ABE 482Environmental Engineering in Biosystems

September 22 Lecture 8

Today
Anaerobic digester parameters Biogas production Digester heat balance

Anaerobic Digestion Parameters

Consider the Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
Hydraulic retention time Specific loading rate Specific biogas production Specific methane production

Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT)

Volume of digester (m3 ) HRT (days) = Daily feed rate (m3 /day)
Not same as length of time biomass is in the digester unless there is perfect plug flow Optimum retention time = 10-25 days for material with DM% = 4-12 For higher DM%, retention time is not the rate limiting parameter!
Mass of Solids in Tank (kg) SRT = Solids removal rate (kg/day)

Specific Loading Rate (SLR)

kg ODM Mass of OM fed (kg ODM/day) SLR ( 3 )= m - day Volume of Digester (m 3 )

Well-designed anaerobic digester will maximize SLR Varies according to feedstock and digester type Optimum about 3-6 kg ODM/m3-day

Biogas Production
Theoretically: Biogas (kg/day) = ODMR (kg/day)

Biogas: CH4, CO2, H2O vapour, H2S, H2 and N2 Density of CH4 = 0.71 kg/m3 @ stp Density of CO2 = 1.96 kg/m3 @ stp Density of biogas? Volume of biogas? Will actual biogas production be higher or lower than theoretical value?

Specific Biogas Production (SBP)

3 Biogas Production (m /day) -1 SBP (day ) = Digester Volume (m 3 )

Indicator of digester efficiency Should be higher than 1.5 (target 2.5)

Biogas production
Table 1: Biogas production rates for a variety of feedstock materials.

Material
Cattle manure Poultry manure Pig manure Sheep manure MSW

Gas Production
(m3/kg dry solids)

Methane Content
(%)

Retention Time
(days)

0.20 0.33 0.31 0.56 0.49 0.76 0.37 0.61 0.31 0.35

n/a 58 60 58 61 64 55 60

n/a 9 30 10 15 20 15 - 30

Specific Methane Production (SMP)

3 Volume of CH ( m /day) 3 4 SMP (m CH 4 /kg ODM) = OM Loading Rate (kg ODM/day)

Relates energy production to the potential energy in feedstock Between 0.3 0.4 for some energy crops Based on table data, 0.8 for some manure

Example 2a
Calculation of biogas production
Feedstock:
Mass = 50 t/day ODM = 13.5 t/day OMR = 9 t/day

Biogas is 60% CH4 Volume of digester is 3,000 m3 Calculate:

Volume of biogas produced Specific loading rate Hydraulic retention time Specific biogas production Specific methane production

Example 2b
Calculation of biogas production A bench-scale digestion plant of mixed wastes produced the following results
Reactor volume = 2 L Feedstock CODinf = 97,000 mg/L CODeff = 4,000 mg/L Biogas = 1.13 m3/m3-day CH4 = 59% Daily feed rate = 55 mL

Determine the volume of CH4 produced per kg of waste digested (SMP)

Energy Calculations
Energy balance of an anaerobic digester involves
Fuel value of biogas Conversion of biogas to useful energy Digester heat input

Fuel Value of Biogas

Lower Calorific Value of CH4 = 35.7 MJ/m3 How much energy is produced when 1 m3 of biogas is combusted (60% CH4)?

Example 3
Fuel value of biogas

Calculate the fuel value (kW) of the biogas produced from Example 2a
7500 m3/day @ 60% CH4 Calorific value of CH4 = 35.7 MJ/m3

Conversion of Biogas to Useful Energy

Convert fuel energy to useful energy
Hot water in a boiler Electricity and hot water

Methane converted to hot water with efficiency = 85% Methane converted to electricity with efficiency = 32%
Heat also recovered Engine jacket water (80C) efficiency = 35% Engine exhaust (500C) efficiency = 18%

Conversion of Biogas to Useful Energy

Convert to hot water only (boiler)
7,500 m3 biogas per day produces 136,400 MJ per day of hot water or 1580 kW of continuous hot water

Convert to electricity and hot water (CHP unit)

7,500 m3 biogas produces 595 kW of electricity 7,500 m3 biogas produces 650 kW of hot water (engine jacket) 7,500 m3 biogas produces 335 kW of hot water (exhaust) Total: 1580 kW of electricity and hot water

Digester Heat Loss/Input

Two parts of digester heat input
Heat lost from digester tank Heat required to raise temperature of feedstock

To calculate heat lost from tank, need to know:

Surface area Conductivity and thickness of insulation Temperature difference

To calculate heat required to raise temp of feed, need to know

Mass of feedstock Temperature difference

Example 4
Calculating heat loss and input The 3,000 m3 digester was designed with a 0.33 surface area to volume ratio. The insulation thickness is 0.1 m and has a conductivity of 0.035 W/m-C. The digester is running at a temperature of 37C. Calculate the heat loss through the surface if the ambient air temperature is 5C. The feedstock enters the digester at a temperature of 10C and a rate of 50 t/day. Calculate the heat input required to raise the temperature to 37C.
Specific heat capacity of water = 4.19 kJ/kg-C

Digester Heat Balance

Balance between energy produced from biogas and energy required to maintain mesophilic temperatures Other energy requirements of anaerobic digester?
Stirring, pumping, etc.

Energy produced depends on OMR, so for feedstocks with lower ODM, energy produced will be lower

Example 5
Digester heat balance If the 7,500 m3 per day of biogas is used to produce hot water only, what percentage of this hot water energy is required for digester heating? What percentage of the hot water energy from a CHP unit is required for digester heating? What percentage of energy produced (hot water only) is required for digester heating during a Saskatchewan winter?

A Comparison of Anaerobic Digestion and Composting Anaerobic Digestion Space requirement (footprint) Odours Energy balance Biogas production 50% 20% Energy surplus 100 150 m3/Mg Composting 100% 100% Energy demand Nil 12 weeks

Process time required to produce 3 weeks digestion, plus mature compost 5 weeks composting

Comparison Table From: Introduction to Anaerobic Digestion,Wolfgang Muller and Axel Huttner, ORA Organic Resource Agency Ltd., Malvern Hills Science Park, Geraldine Road, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 3SZ, and IGW Ingenieurgemeinschaft Witzenhausen Fricke & Turk, and GmbH, Bischhuser Aue 12, D37213 Witzenhausen, Germany. Presented at the Biowaste: Digesting the Alternatives Seminar, April 2005, UK.

References
Wikipedia, 2007. Anaerobic Digestion. Online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_digestion Accessed: October 25, 2007. Class notes for ChEng 882. 2006. University of Saskatchewan. Kiely, G. 1997. Environmental Engineering. McGraw Hill:USA. Chesshire, M. 2005. Process Calculations for FullScale Digesters. Biogas from Energy Crops and Agrowastes. 15th Jyvskyl Summer School: Cropgen.

Question for next class

Calculate the $ value of the electricity produced if all the MSW waste and manure waste produced in Canada each year was anaerobically digested.
25 million wet tonnes of MSW/year 132 million wet tonnes of manure/year
30% 30% 20% 20% dairy cow beef cow pig other

Assume digester runs 365 days a year, 24 hours a day Assume you can sell electrical energy for 14 cents/kW-hr Assume you can convert methane to electricity with an efficiency of 32%

How many Canadians will this serve?

Use: Table 1 from lecture, ASABE standards for manure composition, internet for electricity consumption of Canadians.