The main objective of this study was to investigate the degradation efficiency of centralized biogas plants and provide guidance for the design of more efficient digester and post-digestion systems. These centralized biogas plants in Denmark digest manure together with organic waste from the food industry to generate biogas, which is used for electricity and thermal energy. A total of 20 such plants are currently active in Denmark, most of which were included in the investigation. From the plants, samples were obtained from various steps of the process. Samples were analysed and the residual biogas potential determined by batch post-digestion at various temperature levels. Results were correlated with plant characteristics and production statistics in order to judge the efficiency of various digestion concepts. A simplified model based on a two-step biogas production process was developed and experimental data were used to determine kinetic constants. Experimental results and analysis combined with model simulations showed that the residual biogas potential in the main digestion step effluent is originating mainly from undegraded particulate matter in the biomass. For thermophilic plants 93% of the residual biogas potential was originating from particulate matter and 88% for the mesophilic biogas plants. This indicates that the residual biogas potential is mainly due to insufficient retention time in the main digestion step for hydrolysis of particulate material and that the hydrolysis step is the methane yield limiting factor, while conversion of soluble material such as VFA is the rate limiting factor critical for achieving a stable process.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
July 01 2006
Enhanced biogas recovery by applying post-digestion in large-scale centralized biogas plants
I. Angelidaki;
*Institute of Environment and Resources, DTU, Building 113, Technical University of Denmark 2800 Lyngby, Denmark
E-mail: ria@er.dtu.dk
Search for other works by this author on:
A. Heinfelt;
A. Heinfelt
*Institute of Environment and Resources, DTU, Building 113, Technical University of Denmark 2800 Lyngby, Denmark
Search for other works by this author on:
L. Ellegaard
L. Ellegaard
**Burmeister & Wain Scandianvian Contractor A/S, Gydevang 35, 3450 Allerød, Denmark
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2006) 54 (2): 237–244.
Citation
I. Angelidaki, A. Heinfelt, L. Ellegaard; Enhanced biogas recovery by applying post-digestion in large-scale centralized biogas plants. Water Sci Technol 1 July 2006; 54 (2): 237–244. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2006.511
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Impact Factor 2.430
CiteScore 3.4 • Q2
13 days submission to first
decision
1,439,880 downloads in 2021
40
Views
15
Citations