessandra Cesaro & Vincenzo Belgiorno, 2015. "Combined Biogas and Bioethanol Production: Opportunities and Challenges for Industrial Application," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-24, August.
    2. Fagbohungbe, Michael O. & Komolafe, Abiodun O. & Okere, Uchechukwu V., 2019. "Renewable hydrogen anaerobic fermentation technology: Problems and potentials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Westerholm, Maria & Moestedt, Jan & Schnürer, Anna, 2016. "Biogas production through syntrophic acetate oxidation and deliberate operating strategies for improved digester performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 124-135.
    4. Wenyao Jin & Xiaochen Xu & Fenglin Yang, 2018. "Application of Rumen Microorganisms for Enhancing Biogas Production of Corn Straw and Livestock Manure in a Pilot-Scale Anaerobic Digestion System: Performance and Microbial Community Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Solli, Linn & Schnürer, Anna & Horn, Svein J., 2018. "Process performance and population dynamics of ammonium tolerant microorganisms during co-digestion of fish waste and manure," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 529-536.
    6. Marta Macias Aragonés & Petra Ondrejíčková & Raul Ugarte Lodeiro & Fátima Arroyo Torralvo, 2022. "Valorizing Biodiesel and Bioethanol Side-Streams: Sustainability Potential Assessment through a Multicriteria Decision Analysis Framework and Appraisal of Valuable Compound Recovery Prospects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. O'Shea, Richard & Lin, Richen & Wall, David M. & Browne, James D. & Murphy, Jerry D, 2020. "Using biogas to reduce natural gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions at a large distillery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kerstin Nielsen & Christina-Luise Roß & Marieke Hoffmann & Andreas Muskolus & Frank Ellmer & Timo Kautz, 2020. "The Chemical Composition of Biogas Digestates Determines Their Effect on Soil Microbial Activity," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Al Afif, Rafat & Linke, Bernd, 2019. "Biogas production from three-phase olive mill solid waste in lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1046-1052.
    3. Franco Curadelli & Marcelo Alberto & Ernesto Martín Uliarte & Mariana Combina & Iván Funes-Pinter, 2023. "Meta-Analysis of Yields of Crops Fertilized with Compost Tea and Anaerobic Digestate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Wenyan Chen & Qiang Cai & Yuan Zhao & Guojuan Zheng & Yuting Liang, 2014. "Toxicity Evaluation of Pig Slurry Using Luminescent Bacteria and Zebrafish," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Jacek Pranagal & Sławomir Ligęza & Halina Smal & Joanna Gmitrowicz-Iwan, 2023. "Effects of Waste Application (Carboniferous Rock and Post-Fermentation Sludge) on Soil Quality," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Budzianowski, Wojciech M., 2016. "A review of potential innovations for production, conditioning and utilization of biogas with multiple-criteria assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1148-1171.
    7. Karin S. Levin & Felizitas Winkhart & Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen & Hans Jürgen Reents & Karl Auerswald, 2023. "Artefacts in Field Trial Research—Lateral Ammonia Fluxes Confound Fertiliser Plot Experiments," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Cheng, Shikun & Li, Zifu & Mang, Heinz-Peter & Neupane, Kalidas & Wauthelet, Marc & Huba, Elisabeth-Maria, 2014. "Application of fault tree approach for technical assessment of small-sized biogas systems in Nepal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1372-1381.
    9. Irina N. Vikhareva & Guliya K. Aminova & Aliya K. Mazitova, 2022. "Resource Cycling: Application of Anaerobic Utilization Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.
    10. Begum, Sameena & Ahuja, Shruti & Anupoju, Gangagni Rao & Kuruti, Kranti & Juntupally, Sudharshan & Gandu, Bharath & Ahuja, D.K., 2017. "Process intensification with inline pre and post processing mechanism for valorization of poultry litter through high rate biomethanation technology: A full scale experience," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 428-436.
    11. Magdalena Kachel & Artur Kraszkiewicz & Alaa Subr & Stanisław Parafiniuk & Artur Przywara & Milan Koszel & Grzegorz Zając, 2020. "Impact of the Type of Fertilization and the Addition of Glycerol on the Quality of Spring Rape Straw Pellets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, February.
    12. Sunil Prasad Lohani & Martina Keitsch & Siddhartha Shakya & David Fulford, 2021. "Waste to energy in Kathmandu Nepal—A way toward achieving sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 906-914, September.
    13. Wu Jichengab & Pan Xiaoyingab & Yang Yonghuiab & Gao Cuiminab & Wang Yueab & Li Minjieac & Wu Jichengab & Pan Xiaoyingab & Yang Yonghuiab & Gao Cuiminab & Wang Yueab & Li Minjieac, 2020. "Effects of Biogas Slurry Utilization in Long-Term on Soil Nutrients and Enzyme Activities," Current Investigations in Agriculture and Current Research, Lupine Publishers, LLC, vol. 8(2), pages 1083-1090, February.
    14. Jiří Velechovský & Matěj Malík & Lukáš Kaplan & Pavel Tlustoš, 2021. "Application of Individual Digestate Forms for the Improvement of Hemp Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, November.
    15. Alvyra Slepetiene & Mykola Kochiieru & Aida Skersiene & Audrone Mankeviciene & Olgirda Belova, 2022. "Changes in Stabile Organic Carbon in Differently Managed Fluvisol Treated by Two Types of Anaerobic Digestate," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-11, August.
    16. Ortner, Markus & Rachbauer, Lydia & Somitsch, Walter & Fuchs, Werner, 2014. "Can bioavailability of trace nutrients be measured in anaerobic digestion?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 190-198.
    17. Hastik, Richard & Basso, Stefano & Geitner, Clemens & Haida, Christin & Poljanec, Aleš & Portaccio, Alessia & Vrščaj, Borut & Walzer, Chris, 2015. "Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 608-623.
    18. Godwin Glivin & S. Joseph Sekhar, 2016. "Experimental and Analytical Studies on the Utilization of Biowastes Available in an Educational Institution in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-9, November.
    19. Shaohui Zhang & Yumei Hua & Liangwei Deng, 2016. "Nutrient Status and Contamination Risks from Digested Pig Slurry Applied on a Vegetable Crops Field," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, April.
    20. Lijó, Lucía & González-García, Sara & Bacenetti, Jacopo & Fiala, Marco & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Lema, Juan M. & Moreira, María Teresa, 2014. "Life Cycle Assessment of electricity production in Italy from anaerobic co-digestion of pig slurry and energy crops," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 625-635.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:5642-5655:d:29988. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.