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From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies
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From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B: Energy and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2024 | Viewed by 8484

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Christian Aragón-Briceño

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Industry and Energy Department, CIRCE-Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: bioresource recovery; anaerobic digestion technologies; nutrients; waste water treatment; hydrogen; biogas; fermentation
Dr. Panagiotis Boutikos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Research and Technology – Hellas, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: gas; membranes; water; sensors; carbon dioxide
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Musa Manga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Water Institute at UNC, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 357 Rosenau Hall, 135 Dauer Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Interests: bio-energy recovery; nutrient recovery; anaerobic digestion; composting, faecal sludge treatment; pathogen inactivation; decentralized wastewater treatment; on-site sanitation systems; resource recovery from human waste; economic and financial costing; global public health; water sanitation and hygiene (wash)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the current global energy crisis and the ambitious Net Zero emissions plans issued by various governments, it is imperative to focus on the development of new sustainable and renewable energy sources. In the last few years, the concept “Waste to Energy” (WtE) has become crucial. This is related to processes involving waste for the production of energy in the form of either heat and/or electricity and/or its transformation into a fuel source. In this context, Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is widely recognized and applied in biomass treatment, mainly in biogas production from microbial degradation. The AD technology offers versatility for implementaion in the industry sector or communities, offering benefits such as solid waste reduction, water treatment, and obtention of valuable by-products such as biogas and digestate.

However, AD still faces challenges such as feedstock availability, biomass biodegradability, management, process control and design, automatization, etc.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances in anaerobic digestion technology, including the complementing technologies that can enhance the process.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Advances in anaerobic digestion technologies.
  • Process design and technology (Advance modeling).
  • Life cycle assessment.
  • Novel feedstocks.
  • Dark fermentation.
  • Biomethane, production, treatment, storage and/or utilization.
  • Bio-Hydrogen production, treatment, storage and/or utilization.
  • Complementing technologies for anaerobic digestion (pretreatments and/or post-treatments).
  • Bio-resource recovery (i.e., methanol, methane, VFAs, flue gases, etc.).
  • Nutrient recovery.
  • Digestate treatment and management.
  • Microbial dynamics.

