scholarly journals Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Cheese Whey and Industrial Hemp Residues Opens New Perspectives for the Valorization of Agri-Food Waste

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Papirio ◽  
Silvio Matassa ◽  
Francesco Pirozzi ◽  
Giovanni Esposito

Cheese whey (CW) and hemp hurds (HH) represent typically overabundant biowastes of food and agricultural production, and their circular management is crucial to improve both sustainability and profitability of the agri-food chain. By combining experimental biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests and literature data, the techno-economic aspects of a possible future bioenergy valorization of CW and HH through anaerobic digestion (AD) and co- digestion (coAD) were analyzed. Along the 42-days, BMP assays, CW, and HH alone rendered BMP values of 446 ± 66 and 242 ± 13 mL CH4·g VS−1, respectively. The application of coAD with CW and HH at a 70:30 ratio allowed to enhance the biomethane production by 10.7%, as compared to the corresponding calculated value. In terms of economic profitability, the valorization of HH as biomethane in a dual-purpose hemp cultivation could potentially enable net profits of up to 3929 €·ha−1, which could rise to 6124 €·ha−1 in case of coAD with CW. Finally, by projecting the biomethane potential from current and future available CW and HH residues in the national context of Italy, a total biomethane yield of up to 296 MNm3·y−1 could be attained, offering interesting perspectives for the sustainability of key sectors such as transportation.

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 931
Author(s):  
Abumalé Cruz-Salomón ◽  
Edna Ríos-Valdovinos ◽  
Francisco Pola-Albores ◽  
Selene Lagunas-Rivera ◽  
Rosa Isela Cruz-Rodríguez ◽  
...  

Cheese whey wastewater (CWW) is the major by-product of the dairy industry. CWW is produced in large quantities, has varied characteristics and is usually disposed of. The disposal of CWW causes a negative impact on the environment of different agroindustrial areas due to the physic-chemical composition that significantly increases its high organic load and nutrients. For this reason, the aim of this work was to carry out an evaluation of the anaerobic treatability of an Expanded Granular Sludge Bed (EGSB) bioreactor as a new sustainable alternative for treatment of these effluents with bioenergy production. In this study, the bioreactor was operated under stable conditions (i.e., buffer index of 0.23 ± 0.1, pH 7.22 ± 0.4 and temperature 26.6 ± 1.4 °C) for 201 days. During evaluation the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 6 and 8 days, and it was buffered with NaHCO3. At these conditions, the COD removal rate and biochemical methane potential (BMP) were 90, 92%; and 334, 328 mLCH4/gCOD, respectively. The evidence found in this study highlighted that the CWW is a viable substrate to be treated in the EGSB bioreactor as long as it keeps buffered. Furthermore, the process to treat the CWW in an EGSB bioreactor can be a sustainable alternative to simultaneously solve the environmental pollution that this agro-industry confronts and produce renewable and environmentally-friendly bioenergy.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 3361
Author(s):  
Silvio Matassa ◽  
Giovanni Esposito ◽  
Francesco Pirozzi ◽  
Stefano Papirio

Industrial hemp stands out as a promising candidate for clean and sustainable biomass-to-bioenergy systems due to its multipurpose, high biomass yield and resource efficiency features. In this study, different hemp biomass residues (HBRs) were evaluated as a potential feedstock for renewable biomethane production through anaerobic digestion (AD). The biochemical methane potential (BMP) of the raw and pretreated fibers, stalks, hurds, leaves and inflorescences was investigated by means of batch anaerobic tests. The highest BMP was obtained with the raw fibers (i.e., 422 ± 20 mL CH4·g VS−1), while hemp hurds (unretted), making up more than half of the whole hemp plant dry weight, showed a lower BMP value of 239 ± 10 mL CH4·g VS−1. The alkali pretreatment of unretted hurds and mechanical grinding of retted hurds effectively enhanced the BMP of both substrates by 15.9%. The mix of leaves and inflorescences and inflorescences alone showed low BMP values (i.e., 118 ± 8 and 26 ± 5 mL CH4·g VS−1, respectively) and a prolonged inhibition of methanogenesis. The latter could be overcome through NaOH pretreatment in the mix of leaves and inflorescences (+28.5% methane production).


Author(s):  
Zuhaib Siddiqui ◽  
N.J. Horan ◽  
Kofi Anaman

Biomethane production from processed industrial food waste (IFW) in admixture with sewage sludge (primary and waste activated sludge: PS and WAS) was evaluated at a range of C:N ratios using a standard biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. IFW alone had a C:N of 30 whereas for WAS it was 5.4 and thus the C:N ratio of the blends fell in that range. Increasing the IFW content in mix improves the methane potential by increasing both the cumulative biogas production and the rate of methane production. Optimum methane yield 239 mL/g VSremoved occurred at a C:N ratio of 15 which was achieved with a blend containing 11 percent (w/w) IFW. As the fraction of IFW in the blend increased, volatile solids (VS) destruction was increased and this led to a reduction in methane yield and amount of production. The highest destruction of volatile solids of 93 percent was achieved at C:N of 20 followed by C:N 30 and 15. A shortened BMP test is adequate for evaluating optimum admixtures.


