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Special Issue "Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas"

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2023 | Viewed by 3473

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Dr. Carlos Rico de la Hera

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Department of Water and Environmental Science and Technologies, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Interests: anaerobic digestion; biomethane; wastewater treatment; high-rate anaerobic reactor; biowaste; energy crops
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Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, anaerobic digestion technology has gained popularity as a solution to environmental and energy challenges and has been identified as one tool among many that may be used to alleviate the problems of global warming. Humans generate over 100 billion tonnes of organic wastes globally each year, which should be seen as a potential resource rather than a problem. Anaerobic digestion is quite a versatile technology. It can be applied to different types of organic waste streams and energy crops, i.e., liquid (wastewaters), solid (solid waste and crops), and semi-liquid (slurries). In addition, anaerobic digestion systems are versatile in terms of flexibility and scalability to recover the resources contained in the aforementioned feedstocks. As a renewable energy source, biogas also offers a multifunctionality key role, as it can be compressed, stored, upgraded, and even liquified. This must be seen as a great opportunity for biogas development as it opens the possibility to exploit the natural gas and liquefied natural gas infrastructures for biogas.

Therefore, the general target of the present Special Issue is to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in this field, promoting research focused on biogas production, upgrading, and utilization.

Dr. Carlos Rico de la Hera
Guest Editor

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Keywords

biogas upgrading
biomethane
co-digestion
digester
liquefaction
manure
waste to energy

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Salinity Inhibition in Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste

Gregor Drago Zupančič

Mario Panjičko

Romana Marinšek Logar

Lea Lavrič

Maša Zorec

and

Lijana Fanedl

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 6590; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116590 - 29 May 2023

Viewed by 225

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion, despite its preferable use as a treatment for high organic matter polluted waste streams, is susceptible to inhibitors, salt included. Therefore, two different experiments were conducted to observe the responses of bacterial and archaeal communities to hypersaline environments. In the first experiment, salt was added gradually, while in the second experiment, salt was added rapidly (so-called salt shocks were performed). The results of the gradual addition of salt showed a recovery of methane production after the salt concentration decreased. The NaCl concentration of 28.2 g/L seems to be the limit between stable operation and occurrence inhibition. The specific biogas production varied between 0.490 and 0.562 m³/kg_tCOD during the stepwise salt addition, depending on the salt concentration, while the maximal achieved COD removal was 79.8%. The results of the rapid salt addition showed good recovery of the bacterial community, while a reduction of salt-sensitive species was observed in the archaeal community. The trend of specific biogas production during rapid salt addition was stable with an average value of 0.590 m³/kg_tCOD, and it was observed that higher concentrations of up to 39.4 g/L of NaCl were tolerated. The maximum COD removal achieved during rapid salt addition was 83.1%. In conclusion, certain bacterial and archaeal communities were well-adapted to the hypersaline environment and remained active during the anaerobic digestion of substrates with high salt concentration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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Open AccessArticle

Biogas Production and Metagenomic Analysis in a New Hybrid Anaerobic Labyrinth-Flow Bioreactor Treating Dairy Wastewater

and

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 5197; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13085197 - 21 Apr 2023

Viewed by 473

Abstract

Increasing worldwide milk manufacturing and dairy processing resulted in producing more effluents, and thus effective management of wastewater is now the most important issue. This study used a new design of a pilot plant-scale hybrid anaerobic labyrinth-flow bioreactor (AL-FB) to increase the efficiency of anaerobic biodegradation and biogas productivity and improve anaerobic microflora performance. In addition, effluent recirculation was used to boost the treatment of dairy wastewater. Metagenomic analyses of the anaerobic microbial community were performed. It was found that an organic loading rate (OLR) of 4.0–8.0 g COD/L·d contributed to the highest CH₄ yield of 0.18 ± 0.01–0.23 ± 0.02 L CH₄/g COD removed, which corresponded to a high COD removal of 87.5 ± 2.8–94.1 ± 1.3%. The evenest distribution of the microorganisms’ phyla determined the highest biogas production. In all tested samples, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes abundance was the highest, and Archaea accounted for about 4%. Metagenomic studies showed that methane was mainly produced in acetoclastic methanogenesis; however, higher OLRs were more favorable for enhanced hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Effluent recirculation enhanced the overall treatment. Thus, at OLR of 10.0 g COD/L·d, the highest COD removal was 89.2 ± 0.4%, and methane production yield achieved 0.20 ± 0.01 L CH₄/g COD removed, which was higher by 25% compared to the achievements without recirculation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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Open AccessArticle

Influence of Microwave Radiation on Pollutant Removal and Biomethane Production Efficiency in Anaerobic Treatment of High-Load Poultry Wastewater

and

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 3553; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13063553 - 10 Mar 2023

Viewed by 489

Abstract

The growing consumption of poultry meat has spurred the development of meat-processing plants and an associated rise in wastewater generation. Anaerobic digestion is one of the preferred processes for treating such waste. The current push towards biogas upgrading and out-of-plant use necessitates new, competitive ways of heating digesters. One such alternative is to use electromagnetic microwave radiation (EMR). The aim of the study was to assessment how EMR used as a heat source impacts the anaerobic processing of high-load poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (H-LPSW) and its performance. Microwave heating (MWH) was found to boost the CH₄ fraction in the biogas under mesophilic conditions (35 °C) as long as the organic load rate (OLR) was maintained within 1.0 kgCOD/dm³·d to 4.0 kgCOD/dm³·d. The best performing variant—EPM heating (55 °C), OLR = 3.0 kgCOD/dm³·d, HRT = 5 days—produced 70.4 ± 2.7% CH₄. High COD and TOC removal, as well as the highest biogas yields, were achieved for loadings of 1.0 gCOD/dm³·d to 4.0 gCOD/dm³·d. Effluent from the EMR-heated reactors (1.0 gCOD/dm³·d) contained, on average, 0.30 ± 0.07 gO₂/dm³ at 55 °C and 0.38 ± 0.10 gO₂/dm³ at 35 °C. The corresponding COD removal rates were 97.8 ± 0.6% and 98.1 ± 0.4%, respectively. The 5.0 gCOD/dm³·d and 6.0 gCOD/dm³·d OLR variants showed incremental decreases in performance. Based on the polymerase chain reaction results of 16S rDNA analysis, diversity of bacterial communities were mostly determined by OLR, not way of heating. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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Open AccessArticle

