A common way to store digestate from anaerobic digesters is in open air lagoons. The aim of this study was to investigate whether cooling of digestate before transfer to the storage prevents methane production. Furthermore, if methanogenesis is not prevented, to determine the potential maximum methane slip from an open air lagoon, supplied with heat exchanged digestate from a mesophilic co-dige...

Different methods of urban sewage sludge energy recovery such as burning, gasification, pyrolysis and digestion based on the net energy production efficiency, advantages and disadvantages and complexity of these processes have been investigated in this article. The best method for energy production from sludge was selected among different methods according to energy and the amount of the greenh...

The presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli was investigated in input (manure from livestock husbandry) and output samples of six German biogas plants in 2012 (one sampling per biogas plant) and two German biogas plants investigated in an annual cycle four times in 2013/2014. ESBL-producing Escherichia coli were cultured by direct plating on CHROMagar ESBL...

In Germany there are about fifteen years of experience in the planning and construction of farm-scale biogas plants. In the meantime, approximately 1,600 biogas plants are in operation on farms. This is primarily due to investment funding and payment for each kWh delivered to the public energy grid. In general, three different kinds of digester types are in use for anaerobically treating manure...

A new sensor for methane and carbon dioxide concentration measurements in biogas plants is presented. LEDs in the mid infrared spectral region are implemented as low cost light source. The combination of quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy with an absorption path leads to a sensor setup suitable for the harsh application environment. The sensor system contains an electronics unit and the...

Our study was undertaken in order to determine the effects of preliminary hydrothermal depolymerization and enzymatic hydrolysis of macroalgae biomass originating from the Vistula Lagoon on yield of the methane fermentation process in terms of quantity and quality of produced biogas. The process of enzymatic hydrolysis was conducted with a mixture of enzymes: Cellulast 1.5 L, Novozym 188, and H...

In recent years many researchers show a high interest in co-digestion, simultaneous anaerobic decomposition of a homogenous mixture of at least two biodegradable waste. Anaerobic codigestion is reported to offer several benefits over digestion of separate materials, such as increased cost-efficiency, increased biodegradation of the treated materials, as well as increased biogas production. Most...

Rising global energy needs and limited fossil fuel reserves have led to increased use of renewable energies. In Germany, this has entailed massive exploitation of agricultural biomass for biogas generation, associated with unsustainable farming practices. Organic agriculture not only reduces negative environmental impacts, organic farmers were also prime movers in anaerobic digestion (AD) in Ge...

Biogas is a combination of methane, CO2, nitrogen, H2S and traces of few other gases. Almost any organic waste can be biologically transformed into biogas and other energy-rich organic compounds through the process of anaerobic digestion (AD) and thus helping in sustainable waste management. Although microbes are involved in each step of AD, knowledge about those microbial consortia is limited ...