Author(s):  
Giovanni Dolci ◽  
Arianna Catenacci ◽  
Francesca Malpei ◽  
Mario Grosso

Abstract Purpose The most abundant among the separately collected waste materials in Italy is food waste. This research aims to evaluate the influence of the type of collection bag on the food waste management chain. In Italy, the food waste collection is mainly based on bioplastic bags. As an alternative, a new type of recycled paper bag shows potential advantages. Methods The two types of collection bag were compared evaluating the weight loss of food waste during the household storage, by means of an experimental assessment simulating the domestic dynamic bag filling. Moreover, the biomethane production of bags under anaerobic conditions was measured at the lab-scale level with Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests. Results During the household storage, the breathable fabric of the paper allows for higher weight losses, ranging on average between + 29 and + 44% compared to bioplastic. BMP tests, carried out under different conditions (temperature, inoculum), showed a 2–14 times higher generation of methane by paper bags compared to bioplastic bags, when referred to 1 kg of inserted food waste. Conclusions Collecting the food waste inside paper bags shows advantages compared to the use of bioplastic bags. First, the waste collection is benefitted thanks to the lower weight of material to be transported to treatment plants, leading also to the possibility of decreasing the collection frequency. Moreover, paper resulted more compatible than bioplastic with the anaerobic digestion treatment, which is currently rapidly increasing as a food waste management option. Graphic Abstract


2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kacprzak ◽  
Liliana Krzystek ◽  
Katarzyna Paździor ◽  
Stanisław Ledakowicz

AbstractThe most promising technology to generate energy is the production of biogas from agricultural feedstock. This technology allows obtaining high biogas yields per hectare. Biogas of high methane content can be produced from various kinds of energy crops, animal manure, and other organic waste. This paper presents results of both biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay of Canary grass (Phalaris canariensis) and its anaerobic co-digestion with cheese whey and glycerin fraction in a large laboratory scale as well as the kinetics of both co-digestion and digestion of Canary grass alone. The suggested mathematical description of the anaerobic co-digestion process gave satisfying conformity with the experimental data.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1221
Author(s):  
Kanyarat Saritpongteeraka ◽  
Jutawan Kaewsung ◽  
Boonya Charnnok ◽  
Sumate Chaiprapat

This study investigates the effects of convective hydrothermal pretreatment (CHTP) compared to microwave pretreatment (MWP) on the anaerobic digestion of hybrid Napier grass for biomethane production. For rapid estimation of methane yield (YCH4), enzymatic hydrolyzability (EH), whose test lasts only 2 days was used as a surrogate parameter instead of the biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay that normally takes 45–60 days. The relationship between EH and BMP was successfully modeled with satisfactory accuracy (R2 = 0.9810). From CHTP results, quadratic regression characterised by p < 0.0001 and R2 = 0.8364 shows that YCH4 increase was clearly sensitive to detention time at all CHTP temperatures. The maximal YCH4 achieved of 301.5 ± 3.0 mL CH4/gVSadd was 53.2% higher than the control. Then, MWP was employed at various power levels and microwave exposure times. Changes in lignocellulosic structure by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy balance demonstrate that MWP caused more damage to plant cells, which proved more effective than CHTP. In the best conditions, approximately 50% of energy was needed for MWP to achieve the equivalent improvement in YCH4. However, CHTP is a more suitable option since waste heat, i.e., from a biogas CHP (combined heat and power) unit, could be used, as opposed to the electricity required for MWP.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1533-1536
Author(s):  
Jin Mi Triolo ◽  
Sven Gjedde Sommer ◽  
Lene Pedersen

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1952
Author(s):  
Ayobami Orangun ◽  
Harjinder Kaur ◽  
Raghava R. Kommalapati

The improper management of goat manure from concentrated goat feeding operations and food waste leads to the emission of greenhouse gasses and water pollution in the US. The wastes were collected from the International Goat Research Center and a dining facility at Prairie View A&M University. The biochemical methane potential of these two substrates in mono and co-digestion at varied proportions was determined in triplicates and processes were evaluated using two nonlinear regression models. The experiments were conducted at 36 ± 1 °C with an inoculum to substrate ratio of 2.0. The biomethane was measured by water displacement method (pH 10:30), absorbing carbon dioxide. The cumulative yields in goat manure and food waste mono-digestions were 169.7 and 206.0 mL/gVS, respectively. Among co-digestion, 60% goat manure achieved the highest biomethane yields of 380.5 mL/gVS. The biodegradabilities of 33.5 and 65.7% were observed in goat manure and food waste mono-digestions, while 97.4% were observed in the co-digestion having 60% goat manure. The modified Gompertz model is an excellent fit in simulating the anaerobic digestion of food waste and goat manure substrates. These findings provide useful insights into the co-digestion of these substrates.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1460
Author(s):  
Jinming Liu ◽  
Changhao Zeng ◽  
Na Wang ◽  
Jianfei Shi ◽  
Bo Zhang ◽  
...  

Biochemical methane potential (BMP) of anaerobic co-digestion (co-AD) feedstocks is an essential basis for optimizing ratios of materials. Given the time-consuming shortage of conventional BMP tests, a rapid estimated method was proposed for BMP of co-AD—with straw and feces as feedstocks—based on near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with chemometrics. Partial least squares with several variable selection algorithms were used for establishing calibration models. Variable selection methods were constructed by the genetic simulated annealing algorithm (GSA) combined with interval partial least squares (iPLS), synergy iPLS, backward iPLS, and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), respectively. By comparing the modeling performances of characteristic wavelengths selected by different algorithms, it was found that the model constructed using 57 characteristic wavelengths selected by CARS-GSA had the best prediction accuracy. For the validation set, the determination coefficient, root mean square error and relative root mean square error of the CARS-GSA model were 0.984, 6.293 and 2.600, respectively. The result shows that the NIRS regression model—constructed with characteristic wavelengths, selected by CARS-GSA—can meet actual detection requirements. Based on a large number of samples collected, the method proposed in this study can realize the rapid and accurate determination of the BMP for co-AD raw materials in biogas engineering.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document