Hans Oechsner

Anaerobic biorefinery: Current status, challenges, and opportunities

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been in use for many decades. To date, it has been primarily aimed at treating organic wastes, mainly manures and wastewater sludge, and industrial wastewaters. However, with the current advancements, a more open mind is required to look beyond these somewhat restricted original applications of AD. Biorefineries are such concepts, where multiple products including chemicals, fuels, polymers etc. are produced from organic feedstocks. The anaerobic biorefinery concept is now gaining increased attention, utilizing AD as the final disposal step. This review aims at evaluating the potential significance of anaerobic biorefineries, including types of feedstocks, uses for the produced energy, as well as sustainable applications of the generated residual digestate. A comprehensive analysis of various types of anaerobic biorefineries has been developed, including both large-scale and household level applications. Finally, future directives are highlighted showing how anaerobic biorefinery concept could impact the bioeconomy in the near future.

Degradation efficiency of agricultural biogas plants--a full-scale study.

The degradation efficiency of 21 full-scale agricultural CSTR biogas plants was investigated. The residual methane potential of the digestion stages was determined in batch digestion tests (20.0 and 37.0 °C). The results of this study showed that the residual methane yield is significantly correlated to the HRT (r=-0.73). An almost complete degradation of the input substrates was achieved due to a HRT of more than 100 days (0.097±0.017 Nm(3)/kg VS). The feedstock characteristics have the largest impact to the degradation time. It was found that standard values of the methane yield are a helpful tool for evaluating the degradation efficiency. Adapting the HRT to the input materials is the key factor for an efficient degradation in biogas plants. No influence of digester series configuration to the VS degradation was found. The mean VS degradation rate in the total reactor systems was 78±7%.

Repeatability of a laboratory batch method to determine the specific biogas and methane yields

To evaluate the potential of a substrate to form biogas, it is essential to have a fast and accurate method to determine the specific biogas yield (SBY) and specific methane yield (SMY). The objectives of this study were to assess the repeatability of the Hohenheim Biogas Yield Test (HBT) and to assess the influence of sample withdrawal and preparation on the determined SBY and SMY. Samples of dried maize whole plant material, maize cob, and power fodder, with up to six different treatments for preparation, were analyzed for their SBY and SMY using a discontinuous fermentation assay. Further, chemical composition of the whole plant sample was examined and different calculation models were used to predict SMY. The HBT showed a strong repeatability and a high precision for SMY. Two of the tested chemical composition models showed a satisfactory performance compared to the mean of the measured methane values. Significant effects caused by different sample treatments could be observed.

Mineral substances and macronutrients in the anaerobic conversion of biomass: an impact evaluation.

Optimal nutrient supply in the digester is essential for efficient biogas production. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of various micro‐ and macronutrients on the process stability by a field test. The digestates of 25 biogas plants across the federal state of Baden‐Württemberg, Germany, were investigated. Collected data including trace elements, macronutrients, and volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, as well as the organic loading rate and hydraulic retention time were subjected to statistical analysis. High variations in the concentrations within the different biogas plants were observed. Statistically significant effects of substrate constituents and process parameters on the stability of the anaerobic digestion process were found. Several micro‐ and macronutrients and the relationships between these elements, as well as the process parameters propionic acid, acetic acid, and acetic acid equivalent were tested. Ni, Mo, and S had a consistent statistically significant effect, while the organic loading rate and Se only showed an effect limited to the acetic acid concentration and the acetic acid equivalent. No statistically significant effect could be shown for Fe, Co, and Na. Most of the significant interactions between the tested elements contained Ni, Fe, and Co. This shows that a balanced relation between the concentrations of these elements is of greater importance than the presence of individual elements for a digester to be able to operate at high organic loading rates and maintain low VFA concentrations.

Energy balance of a two-phase anaerobic digestion process for energy crops.

This article deals with the digestion of energy crops in a two‐phase biogas process based on an anaerobic leach‐bed reactor combined with an anaerobic filter. The biogas process is a microbiological conversion of biomass into methane and carbon dioxide. This process is carried out by different microorganisms and can be divided into four steps which normally take place in only one digester. To be able to digest difficult energy crops by mono‐digestion and to meet the different needs of the several bacteria, which take part in the four‐step process of the methane production, the process was divided into two phases: (i) an anaerobic batch leach‐bed phase, where the leachate was produced and (ii) an anaerobic filter, where the organic fraction of the leachate was converted into biogas. Considering the results of the experiments, the two‐phase digestion of energy crops exhibited stable digestion behavior. No biological imbalance of the process, e.g. due to a sudden change of substrate, was detected either in the leach bed or in the anaerobic filter. Variation in suitability for two‐phase fermentation with an anaerobic batch leach‐bed reactor was observed for various substrates. The different substrates varied in their influence on acid formation and concentration as well as an influence on the course of the pH value.Therefore, an effect on the distribution of energy to the phases could be observed.

Is the continuous two-stage anaerobic digestion process well suited for all substrates?

Two-stage anaerobic digestion systems are often considered to be advantageous compared to one-stage processes. Although process conditions and fermenter setups are well examined, overall substrate degradation in these systems is controversially discussed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate how substrates with different fibre and sugar contents (hay/straw, maize silage, sugar beet) influence the degradation rate and methane production. Intermediates and gas compositions, as well as methane yields and VS-degradation degrees were recorded. The sugar beet substrate lead to a higher pH-value drop 5.67 in the acidification reactor, which resulted in a six time higher hydrogen production in comparison to the hay/straw substrate (pH-value drop 5.34). As the achieved yields in the two-stage system showed a difference of 70.6% for the hay/straw substrate, and only 7.8% for the sugar beet substrate. Therefore two-stage systems seem to be only recommendable for digesting sugar rich substrates.

