LAPSE:2023.28835
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.28835
Psychrophilic Full Scale Tubular Digester Operating over Eight Years: Complete Performance Evaluation and Microbiological Population
Jaime Jaimes-Estévez, German Zafra, Jaime Martí-Herrero, Guillermo Pelaz, Antonio Morán, Alejandra Puentes, Christian Gomez, Liliana del Pilar Castro, Humberto Escalante Hernández
April 12, 2023
Most biogas plants in the world run under psychrophilic conditions and are operated by small and medium farmers. There is a gap of knowledge on the performance of these systems after several years of operation. The aim of this research is to provide a complete evaluation of a psychrophilic, low-cost, tubular digester operated for eight years. The thermal performance was monitored for 50 days, and parameters such as pH, total volatile fatty acid (tVFA), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile solids (VS) were measured every week for the influent and effluent. The digester operated at a stabilized slurry temperature of around 17.7 °C, with a mean organic load rate (OLR) equal to 0.52 kg VS/m3digester *d and an estimated hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 25 days. The VS reduction in the digester was around 77.58% and the COD reduction was 67 ± 3%, with a mean value for the effluent of 3.31 ± 1.20 g COD/Lt, while the tVFA decreased by 83.6 ± 15.5% and the presence of coliforms decreased 10.5%. A BioMethane potential test (BMP) for the influent and effluent showed that the digester reached a specific methane production of 0.40 Nm3CH4/kg VS and a 0.21 Nm3CH4/m3digester d with 63.1% CH4 in the biogas. These results, together with a microbiological analysis, show stabilized anaerobic digestion and a biogas production that was higher than expected for the psychrophilic range and the short HRT; this may have been due to the presence of an anaerobic digestion microorganism consortium which was extremely well-adapted to psychrophilic conditions over the eight-year study period.
Keywords
low cost digester, psychrophilic anaerobic digestion, thermal behavior
Suggested Citation
Jaimes-Estévez J, Zafra G, Martí-Herrero J, Pelaz G, Morán A, Puentes A, Gomez C, Castro LDP, Escalante Hernández H. Psychrophilic Full Scale Tubular Digester Operating over Eight Years: Complete Performance Evaluation and Microbiological Population. (2023). LAPSE:2023.28835
Author Affiliations
Jaimes-Estévez J: Centro de Estudios en Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM) Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Zafra G: Grupo de Investigación en Bioquímica y Microbiología (GIBIM), Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia [ORCID]
Martí-Herrero J: Biomass to Resources Group, Universidad Regional Amazonica Ikiam, Via Tena-Muyuna, Km.7, Tena, Napo, Ecuador; Building Energy and Environment Group, Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numérics en Enginyeria (CIMNE), Terrassa, 08034 Barcelona, Spain [ORCID]
Pelaz G: Chemical, Environmental and Bioprocess Engineering Group, Universidad de León, Av. Portugal 41, 24009 León, Spain
Morán A: Chemical, Environmental and Bioprocess Engineering Group, Universidad de León, Av. Portugal 41, 24009 León, Spain [ORCID]
Puentes A: Centro de Estudios en Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM) Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Gomez C: Centro de Estudios en Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM) Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Castro LDP: Centro de Estudios en Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM) Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Escalante Hernández H: Centro de Estudios en Investigaciones Ambientales (CEIAM) Research Group, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Journal Name
Energies
Volume
14
Issue
1
Article Number
E151
Year
2020
Publication Date
2020-12-30
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
Version Comments
Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: en14010151, Publication Type: Journal Article
Record Map
Published Article

LAPSE:2023.28835
This Record
External Link

doi:10.3390/en14010151
Publisher Version
Download
Files
[Download 1v1.pdf] (2.4 MB)
Apr 12, 2023
Main Article
License
CC BY 4.0
Meta
Record Statistics
Record Views
68
Version History
[v1] (Original Submission)
Apr 12, 2023
 
Verified by curator on
Apr 12, 2023
This Version Number
v1
Citations
Most Recent
This Version
URL Here
https://psecommunity.org/LAPSE:2023.28835
 
Original Submitter
Auto Uploader for LAPSE
Links to Related Works
Directly Related to This Work
Publisher Version