Thermal pre-treatment of solid fraction from mechanically-separated raw and digested slurry to increase methane yield

The effect of heat pre-treatment on the anaerobic digestion of high-solid pig manure under high organic loading level

Since more and more large-scale farms appear in China and changes in fecal sewage source disposal, the production of high-concentration solid manure waste is also increasing, and its conversion and utilization are gaining attention. This study investigated the effect of heat pre-treatment (HPT) on the thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) of high-solid manure (HSM). Pig manure (PM) feed with a total solids of 13% was used for the HPT and subsequent anaerobic digestion (AD) test. The HPT was carried out at 60°C, 80°C, and 100°C, respectively, for 15 min after the heating reached the set temperature. The results show that HPT led to PM feed COD solubilization, observing a maximum increase of 24.57% after pretreated at 100°C, and the treated PM feed under this condition received the maximum methane production potential of 264.64 mL·g−1 VS in batch AD test, which was 28.76% higher than that of the untreated group. Another semi-continuous AD test explored the maximum volume biogas production rate (VBPR). It involves two organic loading rates (OLR) of 13.4 and 17.8 g VSadded·L−1·d−1. The continuous test exhibited that all the HPT groups could produce biogas normally when the OLR increased to the high level, while the digester fed with untreated PM showed failure. The maximum VBPR of 4.71 L L−1·d−1 was observed from PM feed after pre-treated at 100°C and running at the high OLR. This reveals that thermal treatment can weaken the impact of a larger volume of feed on the AD system. Energy balance analysis demonstrates that it is necessary to use a heat exchanger to reuse energy in the HPT process to reduce the amount of energy input. In this case, the energy input to energy output (Ei/Eo) ranged from 0.34 to 0.55, which was much less than one, suggesting that biogas increment due to heat treatment can reasonably cover the energy consumption of the pre-treatment itself. Thus combining HPT and high-load anaerobic digestion of PM was suitable.

Low-Temperature Pretreatment of Biomass for Enhancing Biogas Production: A Review

Low-temperature pretreatment (LTPT, Temp. < 100 °C or 140 °C) has the advantages of low input, simplicity, and energy saving, which makes engineering easy to use for improving biogas production. However, compared with high-temperature pretreatment (>150 °C) that can destroy recalcitrant polymerized matter in biomass, the action mechanism of heat treatment of biomass is unclear. Improving LTPT on biogas yield is often influenced by feedstock type, treatment temperature, exposure time, and fermentation conditions. Such as, even when belonging to the same algal biomass, the response to LTPT varies between species. Therefore, forming a unified method for LTPT to be applied in practice is difficult. This review focuses on the LTPT used in different biomass materials to improve anaerobic digestion performance, including food waste, sludge, animal manure, algae, straw, etc. It also discusses the challenge and cost issues faced during LTPT application according to the energy balance and proposes some proposals for economically promoting the implementation of LTPT.

Waste sludge disintegration, methanogenesis and final disposal via various pretreatments: Comparison of performance and effectiveness

This study compared the three wastewater pretreatments of ozonation, Fe²⁺-S₂O₈ ^2- and freeze-thawing (F/T) in the disintegration, anaerobic digestion (AD) and final disposal of the sludge. The F/T pretreatment increased the dewaterability and settleability of the sludge by 7.8% and 47.1%, respectively. The ozonation pretreatment formed more volatile fatty acids (VFAs), with a peak value of 320.82 mg SCOD/L and controlled the release of sulfides. The Fe²⁺-S₂O₈ ^2- pretreatment removed heavy metals through the absorption and flocculation of ferric particles formed in-situ. During the anaerobic digestion of the sludge, the ozonation pretreatment accelerated the hydrolysis rate (k) rather than the biochemical methane potential (B₀) of the sludge due to the high VFA content in the supernatant. Comparatively, the F/T pretreatment facilitated the B₀ with great economic efficiency by enhancing the solubilisation of the sludge. Although Fe²⁺-S₂O₈ ^2- pretreatment decreased the methane production, the ferric particle was a unique advantage in the disintegration and harmless disposal of the sludge. The digested sludge had more VFAs after ozonation pretreatment, which contributed to the recycling of carbon. In addition, the lower sludge volume could save the expense of transportation and disposal by ozonation pretreatment. Different pretreatments had different characteristics. The comparative study provided information allowing the selection of the type of pretreatment to achieve different objectives of the treatment and disposal of sludge.

