On the Effect of Aqueous Ammonia Soaking Pre-Treatment on Continuous Anaerobic Digestion of Digested Swine Manure Fibers

(1) Background: The continuously increasing demand for renewable energy sources renders anaerobic digestion as one of the most promising technologies for renewable energy production. Due to the animal production intensification, manure is being used as the primary feedstock for most biogas plants. Their economical profitable operation, however, relies on increasing the methane yield from the solid fraction of manure, which is not so easily degradable. The solid fraction after anaerobic digestion, the so-called digested fibers, consists mainly of hardly biodegradable material and comes at a lower mass per unit volume of manure compared to the solid fraction before anaerobic digestion. Therefore, investigation on how to increase the biodegradability of digested fibers is very relevant. So far, Aqueous Ammonia Soaking (AAS), has been successfully applied on digested fibers separated from the effluent of a manure-fed, full-scale anaerobic digester to enhance their methane productivity in batch experiments. (2) Methods: In the present study, continuous experiments at a mesophilic (38 °C) CSTR-type anaerobic digester fed with swine manure first and a mixture of manure with AAS-treated digested fibers in the sequel, were performed. Anaerobic Digestion Model 1 (ADM1) previously fitted on manure fed digester was used in order to assess the effect of the addition of AAS-pre-treated digested manure fibers on the kinetics of anaerobic digestion process. (3) Results and Conclusions: The methane yield of AAS-treated digested fibers under continuous operation was 49–68% higher than that calculated in batch experiments in the past. It was found that AAS treatment had a profound effect mainly on the disintegration/hydrolysis rate of particulate carbohydrates. Comparison of the data obtained in the present study with the data obtained with AAS-pre-treated raw manure fibers in the past revealed that hydrolysis kinetics after AAS pre-treatment were similar for both types of biomasses

Effect of Aqueous Ammonia Soaking on the Methane Yield and Composition of Digested Manure Fibers Applying Different Ammonia Concentrations and Treatment Durations

The continuously increasing demand for renewable energy sources renders anaerobic digestion one of the most promising technologies for renewable energy production. Due to the animal production intensification, manure is being used as the primary feedstock for most biogas plants. Thus, their economical profitable operation relies on increasing the methane yield from manure, and especially of its solid fraction which is not so easily degradable. In the present study, aqueous ammonia soaking (AAS) at six different concentrations in ammonia (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 32%) and for 1, 3 and 5 days at 22 °C was applied on digested fibers separated from the effluent of a manure-fed, full-scale anaerobic digester. A methane yield increase from 76% to 104% was achieved during the first series of experiments, while the difference in reagent concentration did not considerably affect the methane yield. It was shown that the optimal duration was three days for both 5% and 25% w/w reagent concentrations in ammonia tested. Carbohydrates and phosphorus content remained unaffected, while a slight decrease in Klason lignin and non-soluble organic nitrogen content was observed after AAS. It is concluded that AAS is a very promising treatment resulting to an overall increase of the methane yield of digested manure fibers from 76% to 265% depending on the conditions and the batch of digested fibers used (an even higher increase of 190%–265% was achieved during the 2nd series of experiments, where different AAS durations were tested, compared to the 1st series were different ammonia concentrations were applied)

Effect of Aqueous Ammonia Soaking on the Methane Yield and Composition of Digested Manure Fibers Applying Different Ammonia Concentrations and Treatment Durations

The continuously increasing demand for renewable energy sources renders anaerobic digestion one of the most promising technologies for renewable energy production. Due to the animal production intensification, manure is being used as the primary feedstock for most biogas plants. Thus, their economical profitable operation relies on increasing the methane yield from manure, and especially of its solid fraction which is not so easily degradable. In the present study, aqueous ammonia soaking (AAS) at six different concentrations in ammonia (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 32%) and for 1, 3 and 5 days at 22 °C was applied on digested fibers separated from the effluent of a manure-fed, full-scale anaerobic digester. A methane yield increase from 76% to 104% was achieved during the first series of experiments, while the difference in reagent concentration did not considerably affect the methane yield. It was shown that the optimal duration was three days for both 5% and 25% w/w reagent concentrations in ammonia tested. Carbohydrates and phosphorus content remained unaffected, while a slight decrease in Klason lignin and non-soluble organic nitrogen content was observed after AAS. It is concluded that AAS is a very promising treatment resulting to an overall increase of the methane yield of digested manure fibers from 76% to 265% depending on the conditions and the batch of digested fibers used (an even higher increase of 190%–265% was achieved during the 2nd series of experiments, where different AAS durations were tested, compared to the 1st series were different ammonia concentrations were applied)