CRAFT-1999-71485 Enhanced Production of Methane from Anaerobic Digestion with Pre-processed Solid Waste - DIPROWASTE

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Biological Conversion : EESD (Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development) : Liquid Biofuels and Biogas

Proposal No:	CRAFT-1999-71485
Date Prepared:	February 2004
Source:	European Bio-Energy Projects (EUR 20808)

Introduction

To tackle the worldwide problem of depletion of natural, non-renewable fuel sources, the production of biogas from the digestion of organic waste is being developed as a renewable energy source. The principle objective of the Diprowaste project is to investigate maximising the volume, proportion and rate of methane production from anaerobic digestion of organic waste, containing varying amounts of straw, by using various pre-treatments of the material.

Activities

Diprowaste is a two-year research and development programme funded under the CRAFT programme. A series of pre-treatment methods will be studied in the laboratory and their physical and chemical effect analysed. These pre-treatments will include thermal methods using ohmic heating and steam hydrolysis, ultra-sonic and chemical methods, as well as initial sorting and grinding. Following the initial study, a systematic programme of work will be devised to study the anaerobic digestion of standardised feeds with selected pre-treatments.

Instrumented anaerobic digesters will be set up and operated in accordance with the experimental programme initially devised. The effectiveness of differing pre-treatments will be determined and correlated to direct physical and chemical changes that occurred during pre-treatment.

The quality of the final product from the digester will be assessed and implications on downstream processing requirements will be determined. Sufficient tests will be completed to provide design information to plan industrial scale pre-treatment systems as well as modifications to up-stream and down-stream processing.

The anaerobic digestion studies will be extended to include feeds with a proportion of re-cycled sludge requiring further digestion. The project will include engineering design studies and system evaluation of large-scale plant and an economic assessment.

Progress

The demonstration plants, to study the effects of the pre-treatment, have been set up and the first tests have been carried out. The pre-treatments, which have been selected, are Ultrasound and high temperature treatment from 140 °C to 170 °C using ohmic heating for up to one hour, prior to anaerobic digestion.

Previous studies have shown that the heat treatment of sewage sludge prior to digestion has resulted in enhanced gas production.

Impact and exploitation

The objective is to demonstrate that certain pre-treatments can enhance the production of biogas and are economically viable. If successful, it is anticipated the utilisation of pre-treatment technology will gain rapid acceptance for certain industrial and agricultural wastes. Other suppliers of anaerobic digestors are certain to offer pre-treatment technology if the potential successes of this project are widely advertised.

On completion of the project there will be two main deliverables that deserve special attention for exploitation:

• Final design criteria for the processing methods and the integration into the entire anaerobic treatment process;
• Any specific results from the laboratory investigations that show promise for future work.

To enable the SME proposers to assimilate and exploit the results of the project, sufficient training will be given by the RTDs to potential designers and operators of new plant. The equipment manufacturers will be able to exploit the results by producing and selling the developed equipment to other end users. The end users of the developed equipment will be able to exploit the technology by receiving royalties or licence fees on the equipment that is developed.

In addition, by installing the equipment, they will be able to improve their competitiveness through providing a more efficient process, which is also environmentally advantageous.

After the end of the research phase, many waste treatment companies are expected to benefit from the results of the project by adopting the new treatment process. Also local communities will be able to initiate schemes which can utilise the technology and provide low impact on the environment.