Blending based optimisation and pretreatment strategies to enhance anaerobic digestion of poultry manure

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion of poultry manure is limited by the excessive levels of nitrogen and the high concentration of dry matter. These limitations are usually overcome either by applying procedures to remove nitrogen or by employing pretreatments that allows to solubilise organic matter. In this work, the treatment of poultry manure was enhanced by co-digestion with pig manure through the methodological determination of optimal mixtures combined together with a thermochemical pretreatment coupled to ammonia stripping. The optimum poultry-pig mixture, resulting in a 24%:76% (volume basis) poultry-pig manure, was determined by applying a methodology based on linear programming which calculates the proportions of the blend which returns the maximum methane production while keeping a stable process. Pretreatment batch experiments, consisting of increasing both temperature and pH simultaneously with ammonia stripping process was optimised for a temperature of 90 °C and a pH of 10 resulting in a nitrogen removal efficiency of 72% and a 1.2-fold higher methane production in comparison to the unpretreated mixture. Continuous anaerobic co-digestion of pretreated optimum mixture enhanced the COD removal efficiency by 37% when compared with the treatment of unpretreated feedstock (37% vs 27%, respectively). This study indicates that combining blending optimisation of substrates, thermochemical pretreatments and ammonia stripping procedures prior to anaerobic co-digestion becomes a good strategy to overtake the limitations offered by solid- and nitrogen-rich substrates, such as poultry manure.

Use of diluted poultry manure as a low-cost emulsifier for anaerobic digestion of used cooking oil

“…DPM, however, was characterized by a large fraction of soluble COD (around 50% of total COD) (Table 1), composed mainly of carbohydrates and proteins, which are readily biodegradable (Bastianelly et al 2010;Metzler-Zebeli et al 2016). Thus, this substrate was beneficial for high-rate biogas production, as shown in both this study's batch anaerobic assays and previous publications (Elasri & Elamin 2016;Rodriguez-Verde et al 2018).…”

“…The raw poultry manure was mixed with hot water (70°C) at ratio 1:3 (w/w), then screened (1 mm mesh) to remove large solids. Hot water was selected to promote the solubilization of large biopolymers and ensure hygiene (Harris & McCabe 2015;Rodriguez-Verde et al 2018;Spyridonidis et al 2018). The liquid fraction, the so-called DPM, was used in the study.…”

“…Uncontrolled land disposal can result in environmental consequences, however, such as GHG emissions (NH 3 , NO x , N 2 O), release of odors and pathogens, and eutrophication of water bodies (ten Hoeve et al 2014). Anaerobic digestion of poultry manure results in waste stabilization, volume reduction, and odor control, combined with the production of methane gas that can be used as a source of energy (Sakar et al 2009;Rodriguez-Verde et al 2018). It is often considered a problematic substrate for mono-digestion, however, due to its high protein and ammoniacal nitrogen contents (Elasri & Elamin 2016).…”

A critical review: emerging bioeconomy and waste-to-energy technologies for sustainable municipal solid waste management

“…Based on the feedstock type and quality (e.g., biodegradability, nutrient content, inhibition components, etc.) [68][69][70][71][72], different process-engineering techniques (e.g., pretreatment, process configuration, additive dosage) can be applied [73][74][75][76][77][78]. To name one main example, compared to other organic solid wastes, the fast acidification of carbohydrates in food wastes can lead to excessive lowering of pH in AD [79].…”

Influence of Aerobic Pretreatment of Poultry Manure on the Biogas Production Process

“…The data shows that, on average, there are approx. 1.886 × 10 9 poultry heads in Europe and this generates more than 10 7 tonnes of poultry manure, which is commonly used as a fertilizer in agriculture [1][2][3]. Improper handling of poultry manure can cause significant environmental damage.…”