Digestate Post-Treatment Strategies for Additional Biogas Recovery: A Review

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a process in which microorganisms, under oxygen-free conditions, convert organic matter into biogas and digestate. Normally, only 40–70% of biomass is converted into biogas; therefore, digestate still contains significant amounts of degradable organic matter and biogas potential. The recovery of this residual biogas potential could optimize substrate utilization and lower methane emissions during digestate storage and handling. Post-treatment methods have been studied with the aim of enhancing the recovery of biogas from digestate. This review summarizes the studies in which these methods have been applied to agricultural and wastewater digestate and gives a detailed overview of the existing scientific knowledge in the field. The current studies have shown large variation in outcomes, which reflects differences in treatment conditions and digestate compositions. While studies involving biological post-treatment of digestate are still limited, mechanical methods have been relatively more explored. In some cases, they could increase methane yields of digestate; however, the extra gain in methane has often not covered treatment energy inputs. Thermal and chemical methods have been studied the most and have yielded some promising results. Despite all the research conducted in the area, several knowledge gaps still should be addressed. For a more thorough insight of the pros and cons within post-treatment, more research where the effects of the treatments are tested in continuous AD systems, along with detailed economic analysis, should be performed.

Fungal Pretreatments on Non-Sterile Solid Digestate to Enhance Methane Yield and the Sustainability of Anaerobic Digestion

Fungi can run feedstock pretreatment to improve the hydrolysis and utilization of recalcitrant lignocellulose-rich biomass during anaerobic digestion (AD). In this study, three fungal strains (Coprinopsis cinerea MUT 6385, Cyclocybe aegerita MUT 5639, Cephalotrichum stemonitis MUT 6326) were inoculated in the non-sterile solid fraction of digestate, with the aim to further (re)use it as a feedstock for AD. The application of fungal pretreatments induced changes in the plant cell wall polymers, and different profiles were observed among strains. Significant increases (p < 0.05) in the cumulative biogas and methane yields with respect to the untreated control were observed. The most effective pretreatment was carried out for 20 days with C. stemonitis, causing the highest hemicellulose, lignin, and cellulose reduction (59.3%, 9.6%, and 8.2%, respectively); the cumulative biogas and methane production showed a 182% and 214% increase, respectively, compared to the untreated control. The increase in AD yields was ascribable both to the addition of fungal biomass, which acted as an organic feedstock, and to the lignocellulose transformation due to fungal activity during pretreatments. The developed technologies have the potential to enhance the anaerobic degradability of solid digestate and untap its biogas potential for a further digestion step, thus allowing an improvement in the environmental and economic sustainability of the AD process and the better management of its by-products.

Mesophilic and Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Fraction Separated during Mechanical Heat Treatment of Municipal Waste

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of process temperature on semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction separated during autoclaving of municipal waste. Tests were carried out in reactors with full mixing. Biogas production was higher in thermophilic conditions than in mesophilic conditions (0.92 L/g volatile solids at 55 °C vs. 0.42 L/g volatile solids at 37 °C, respectively). The resulting methane yields were 0.25-0.32 L CH4/g VS and 0.56–0.70 L CH4/g VS in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. In both variants, the methane share was over 70% v/v. This work also discusses the potential impact of Maillard compounds on the efficiency of the fermentation process, which were probably produced during the process of autoclaving of municipal waste. These results indicate that, after autoclaving, the organic fraction of municipal waste can be an effective substrate for anaerobic digestion in thermophilic conditions.

