Performance optimization of the Växtkraft biogas production plant

Abstract

All over the world there is a strong interest and also potential for biogas production from organic residues as well as from different crops. However, to be commercially competitive with other types of fuels, efficiency improvements of the biogas production process are needed. In this paper, results of improvements studies done on a full scale co-digestion plant are presented In the plant organic wastes from households and restaurants are mixed and digested with crops from graze land. The areas for improvements of the plant addressed are treatment of the feed material to enhance the digestion rate, limitation of the ballast of organics in the water stream recirculated in the process, and use of the biogas plant residues at farms. Results from previous studies on pre-treatment and membrane filtration of recirculated process water are combined for estimation of the total improvement potential. Further, the possibility to use neural networks to predict biogas production using historical data from the full-scale biogas plant was investigated. Results from investigation of using the process residues as fertilizer are also presented.The results indicates a potential to increase the biogas yield from the process with up to over 30 % with pre-treatment of the feed and including membrane filtration in the process. Neural networks have the potential to be used for prediction of biogas production. Further, it is shown that the residues from biogas production can be used as fertilizers but that the emission of N 2 O from the fertilised soil is dependent on the soil type and spreading technology.

Effects of changes in Italian bioenergy promotion schemes for agricultural biogas projects: Insights from a regional optimization model

“…Optimization is more often meant to improve the performance of individual biogas plants (Kana et al, 2012;Thorin et al, 2012) or sections of supply chains (Bekkering et al, 2010), rather than to analyze or design supply chains as a whole. policy conditions for biogas generation.…”

Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Potential: Simulation of Lab and Industrial-Scale Processes

“…In a study by Marcos et al [15], modelling was used to simulate slaughterhouse wastewater effluent degradation and the methane generation rate after showing the accurate reproduction of the behaviour of an anaerobic digester. Modelling of the biogas production rate can also be used as an indication of the process performance [16]. In previous works by McCabe et al [8], BioWin 3.1 software was used to simulate chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and the subsequent biogas generation rate from two abattoirs, where crust (high content of fat, oil and grease (FOG)) accumulation was an issue.…”

Biomethane as transport fuel – A comparison with other biogas utilization pathways in northern Italy

“…The comparison between different biogas utilization pathways is commonly performed by considering the primary energy input-output ratio (PEIO) [30,31], while optimization is more often meant to improve the performance of individual biogas plants [32,33] or sections of supply chains [34] than to analyze or design supply chains as a whole.…”