The effect of packing density on the startup and operation of an anaerobic single stage fixed wheat straw bed digester

Summary, in English

In Southern Sweden, production of renewable energy from crop residues digestion is viewed as a worthwhile alternative. Also, the process gives valuable mineralised nitrogen as a by-product, which when produced at farm-scale can be recycled for ecological farming. It is difficult to achieve economic utilisation of crop residues in centralised slurry digestion, mainly because of the greater transport costs. Traditional reactor designs have a too low cost efficiency on farm-scale level, and therefore it is essential to introduce technologies and practices leading to economically viable reactor systems on this scale. One very simple reactor design being considered is the vertical column fixed bed digester. This allows relatively high loading rates, combined with a low maintenance requirement. Plant material can be used as a biofilm carrier, and is an inexpensive and highly efficient alternative to traditional support materials, and wheat straw, with its rigid structure and low biodegradability, is a good candidate. In this study, the influence of packing density on startup and single stage semi-batch operation of vertical column fixed bed digesters was examined in one laboratory-scale and three pilot-scale systems.

• Författare: Mattias Svensson; Lovisa Björnsson; Damien Batstone; Bo Mattiasson
• Redaktör: PA Wilderer
• Avdelning/ar: Bioteknik; Miljö- och energisystem
• Publiceringsår: 2002
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 14-14
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium for Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Wastes
• Dokumenttyp: Konferensbidrag
• Förlag: Technische Universität München
• Ämne: Industrial Biotechnology
• Nyckelord: startup; straw digestion; fixed bed; crop residues; anaerobic filter; high-solids; packing density
• Status: Published