Dr. Christian Aragón-Briceño
Dr. Panagiotis Boutikos
Dr. Musa Manga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • anaerobic digestion
  • biogas
  • bio-hydrogen
  • biomass
  • process modeling
  • digestate
  • nutrients
  • methane
  • AD life cycle assessment
  • bio-chemical processes
  • biogas upgrading
  • feedstock management
  • bioresource recovery
  • dark fermentation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1309 KiB  
Article
Optimisation of Biogas Production in the Co-Digestion of Pre-Hydrodynamically Cavitated Aerobic Granular Sludge with Waste Fats
by Marcin Dębowski, Marcin Zieliński, Joanna Kazimierowicz, Anna Nowicka and Magda Dudek
Energies 2024, 17(4), 922; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17040922 - 16 Feb 2024
Viewed by 469
Abstract
The characteristics of excess aerobic granular sludge, related to its structure and chemical composition, limit the efficiency of anaerobic digestion. For this reason, pre-treatment methods and compositions with other organic substrates are used. In earlier work, no attempt was made to intensify the [...] Read more.
The characteristics of excess aerobic granular sludge, related to its structure and chemical composition, limit the efficiency of anaerobic digestion. For this reason, pre-treatment methods and compositions with other organic substrates are used. In earlier work, no attempt was made to intensify the methane fermentation of the excess aerobic granular sludge by adding fatty waste materials. The aim of the research was to determine the effects of co-digestion of pre-hydrodynamically cavitated aerobic granular sludge with waste fats on the efficiency of methane fermentation under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The addition of waste fats improved the C/N ratio and increased its value to 19. Under mesophilic conditions, the highest effects were observed when the proportion of volatile solids from waste fats was 25%. The amount of biogas produced increased by 17.85% and CH4 by 19.85% compared to the control. The greatest effects were observed in thermophilic anaerobic digestion at 55 °C, where a 15% waste fat content in volatile solids was ensured. This resulted in the production of 1278.2 ± 40.2 mL/gVS biogas and 889.4 ± 29.7 mL/gVS CH4. The CH4 content of the biogas was 69.6 ± 1.3%. The increase in biogas and CH4 yield compared to pure aerobic granular sludge anaerobic digestion was 34.4% and 40.1%, respectively. An increase in the proportion of waste fats in the substrate had no significant effect on the efficiency of methane fermentation. Strong positive correlations (R2 > 0.9) were observed between biogas and CH4 production and the C/N ratio and VS concentration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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17 pages, 5216 KiB  
Article
Application of Hydrodynamic Cavitation in the Disintegration of Aerobic Granular Sludge—Evaluation of Pretreatment Time on Biomass Properties, Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency and Energy Balance
by Marcin Zieliński, Marcin Dębowski, Joanna Kazimierowicz, Anna Nowicka and Magda Dudek
Energies 2024, 17(2), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17020335 - 09 Jan 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1135
Abstract
The use of aerobic granular sludge is a promising and future-proof solution for wastewater treatment. The implementation of this technology requires the development of efficient and cost-effective methods for the management of excess sludge. The aim of the research was to evaluate the [...] Read more.
The use of aerobic granular sludge is a promising and future-proof solution for wastewater treatment. The implementation of this technology requires the development of efficient and cost-effective methods for the management of excess sludge. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effects of hydrodynamic cavitation on the efficiency of aerobic granular sludge digestion. Respirometric measurements were performed at a temperature of 38 °C and an initial organic load of 5.0 gVS/L. The changes in the properties of the pretreated biomass, the kinetics of methane fermentation, the amount and composition of the biogas produced, and an energetic evaluation of the process were carried out. A significant influence of hydrodynamic cavitation on the transfer of organic compounds into the dissolved phase was demonstrated. The degree of solubilisation was 37% for COD and 42% and for TOC. The efficiency of CH4 production from the pretreated sludge reached a value of 496 ± 12 mL/gVS, which corresponds to an increase of 19.6% compared to the raw biomass. The influence of cavitation on the CH4 content of the biogas was not observed. Strong correlations were found between the efficiency of anaerobic digestion and the concentration of dissolved organic compounds and the hydrodynamic cavitation time used. The gross energy yield was closely correlated with the amount of CH4. The highest comparable values of 3.12 Wh/gTS to 3.18 Wh/gTS were found in the variants in which the hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) time was between 15 min and 50 min. The highest net energy production of 2890 kWh/MgTS was achieved after 15 min of pretreatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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17 pages, 1196 KiB  
Article
Sweet Sorghum as a Potential Fallow Crop in Sugarcane Farming for Biomethane Production in Queensland, Australia
by Divya Joslin Mathias, Thiago Edwiges, Napong Ketsub, Rajinder Singh and Prasad Kaparaju
Energies 2023, 16(18), 6497; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16186497 - 08 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1040
Abstract
Biogas from lignocellulosic feedstock is a promising energy source for decentralized renewable electricity, heat, and/or vehicle fuel generation. However, the selection of a suitable energy crop should be based on several factors such as biomass yields and characteristics or biogas yields and economic [...] Read more.
Biogas from lignocellulosic feedstock is a promising energy source for decentralized renewable electricity, heat, and/or vehicle fuel generation. However, the selection of a suitable energy crop should be based on several factors such as biomass yields and characteristics or biogas yields and economic returns if used in biorefineries. Furthermore, the food-to-fuel conflict for the use of a specific energy crop must be mitigated through smart cropping techniques. In this study, the potential use of sweet sorghum as an energy crop grown during the fallow periods of sugarcane cultivation was evaluated. Nine sweet sorghum cultivars were grown on sandy loam soil during September 2020 in North Queensland, Australia. The overall results showed that the crop maturity had a profound influence on chemical composition and biomass yields. Further, the total insoluble and soluble sugar yields varied among the tested cultivars and were dependent on plant height and chemical composition. The biomass yields ranged from 46.9 to 82.3 tonnes/hectare (t/ha) in terms of the wet weight (w/w) of the tested cultivars, with the SE-81 cultivar registering the highest biomass yield per hectare. The gross energy production was determined based on the chemical composition and methane yields. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) studies in batch experiments at 37 °C showed that methane yields of 175 to 227.91 NmL CH4/gVSadded were obtained from the tested cultivars. The maximum methane yield of 227.91 NmL CH4/gVSadded was obtained for cultivar SE-35. However, SE-81 produced the highest methane yields on a per hectare basis (3059.18 Nm3 CH4/ha). This is equivalent to a gross energy value of 761.74 MWh/year or compressed biomethane (BioCNG) as a vehicle fuel sufficient for 95 passenger cars travelling at 10,000 km per annum. Overall, this study demonstrated that sweet sorghum is a potential energy crop for biogas production that could be cultivated during the fallow period of sugarcane cultivation in Queensland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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18 pages, 2134 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Influence of Biochar Augmentation in Anaerobic Digestion by Principal Component Analysis
by Jessica Quintana-Najera, A. John Blacker, Louise A. Fletcher and Andrew B. Ross
Energies 2023, 16(6), 2523; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062523 - 07 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1397
Abstract
Biochar addition in anaerobic digestion has been repeatedly reported to improve methane production, however, this ability is not well understood. This work aims to understand and correlate the most important factors influencing anaerobic digestion performance using principal component analysis along with quantitative and [...] Read more.
Biochar addition in anaerobic digestion has been repeatedly reported to improve methane production, however, this ability is not well understood. This work aims to understand and correlate the most important factors influencing anaerobic digestion performance using principal component analysis along with quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis to evaluate the variations of methane production with the addition of biochar. Reports from the literature using biochar produced from several feedstocks under variable pyrolysis conditions and therefore different compositions were carefully gathered and compared with their own non-biochar controls. Woody-derived biochars, produced at 450–550 °C, containing an ash content of 3.1–6.3%, and an O:C ratio of 0.20, were responsible for having the greatest positive effect. The amount of biochar added to the digesters also influences anaerobic digestion performance. Increasing biochar loads favours the production rate, although this can be detrimental to methane yields, thereby, biochar loads of approximately 0.4–0.6% (w/v) appear to be optimal. This work provides a guide for those interested in biochar augmentation in anaerobic digestion and identifies the main interactions between the variables involved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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15 pages, 1833 KiB  
Article
Ammonia Recovery from Livestock Manure Digestate through an Air-Bubble Stripping Reactor: Evaluation of Performance and Energy Balance
by Alessandro Abbà, Marta Domini, Marco Baldi, Roberta Pedrazzani and Giorgio Bertanza
Energies 2023, 16(4), 1643; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041643 - 07 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1498
Abstract
The recovery of livestock manure, rich in nutrients, as fertilizer in agriculture, could pose the risk of an excessive load of nitrogen on the soil. Ammonia stripping is one of the available technologies for reducing the amount of nitrogen in the digestate obtained [...] Read more.
The recovery of livestock manure, rich in nutrients, as fertilizer in agriculture, could pose the risk of an excessive load of nitrogen on the soil. Ammonia stripping is one of the available technologies for reducing the amount of nitrogen in the digestate obtained by the anaerobic digestion of manure. The study investigated the performance and energy consumption of a full-scale ammonia-stripping plant, equipped with a bubble reactor and working without the use of any alkaline reagent under semi-batch conditions. Stripping tests were conducted on the liquid fraction of the digestate, studying the current and optimized operative conditions of the plant. The main variables influencing the process were pH, temperature, airflow, and feed characteristics. In the experimental tests, the pH spontaneously increased to 10, without dosing basifying agents. Higher temperatures favoured the stripping process, the higher tested value being 68 °C. The airflow was kept equal to 15 Nm3 h−1 m−3digestate in the pre-stripping and to 60 Nm3 h−1 m−3digestate in the stripping reactors, during all tests. The energy requirement was completely satisfied by the CHP (combined heat and power) unit fed with the biogas produced by manure digestion. Results showed anaerobic digestion coupled with stripping to be a suitable solution for removing up to 81% of the ammonium with neither external energy input nor reagent dosage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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Review