Comparison of Dry Versus Wet Milling to Improve Bioethanol or Methane Recovery from Solid Anaerobic Digestate

Biogas plants for waste treatment valorization are presently experiencing rapid development, especially in the agricultural sector, where large amounts of digestate are being generated. In this study, we investigated the effect of vibro-ball milling (VBM) for 5 and 30 min at a frequency of 20 s⁻¹ on the physicochemical composition and enzymatic hydrolysis (30 U g⁻¹ total solids (TS) of cellulase and endo-1,4-xylanase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum) of dry and wet solid separated digestates from an agricultural biogas plant. We found that VBM of dry solid digestate improved the physical parameters as both the particle size and the crystallinity index (from 27% to 75%) were reduced. By contrast, VBM of wet solid digestate had a minimal effect on the physicochemical parameters. The best results in terms of cellulose and hemicelluloses hydrolysis were noted for 30 min of VBM of dry solid digestate, with hydrolysis yields of 64% and 85% for hemicelluloses and cellulose, respectively. At the condition of 30 min of VBM, bioethanol and methane production on the dry solid separated digestate was investigated. Bioethanol fermentation by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation resulted in an ethanol yield of 98 g_eth kg⁻¹ TS (corresponding to 90% of the theoretical value) versus 19 g_eth kg⁻¹ TS for raw solid digestate. Finally, in terms of methane potential, VBM for 30 min lead to an increase of the methane potential of 31% compared to untreated solid digestate.

Effect of digestate disintegration on anaerobic digestion of organic waste

Recently, digestate disintegration gained interest as an alternative strategy to feedstock pretreatment for anaerobic digestion. This study evaluated the effect of three different digestate disintegration methods (hydrogen peroxidation, ozone treatment and ultrasound) on manure digestate, potato waste digestate and mixed organic waste digestate. Lab-scale anaerobic digestion experiments were carried out by adding disintegrated digestate to the related substrate and inoculum with simulated recycle ratios of 0.2 and 0.5. Ultrasound disintegration of potato waste digestate yields 22.5% increase in biogas production. An increase in biogas production was linked to the treated digestate amount and the treatment dosage. First order model was used to investigate the effect of digestate disintegration on the first order reaction rate constant (k). The decrease in k and increase in biogas production were linearly correlated. This correlation was explained by the increased bioavailability of the organic matter and possible negative effects of digestate disintegration on the microorganisms.

Fast prediction of organic wastes methane potential by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy: A successful tool for farm-scale biogas plant monitoring

Currently, there is a growing worldwide interest for the treatment of wastes, and especially farm wastes, by anaerobic digestion. Biochemical methane potential is a key parameter for the design, optimisation and monitoring of the anaerobic digestion process, but it is also time consuming (4-7 weeks). Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy seems a promising method to predict the biochemical methane potential of a wide range of organic substrates. This study compares a 'global' predictive model mainly built with biogas plant feedstocks, and a more 'agricultural' specific one built with farm wastes only (e.g. manures and crop residues). The global model was calibrated with 245 samples and the specific one with 171 samples. In parallel, validation sets composed of 36 farm wastes and eight other wastes (sludge, fruit residues and vegetables) were used to evaluate and compare both models. Satisfying results were obtained on the validation sets considering, respectively for the global and the specific models, a root mean square error of prediction of 44 and 34 NL CH₄ kg^-1 volatile solid, a coefficient of determination of 0.76 and 0.83, and a ratio of performance to deviation of 2.0 and 2.4. In general rules, the specific model was better than the global one in the prediction of farm wastes methane potential. However, thanks to its larger sample variability, the global one was more robust, especially towards the 'other' wastes, which can be introduced punctually in agricultural biogas plant.

