Integration of wheat straw for a biorefinery-based energy generation process by producing ethanol and biogas together with the production of high-protein fungal biomass (suitable for feed application) was the main focus of the present study. An edible ascomycete fungal strain Neurospora intermedia was used for the ethanol fermentation and subsequent biomass production from dilute phosphoric aci...

In presented work, long-term operation of a laboratory anaerobic reactor processing food waste is discussed. Food waste is potentially well available municipal bio waste with light biodegradability and with year-long production mostly in big cities. About 200 days of laboratory work were focused on characterization of tested food waste quality as well as on feasibility of biogas production from...

Biogas can be currently considered as an alternative option for electricity production, mainly due to its high energy content (hydrocarbon-rich source), its renewable status and its relatively low utilization cost. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stacks convert fuel’s chemical energy to electricity with high efficiencies and reveal significant advantages on fuel flexibility combined with lower emi...

The present work provides an overview of technological measures to increase the self-sufficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), in particular for the largely diffused activated sludge-based WWTP. The operation of WWTPs entails a huge amount of electricity. Thermal energy is also required for pre-heating the sludge and sometimes exsiccation of the digested sludge. On the other hand, the...

Biogas is produced when organic matter is degraded in the absence of oxygen. The process, from degradation to gas production is called anaerobic digestion. The research in this study focuses on the feasibility of the design and implementation of an operational digester, the monitoring and control of the different biodegradation process variables and experiments to boost or maximize the gas prod...

Anaerobic digestion can be used to degrade food waste and recover energy. Methane is a biogas that can be efficiently converted in electricity. Organic loading rate, temperature, time, pH, carbon to nitrogen ratio are important factors to be operated in the bioreactors and still are challenges in this process to increase biogas production. It has been reviewed the single phase and two-stage bio...

The demand of energy has been increased over the years due to increasing world population and expansion of global industries especially for food and feed. Most of the energy is consumed in transportation, industries & factories, power generation, and community sectors. Moreover, in order to fulfill our demand we are mostly dependent on energy, taken from fossil oil, gas and coal. In developing ...

Biogas is considered a promising option for complementing the fluctuating energy supply from other renewable sources. Maize is currently the dominant biogas crop, but its environmental performance is questionable. Through its replacement with high-yielding and nutrient-efficient perennial C4 grasses, the environmental impact of biogas could be considerably improved. The objective of this paper ...

Biogas upgrading is an expanding field dealing with the increase in methane content of the biogas to produce biomethane. Biomethane has a high calorific content and can be used as a vehicle fuel or directly injected into the gas grid. Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) could become an alternative for biogas upgrading, by which the yield of the process in terms of carbon utilisation could be incre...

This paper proposed a framework to model and optimises a biogas production using artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. The intelligence computation was applied to achieve a better model and optimisation compared to a mathematical modeling. Two training approaches were used to train a set of neural networks design. The trained networks model predictions were used to generate a maxim...