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23 pages, 1876 KiB  
Review
Biochar and Its Potential Application for the Improvement of the Anaerobic Digestion Process: A Critical Review
by Musa Manga, Christian Aragón-Briceño, Panagiotis Boutikos, Swaib Semiyaga, Omotunde Olabinjo and Chimdi C. Muoghalu
Energies 2023, 16(10), 4051; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16104051 - 12 May 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2081
Abstract
Poor management of organic waste is a key environmental and public health issue as it contributes to environmental contamination and the spread of diseases. Anaerobic digestion (AD) presents an efficient method for organic waste management while generating energy and nutrient-rich digestate. However, the [...] Read more.
Poor management of organic waste is a key environmental and public health issue as it contributes to environmental contamination and the spread of diseases. Anaerobic digestion (AD) presents an efficient method for organic waste management while generating energy and nutrient-rich digestate. However, the AD process is limited by key factors, which include process inefficiencies from substrate-induced instability, poor quality digestate, and poor management of effluent and emissions. Lately, there has been more interest in the use of biochar for improving anaerobic digestion. Biochar can improve methane production by speeding up the methanogenesis stage, protecting microorganisms from toxic shocks, and reducing inhibition from ammonia and volatile fatty acids. It can be applied for in situ cleanup of biogas to remove carbon dioxide. Applying biochar in AD is undergoing intensive research and development; however, there are still unresolved factors and challenges, such as the influence of feedstock source and pyrolysis on the performance of biochar when it is added to the AD process. In light of these considerations, this review sheds more light on various potential uses of biochar to complement or improve the AD process. This review also considers the mechanisms through which biochar enhances methane production rate, biochar’s influence on the resulting digestate, and areas for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Energy: Anaerobic Digestion Technologies)
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