Biohydrogen production from lactose: influence of substrate and nitrogen concentration.

Hydrogen produced from renewable sources may be considered the energy vector of the future. However, reducing process costs is imperative in order to achieve this goal. In the present research, the effect of nitrogen (N), initial pH and substrate content for starting up the dark fermentative process was studied using the response surface methodology. Anaerobic digested dried sludge (biosolid pellets) was used as the inoculum. Synthetic wastewater was used as the substrate in batch reactors. A decrease in H2 production was observed with the increase in N and lactose concentrations. This drop was considerably greater when the concentration of lactose was at its lower level. Although the increase in lactose concentration results in a lower H2 production, the effect of N on the response is attenuated at higher levels of lactose. On the other hand, the effect of initial pH on the fermentation system was not significant. The evaluation on the process under semi-continuous conditions was performed using anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBRs). The process was evaluated at different C/N ratios using synthetic wastewater. Results showed higher hydrogen yields with the gradual decrease in nitrogen content. The addition of cheese whey to the ASBR resulted in a H2 production rate of 0.18 L H2 L(-1) d(-1).

Feasibility of anaerobic co-digestion of poultry blood with maize residues.

The potential of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of poultry blood was evaluated in batch assays at laboratory scale and in a mesophilic semi-continuously fed digester. The biodegradability test performed on poultry blood waste showed a strong inhibition. Maize residues were used as co-substrate to overcome inhibition thanks to nitrogen dilution. Under batch operation, increasing the maize concentration from 15% to 70% (volatile solids (VS) basis) provided an increase of biogas from 130±31 to 188±21 L CH4/kg VS. In the semi-continuous mesophilic anaerobic digester, the biogas yield was 165±17 L CH4/kg VS fed, as a result of strong volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation. Although physical modifications of maize particles were observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), an incomplete degradation was confirmed from analysis of digestates. Furthermore, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that along with VFA build-up, an accumulation of non-degraded materials took place.

Digestion of cattle manure: thermogravimetric kinetic analysis for the evaluation of organic matter conversion.

Anaerobic digestion of cattle manure was studied under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions with the purpose of evaluating the effect of temperature on the quality of the final digestate. Non-isothermal thermogravimetric kinetic analysis was applied for assessing organic matter conversion of biological stabilization. The mathematical approximation proves to be a useful tool for evaluating the differences attained during biological degradation. The anaerobic digestion of the organic substrate resulted in a reduction of the activation energy value obtained from the different applied kinetic models. Results obtained from thermal kinetic analysis were in accordance with those from the monitoring of the anaerobic digestion process. The higher values of methane yield reported for the mesophilic digestion in comparison to that of the thermophilic indicated a greater capability of the former process in the utilization of substrate and thus a higher conversion of organic matter which can be quantified by the activation energy value.

Anaerobic digestion and co-digestion of slaughterhouse waste (SHW): influence of heat and pressure pre-treatment in biogas yield.

Mesophilic anaerobic digestion (34+/-1 degrees C) of pre-treated (for 20 min at 133 degrees C, >3 bar) slaughterhouse waste and its co-digestion with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) have been assessed. Semi-continuously-fed digesters worked with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 36 d and organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.2 and 2.6 kg VS(feed)/m(3)d for digestion and co-digestion, respectively, with a previous acclimatization period in all cases. It was not possible to carry out an efficient treatment of hygienized waste, even less so when OFMSW was added as co-substrate. These digesters presented volatile fatty acids (VFA), long chain fatty acids (LCFA) and fats accumulation, leading to instability and inhibition of the degradation process. The aim of applying a heat and pressure pre-treatment to promote splitting of complex lipids and nitrogen-rich waste into simpler and more biodegradable constituents and to enhance biogas production was not successful. These results indicate that the temperature and the high pressure of the pre-treatment applied favoured the formation of compounds that are refractory to anaerobic digestion. The pre-treated slaughterhouse wastes and the final products of these systems were analyzed by FTIR and TGA. These tools verified the existence of complex nitrogen-containing polymers in the final effluents, confirming the formation of refractory compounds during pre-treatment.

A comparison of analytical techniques for evaluating food waste degradation by anaerobic digestion.

Organic matter contained in food waste was degraded by anaerobic digestion under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions at two hydraulic retention times. Evolution of the digestion process was followed by thermogravimetry analysis, fluorescence spectroscopy and (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance. All analytical methods suggested that longer retention times might be required for food waste stabilization under mesophilic conditions as compared to thermophilic stabilization. All the analytical methods showed that the stabilization process consisted of two steps, where complex organic molecules were formed during initial stabilization and then digested providing sufficient hydraulic retention time. Longer hydraulic retention times were required for food waste stabilization under mesophilic conditions. Overall, thermal and (1)H NMR analyses of the digestate samples might be recommended if more detailed analysis is required, while fluorescence measurements can be used as a fast screening technique, which provides qualitative assessment of the stabilization process.

Anaerobic co-digestion of poultry blood with OFMSW: FTIR and TG-DTG study of process stabilization.

The potential of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of poultry blood has been evaluated in a co-digestion process. The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was employed as the co-substrate to avoid digestion inhibition by dilution of nitrogen content and improvement of biodegradability. A semi-continuous mesophilic anaerobic digester was studied with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 36 days and an organic loading (OLR1) of 1.5 kg VSS feed m(-3) d(-1). The normal operational conditions of the reactor were altered with the application of an OLR2 of 2.0 kg VSS feed m(-3) d(-1) for a short period causing an imbalance in the process. The reduction of the OLR to initial conditions allowed the recovery of the system. The digestion process reached a final specific gas production (SGP) and a methane yield of 0.33 and 0.20 m3 kg(-1) VSS feed, respectively, maintaining low total and free ammonia concentrations. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to gain an insight into transformations experimented by the organic matter at the end of the stabilization process. Furthermore, these analytical techniques were used for evaluating the transformations undergone by the nitrogen-rich protein components of blood after digestion. It was proved that a reduction in volatile content and aliphatic structures of biowastes along with an increase in the degree of aromaticity occurred during the digestion process.

An evaluation of stability by thermogravimetric analysis of digestate obtained from different biowastes.

Research was carried out with the aim of monitoring anaerobic digestion processes using thermal analysis with the aid of mass spectrometry so as to define the stability of the digestate obtained. Three different systems were investigated under varying conditions. The digestion of waste sludge from a pharmaceutical industry (PI) and the digestion of cattle manure (CM) were evaluated under mesophilic conditions. The co-digestion of a mixture of primary sludge (PS) and the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) was studied under thermophilic conditions. Temperature-programmed combustion tests were carried out to investigate the degree of stabilization of samples throughout the digestion processes. The derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) profiles obtained for the mesophilic digestion of PI waste showed a decrease at low temperatures and an increase at high temperatures in the intensity of the peaks recorded as the stabilization process proceeded. These results are in accordance with those obtained by the present authors in their previous work on the mesophilic digestion of primary sludge and OFMSW. In contrast, the DTG profiles obtained from the stabilization process of CM and thermophilic codigestion of PS and OFMSW showed a reduction in peaks at high temperatures. When the stabilization products obtained from CM by anaerobic digestion and by composting processes were compared, it was observed that the composting process was capable of further decomposing materials readily oxidized at low temperatures and increasing the presence of structurally more complex substances. The evolution of the differential thermal analysis (DTA) signal recorded simultaneously showed considerable similarity to the mass/charge (m/z) signal 44 registered by the mass spectrometer. The use of mass spectrometry helped to clarify the inner workings of the digestion process.