Integration of a water scrubbing technique and two-stage pressurized anaerobic digestion in one process

Publication Type
Journal contribution (peer reviewed)
Authors
Lemmer, A.; Chen, Y.; Wonneberger, A.-M.; Graf, F.; Reimert, R.
Year of publication
2015
Published in
Energies
Pubisher
MDPI AG
Band/Volume
8/3
ISBN / ISSN / eISSN
19961073
DOI
10.3390/en8032048
Page (from - to)
2048-2065
Abstract

wo-stage pressurized anaerobic digestion is a promising technology. This technology integrates in one process biogas production with upgrading and pressure boosting for grid injection. To investigate whether the efficiency of this novel system could be further increased, a water scrubbing system was integrated into the methanogensis step. Therefore, six leach-bed reactors were used for hydrolysis/acidification and a 30-L pressurized anaerobic filter operated at 9 bar was adopted for acetogenesis/methanogenesis. The fermentation liquid of the pressurized anaerobic filter was circulated periodically via a flash tank, operating at atmospheric pressure. Due to the pressure drop, part of dissolved carbon dioxide was released from the liquid phase into the flash tank. The depressurized fermentation liquid was then recycled to the pressurized reactor. Three different flow rates (0 L·day-1, 20 L·day-1 and 40 L·day-1) were tested with three repetitions. As the daily recycled flashed liquid flow was increased from 0 to 40 L, six times as much as the daily feeding, the methane content in the biogas increased from 75 molar percent (mol%) to 87 mol%. The pH value of the substrate in the methane reactor rose simultaneously from 6.5 to 6.7. The experimental data were verified by calculation.

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