ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Co-digestion of agricultural and industrial wastes

Anna Kacprzak, Liliana Krzystek, and Stanisław Ledakowicz

Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, Wolczanska Str. 213, 90-924 Lodz, Poland

E-mail: annakacprzak81@tlen.pl

Received: 19 May 2009  Revised: 24 September 2009  Accepted: 30 September 2009

Abstract: The efficiency of anaerobic digestion process is dependent on the type and composition of the material to be digested. This work examines the co-digestion of corn silage, beet pulp silage, carrot residues, and cheese whey in different configurations together with a glycerin fraction — the waste product of transestrification of oils (biodiesel production) in a 25 L bioreactor operated mesophically in a quasi-continuous mode. Co-digestion of corn silage with carrot residues appeared to be more effective than that with cheese whey resulting in the gas production rate equal to 5.9 L L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and 1.4 L L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively. The performed experiments showed that a combination of three substrates: corn silage, cheese whey, and glycerin fraction resulted in the highest methane content equal to 61 % and the biogas production rate of 1.8 L L⁻¹ d⁻¹.

Keywords: biogas - biomass - waste glycerin utilization - co-digestion - sugar beet pulp - corn silage - carrot residues - cheese whey

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-009-0108-5

Chemical Papers 64 (2) 127–131 (2010)