Low-temperature hydrothermal pretreatment followed by dry anaerobic digestion: A sustainable strategy for manure waste management regarding energy recovery and nutrients availability

This study evaluated the feasibility of low-temperature hydrothermal (HT) pretreatment for improving dry anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM) and nutrient elements reclamation, with specific goals to minimize the drawbacks of conventional HT process including high energy consumption, inhibitory compounds formation and unfavorable pH/alkalinity decrease. Pretreatment at 110-130°C for holding 30min increased the soluble organic carbon (SOC) concentration in SM by 13-26%. After being mixed with inocula, the pretreated SM was applied for dry AD tests successfully without initial pH adjustment, achieving a CH₄ yield of 280.18-328.93ml/g-VS_fed (14-34% increase compared to that from raw SM). Energy assessment indicated a positive net gain of 0.95kJ/g-VS by adopting HT pretreatment at 130°C. Except for increment in CH₄ yield, low-temperature HT pretreatment also promoted organic-N mineralization, increasing N fractions in the digestate available for plants. After 70days' dry AD, a high ammonia-N to total nitrogen (TN) ratio of 71% was obtained for the SM sample pretreated at 130°C, in sharp contrast to that of 38% in raw SM. P bioavailability in the final digestate was not greatly affected by the HT pretreatment since the labile organics were mostly degraded after AD, in which P existing forms were influenced by the multivalent metals content in SM. Overall, 23-27% of the total P was potentially bioavailable in all digestates.

Optimization of Aqueous Ammonia Soaking of manure fibers by Response Surface Methodology for unlocking the methane potential of swine manure

Swine manure mono-digestion often results to economically non-feasible processes, due to the high dilution and ammonia concentration together with the low degradation rates it presents. The effects of different parameters of Aqueous Ammonia Soaking (AAS) as a pretreatment for improving the digestion of manure fibers when coupled to an ammonia removal step were investigated in this study. Response Surface Methodology was followed and the influence and interactions of the following AAS parameters were studied: NH₃ concentration, duration and solid-to-liquid ratio. The mild conditions found to be optimal (7%w/w NH₃, 96h, and 0.16kg/L) in combination to a significant increase of the short term CH₄ yield (244% in 17days), make this pretreatment a promising solution for improving swine manure mono-digestion. Furthermore, compositional analysis of the manure fibers revealed significant solubilization of hemicellulose, while no lignin removal or loss of cellulose occurred under optimal conditions.

From pre-treatment toward inter-treatment. Getting some clues from sewage sludge biomethanation

The conventional application of thermal pretreatment of sewage sludge has been to apply it prior to the anaerobic digestion. In this study, the thermal treatment of the digestate was assessed at lab-scale under several temperature and time conditions. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were set up to evaluate the methane production kinetic by using the Gompertz modified and the first order equation. A full-scale digester evaluation was done by using the ADM1 model under different scenarios and by using the parameters drawn from the BMP tests. The best results were obtained at 180°C and 200°C both at 30min where an improvement of 50% in the methane yield in regards to raw digestate. Full-scale simulations show that a scenario with two anaerobic reactors with thermal inter-treatment would improve the methane production by 45% and 20% compared to conventional anaerobic digestion and pretreatments followed by anaerobic digestion, respectively.

Energy balance, greenhouse gas emissions, and profitability of thermobarical pretreatment of cattle waste in anaerobic digestion

In this study modeled full scale application of thermobarical hydrolysis of less degradable feedstock for biomethanation was assessed in terms of energy balance, greenhouse gas emissions, and economy. Data were provided whether the substitution of maize silage as feedstock for biogas production by pretreated cattle wastes is beneficial in full-scale application or not. A model device for thermobarical treatment has been suggested for and theoretically integrated in a biogas plant. The assessment considered the replacement of maize silage as feedstock with liquid and/or solid cattle waste (feces, litter, and feed residues from animal husbandry of high-performance dairy cattle, dry cows, and heifers). The integration of thermobarical pretreatment is beneficial for raw material with high contents of organic dry matter and ligno-cellulose: Solid cattle waste revealed very short payback times, e.g. 9 months for energy, 3 months for greenhouse gases, and 3 years 3 months for economic amortization, whereas, in contrast, liquid cattle waste did not perform positive replacement effects in this analysis.