The Synergistic Effect of Simultaneous Ultrasound Heating and Disintegration on the Technological Efficiency and Energetic Balance of Anaerobic Digestion of High-Load Slaughter Poultry Sewage

Joanna Kazimierowicz

Marcin Dębowski

and

Marcin Zieliński

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 2420; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042420 - 13 Feb 2023

Viewed by 597

Abstract

Regulations in force urge for thermal pre-treatment of post-slaughter waste prior to its anaerobic digestion. Increased interest in biomethane as a fuel in gas networks or vehicles of road transport forces the need to look for heating methods that are alternative to heat recovery from cogeneration. The goal of this study was to determine the synergistic effect of simultaneous ultrasound heating and disintegration on the technological efficiency and energetic balance of the anaerobic digestion of high-load slaughter poultry wastewater. The highest efficiency of anaerobic digestion was obtained for the ultrasound thermal pre-treatment (60 min, 90 °C, OLR = 2.0 gCOD/dm³). In this experimental variant, the biogas production rate reached 9.0 ± 0.2 cm³/gCOD·h, biogas yield was 492 ± 10 cm³/gCOD, and the biogas produced contained 69.8 ± 1.4% CH₄. Given the incurred energy outputs, the highest net energetic efficiencies, i.e., 5.92 ± 0.43 Wh and 5.80 ± 0.42 Wh, were obtained in the variants with the conventional thermal pre-treatment (60 min, 70 °C, OLR = 6.0 gCOD/dm³) and ultrasound thermal pre-treatment (60 min, 70 °C, OLR = 6.0 gCOD/dm³), respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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Open AccessCommunication

Effect of pH Change on the Microalgae-Based Biogas Upgrading Process

Leslie Meier

Carlos Vilchez

María Cuaresma

Álvaro Torres-Aravena

and

David Jeison

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(23), 12194; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122312194 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 777

Abstract

An alternative way to remove CO₂ from biogas is the use of photosynthetic microorganisms, such as microalgae. This can be achieved by the operation of an open photobioreactor, connected with a mass transfer column, such as a counterflow column. This technology provides up-graded biogas with high quality. The microalgal uptake of CO₂ from the biogas in counterflow columns generates pH changes in microalgae culture. To clarify the potential effect of these dynamic pH conditions in the culture, the effect of pH change on the photosynthetic activity and PSII quantum yield was studied for microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana. Thus, assays were carried out, where the pH drop reported in the counterflow columns was replicated in batch microalgae culture through HCl addition and CO₂ injection, moving the culture pH from 7.0 to 5.0 and from 7.0 to 5.8, respectively. Moreover, the effect of light/darkness on photosynthetic activity was tested when the pH decreased. The results obtained in this research showed that the photosynthetic activity decreased for the light conditions when the pH was shifted by HCl addition and CO₂ injection. Despite this, the value of the PSII quantum yield remained at 0.6–0.7, which means that the microalgae culture did not suffer a negative effect on the photosynthetic system of cells because a high value of PSII efficiency remained. In the same way, the results indicated that when the pH change was corrected, the photosynthetic activity recovered. Moreover, the apparent affinity constant for dissolved inorganic carbon (KDIC) was 0.9 µM at pH 5 and 112.0 µM at pH 7, which suggests that the preferred carbon source for C.sorokniana is CO₂. Finally, all the results obtained indicated that the pH drop in the counter-flow column for biogas upgrading did not cause permanent damage to the photosynthetic system, and the decrease in the photosynthetic activity as a result of the pH drop can be recovered when the pH is corrected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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Open AccessReview

Biogas Production in AnMBRs via Treatment of Municipal and Domestic Wastewater: Opportunities and Fouling Mitigation Strategies

and

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 6466; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116466 - 25 May 2023

Viewed by 290

Abstract

In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in developing the potential of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs). The present paper presents a comprehensive review of studies focused on biogas production via the treatment of municipal and domestic wastewater with the use of such technology. The main aim of the current work was to evaluate the impact of operating parameters on the biogas production yield. Moreover, the possibilities of applying various fouling mitigation strategies have been discussed in detail. Analyses have been performed and reported in the literature, which were conducted with the use of submerged and external AnMBRs equipped with both polymeric and ceramic membranes. It has been shown that, so far, the impact of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on biogas yield is ambiguous. This finding indicates that future studies on this issue are required. In addition, it was demonstrated that temperature has a positive impact on process performance. However, as presented in the literature, investigations have been carried out mainly under psychrophilic and mesophilic conditions. Hence, performing further experimental studies at temperatures above 40 °C is highly recommended. Moreover, it has been shown that in order to restore the initial permeate flux, a combination of several membrane cleaning methods is often required. The findings presented in the current study may be particularly important for the determination of operating conditions and suitable fouling mitigation strategies for laboratory-scale and pilot-scale AnMBRs used for biogas production via the treatment of municipal and domestic conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production, Treatment, Utilization and Future Opportunities of Biogas)

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