Effect of different pH-values on process parameters in two-phase anaerobic digestion of high-solid substrates

In many publications, primary fermentation is described as a limiting step in the anaerobic digestion of fibre-rich biomass [Eastman JA, Ferguson JF. Solubilization of particulacte carbon during the anaerobic digeston. J WPCF. 1981;53:352–366; Noike T, Endo G, Chang J, Yaguchi J, Matsumoto J. Characteristics of carbohydrate degradation and the rate-limiting step in anaerobic digestion. Biotechnol Bioeng. 1985;27:1482–1489; Arntz HJ, Stoppok E, Buchholz K. Anaerobic hydroysis of beet pulp-discontiniuous experiments. Biotechnol Lett. 1985;7:113–118]. The microorganisms of the primary fermentation process differ widely from the methanogenic microorganisms [Pohland FG, Ghosh S. Developments in anaerobic stabilization of organic wastes-the two-phase concept. Environ Lett. 1971;1:255–266]. To optimize the biogas process, a separation in two phases is suggested by many authors [Fox P, Pohland GK. Anaerobic treatment applications and fundamentals: substrate specificity during phase separation. Water Environ Res. 1994;66:716–724; Cohen A, Zoetemeyer RJ, van Deursen A, van Andel JG. Anaerobic digestion of glucose with separated acid production and methane formation. Water Res. 1979;13:571–580]. To carry out the examination, a two-phase laboratory-scale biogas plant was established, with a physical phase separation. In previous studies, the regulation of the pH-value during the acid formation was usually carried out by the addition of sodium hydroxide [Cohen A, Zoetemeyer RJ, van Deursen A, van Andel JG. Anaerobic digestion of glucose with separated acid production and methane formation. Water Res. 1979;13:571–580; Ueno Y, Tatara M, Fukui H, Makiuchi T, Goto M, Sode K. Production of hydrogen and methane from organic solid wastes by phase separation of anaerobic process. Bioresour Technol. 2007;98:1861–1865; Zoetemeyer RJ, van den Heuvel JC, Cohen A. pH influence on acidogenic dissimilation of glucose in an anaerobic digestor. Water Res. 1982;16:303–311]. A new technology without the use of additives was developed in which the pH-regulation is executed by the pH-dependent recycling of effluent from the anaerobic filter into the acidification reactor. During this investigation, the influence of the different target pH-values (5.5, 6.0, 7.0 and 7.5) on the degradation rate, the gas composition and the methane yield of the substrate maize silage was determined. With an increase in the target pH-value from 5.5 to 7.5, the acetic acid equivalent decreased by 88.1% and the chemical oxygen demand-concentration by 18.3% in the hydrolysate. In response, there was a 58% increase in the specific methane yield of the overall system. Contrary to earlier studies, a marked increase in biogas production and in substrate degradation was determined with increasing pH-values. However, these led to a successive approximation of a single-phase process. Based on these results, pH-values above 7.0 seem to be favourable for the digestion of fibre-rich substrates.

Exponential model describing methane production kinetics in batch anaerobic digestion: a tool for evaluation of biochemical methane potential assays

Biochemical methane potential assays, usually run in batch mode, are performed by numerous laboratories to characterize the anaerobic degradability of biogas substrates such as energy crops, agricultural residues, and organic wastes. Unfortunately, the data obtained from these assays lacks common, universal bases for comparison, because standard protocols did not diffuse to the entire scientific community. Results are usually provided as final values of the methane yields of substrates. However, methane production curves generated in these assays also provide useful information about substrate degradation kinetics, which is rarely exploited. A basic understanding of the kinetics of the biogas process may be a first step towards a convergence of the assay methodologies on an international level. Following this assumption, a modeling toolbox containing an exponential model adjusted with a simple data-fitting method has been developed. This model should allow (a) quality control of the assays according to the goodness of fit of the model onto data series generated from the digestion of standard substrates, (b) interpretation of substrate degradation kinetics, and (c) estimate of the ultimate methane yield at infinite time. The exponential model is based on two assumptions: (a) the biogas process is a two-step reaction yielding VFA as intermediate products, and methane as the final product, and (b) the digestible substrate can be divided into a rapidly degradable and a slowly degradable fraction.

Effect of various leachate recirculation strategies on batch anaerobic digestion of solid substrates

Various leachate recirculation strategies were applied to a batch-wise operated solid-phase digestion system in laboratory-scale tests. Comparative experiments with both continuous and intermittent leachate recirculation revealed no advantages of a continuous flow. Results suggest that leachate recirculation should not be carried out continuously during process initialisation when methanogenesis is the rate-limiting step. Continuous watering resulted in the accumulation of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) during process start-up. In addition, no need for continuous water circulation was found for the following digestion process when hydrolysis was rate-limiting. Even in the absence of liquid recirculation, degradation was only slightly retarded when the biomass moisture content was adjusted.

Effects of mechanical treatment of digestate after anaerobic digestion on the degree of degradation

The aim of this study was to increase the biogas production from different substrates by applying a mechanical treatment only to the non-degraded digestate after the fermentation process in order to feed it back into the process. To evaluate this approach, digestates were grounded with a ball mill for four different treatment time periods (0, 2, 5, 10 min) and then the effects on the particle size, volatile organic substances, methane yield and degradation kinetic were measured. A decrease of volatile fatty acids based on this treatment was not detected. The mechanical treatment caused in maximum to a triplication of the methane yield and to a quadruplicating of the daily methane production.