Choosing co-substrates to supplement biogas production from animal slurry--a life cycle assessment of the environmental consequences

Biogas production from animal slurry can provide substantial contributions to reach renewable energy targets, yet due to the low methane potential of slurry, biogas plants depend on the addition of co-substrates to make operations profitable. The environmental performance of three underexploited co-substrates, straw, organic household waste and the solid fraction of separated slurry, were assessed against slurry management without biogas production, using LCA methodology. The analysis showed straw, which would have been left on arable fields, to be an environmentally superior co-substrate. Due to its low nutrient content and high methane potential, straw yields the lowest impacts for eutrophication and the highest climate change and fossil depletion savings. Co-substrates diverted from incineration to biogas production had fewer environmental benefits, due to the loss of energy production, which is then produced from conventional fossil fuels. The scenarios can often provide benefits for one impact category while causing impacts in another.

Pretreatment of cottage cheese to enhance biogas production

This study evaluated the possibility of pretreating selected solid fraction of an anaerobic digester treating food waste to lower the hydraulic retention time and increase the methane production. The study investigated the effect of different pretreatments (thermal, chemical, thermochemical and enzymatic) for enhanced methane production from cottage cheese. The most effective pretreatments were thermal and enzymatic. Highest solubilisation of COD was observed in thermal pretreatment, followed by thermochemical. In single enzyme systems, lipase at low concentration gave significantly higher methane yield than for the experiments without enzyme additions. The highest lipase dosages decreased methane yield from cottage cheese. However, in case of protease enzyme an increase in concentration of the enzyme showed higher methane yield. In the case of mixed enzyme systems, pretreatment at 1 : 2 ratio of lipase : protease showed higher methane production in comparison with 1 : 1 and 2 : 1 ratios. Methane production potentials for different pretreatments were as follows: thermal 357 mL/g VS, chemical 293 mL/g VS, and thermochemical 441 mL/g VS. The average methane yield from single enzyme systems was 335 mL/g VS for lipase and 328 mL/g VS for protease. Methane potentials for mixed enzyme ratios were 330, 360, and 339 mL/g VS for 1 : 1, 1 : 2, and 2 : 1 lipase : protease, respectively.

Chemical and spectroscopic characterization of organic matter during the anaerobic digestion and successive composting of pig slurry

In this work, anaerobic digestion of pig slurry and successive composting of the digestate after centrifugation were studied by means of chemical analysis, FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy as excitation-emission matrix (EEM). Chemical analysis highlighted the organic matter transformation occurring during the processes. A decrease of volatile solids and total organic carbon were observed in the digestate with respect to the fresh pig slurry as a consequence of the consumption of sugars, proteins, amino acids and fatty acids used by microorganisms as a C source. Water Extractable Organic Matter (WEOM) was obtained for all samples and fractionated into a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic fraction. The highest WEOM value was found in the pig slurry indicating a high content of labile organic C. The digestate centrifuged and the digestate composted showed lower hydrophilic and higher hydrophobic contents because of the decrease of labile C. Total phenolic content was lower in the digestate with respect to fresh pig slurry sample (36.7%) as a consequence of phenolic compounds degradation. The strong decrease of total reducing sugars in the digestate (76.6%) as compared to pig slurry confirmed that anaerobic process proceed mainly through consumption of sugars which represent a readily available energy source for microbial activity. FTIR spectra of pig slurry showed bands indicative of proteins and carbohydrates. A drop of aliphatic structures and a decrease of polysaccharides was observed after the anaerobic process along with the increase of the peak in the aromatic region. The composted substrate showed an increase of aromatic and a relative decrease of polysaccharides. EEM spectra provided tryptophan:fulvic-like fluorescence ratios which increased from fresh substrate to digestate because of the OM decompostion. Composted substrate presented the lowest ratio due to the humification process.

Anaerobic digestion of autoclaved and untreated food waste

Anaerobic digestion of autoclaved (160°C, 6.2 bar) and untreated source segregated food waste (FW) was compared over 473 days in semi-continuously fed mesophilic reactors with trace elements supplementation, at organic loading rates (OLRs) of 2, 3, 4 and 6 kg volatile solids(VS)/m(3)d. Methane yields at all OLR were 5-10% higher for untreated FW (maximum 0.483±0.013 m(3) CH4/kg VS at 3 kg VS/m(3) d) than autoclaved FW (maximum 0.439±0.020 m(3) CH4/kg VS at 4 kg VS/m(3) d). The residual methane potential of both digestates at all OLRs was less than 0.110 m(3) CH4/kg VS, indicating efficient methanation in all cases. Use of acclimated inoculum allowed very rapid increases in OLR. Reactors fed on autoclaved FW showed lower ammonium and hydrogen sulphide concentrations, probably due to reduced protein hydrolysis as a result of formation of Maillard compounds. In the current study this reduced biodegradability appears to outweigh any benefit due to thermal hydrolysis of ligno-cellulosic components.

Effects of thermobarical pretreatment of cattle waste as feedstock for anaerobic digestion

Lab-scale experiments were conducted to assess the impact of thermobarical treatment of cattle waste on anaerobic digestion. Treatment was at temperatures of 140-220°C in 20K steps for a 5-min duration. Methane yields could be increased by up to 58% at a treatment temperature of 180°C. At 220°C the abundance of inhibitors and other non-digestible substances led to lower methane yields than those obtained from untreated material. In an extended analysis it could be demonstrated that there is a functional correlation between the methane yields after 30 days and the formation rate and methane yield in the acceleration phase. It could be proved in a regression of these correlation values that the optimum treatment temperature is 164°C and that the minimum treatment temperature should be above 115°C.

Thermal steam explosion pretreatment to enhance anaerobic biodegradability of the solid fraction of pig manure

The assessment of the biodegradability of thermal steam-exploded pig manure was performed compared to untreated samples. The pre-treatment was performed under different combinations of temperature and time, ranging 150-180 °C and 5-60 min, and used as substrate in a series of batch biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. Results were analyzed in terms of methane yield, kinetic parameters and severity factor. In all the pre-treatment conditions, methane yield and degradation rates increased when compared to untreated pig slurry. An ANOVA study determined that temperature was the main factor, and the optimum combination of temperature-time of pretreatment was 170 °C -30 min, doubling methane production from 159 to 329 mL CH4/gVSfed. These operation conditions correspond to a severity factor of 3.54, which was considered an upper limit for the pretreatment due to the possible formation of inhibitory compounds, hindering the process if this limit is exceeded.

Anaerobic digestion of acidified slurry fractions derived from different solid-liquid separation methods

Batch assays investigating the ultimate methane yields (B(0)) of acidified slurry fractions produced with different solid-liquid slurry separation techniques were done. The result showed that the anaerobic digestion (AD) process was inhibited when raw and liquid fractions of sow, pig and dairy cow acidified slurry are digested, but AD treating solid fractions (SF) acidified slurry showed no sulphide inhibition. The B(0) of SF acidified sow slurry increased significantly with increasing screen size in the screw press. No significant effect of acidification processes on B(0) of SF dairy cow slurry (DCS) was observed. The ultimate methane yields of SF acidified DCS and SF non acidified DCS were 278±13 and 289±1LkgVS(-1), while in term of fresh weigh substrate were 59±2.8 and 59±0.3Lkgsubstrate(-1), respectively.

The effect of particle size and thermal pre-treatment on the methane yield of four agricultural by-products

One way to optimize methane production in anaerobic digestion plants is to substitute ligno-cellulosic by-products for crops traditionally used as energy sources. However, using these by-products requires introduction of a pre-treatment system to minimize energy input and maximize energy output for an improved net energy equation. In this study, four agricultural byproducts (wheat, barley, rice straw and maize stalks) underwent various mechanical and thermal treatments prior to anaerobic digestion including particle size reduction to 5.0, 2.0, 0.5, and 0.2 cm and heat application to 90 °C and 120 °C. Mechanical pre-treatment increased byproduct methane yields more than 80%; thermal pre-treatment improved yields more than 60% for wheat and barley straw. Pre-treating wheat straw improved methane yields most, regardless of whether the method was thermal or mechanical. An electric net energy balance was also completed to analyze the feasibility of the pre-treatments according to input and output of energy.