Organofinery:a biorefinery for the production of organic protein-rich feed for monogastric animals

Nowadays, the organic farming sector is rapidly increasing in order to meet the increasing demand for organic products. However, the scarce availability of organic feed for monogastric animals together with the lack of organic fertilizers are challenging the development of this sector. In this context, a Danish project called Organofinery is focusing on developing a green biorefinery platform for the production of organic protein-rich feed for monogastric animals, of biogas and of organic fertilizer. In the Organofinery concept, the freshly harvested green biomass is separated by a screw press into a green juice and a press cake. Soluble sugars contained in the green juice are fermented by specific lactic acid bacteria, leading to a drop of the pH and triggering protein precipitation. The resulting protein concentrate is purely organic and rich in non-denatured proteins, making it a high-value protein feed product for organic farming. The residual press cake and brown juice after protein extraction are tested to be used as feedstock for biogas production and subsequent use as organic fertilizer. Protein extraction yields in the protein product were in the range of 15 to 23% for various green crops such red clover, clover grass or alfalfa. On average, the protein concentrates contained 18% dry matter and 35-40 % true protein (dry weight). Therefore, up to 10 kg dry protein product can be produced from 1 ton of fresh green biomass by the Organofinery process. Moreover, the organic protein concentrates showed high content of sulfur amino acids, which are regarded as important amino acids in diets for monogastric animals. Protein processing will be tested in pilot scale in June 2016. Around 200 tons of freshly harvested clover grass will be processed in the Organofinery concept to produce 2 tons of dry protein product. Afterwards, a full feeding experiment with egg-laying hens will be performed in order to assess the safety and quality of the protein product as organic protein feed for monogastric animals. The conducted experiments have shown the potential of the Organofinery concept and the imminent pilot scale experiment should proof its applicability to provide protein-rich feed for the farming sector

Combining protein extraction and anaerobic digestion to produce feed, fuel and fertilizer from green biomass – An organic biorefinery concept

Biogas potential from a green biorefining concept

Anaerobic digestion for closing the loop of a biorefinery for organic farming:Production of biogas and organic fertilizer from process residues.

The availability of organic animal feed for monogastric animals and organic fertilizer is in many regions a limiting factor for the further spread of animal breeding and crop cultivation in organic farming. The production of these two commodities is the main target of a green biorefinery concept based on regionally organically grown grass biomass, called Organofinery. Anaerobic digestion of the residual streams after protein separation for the organic feed product is a key process to extract both the energetic and the nutritional value of the residual biomass in the biorefinery. Biogas potentials of the residual streams from the processing of red clover and clover grass (press cake obtained from screw pressing to produce green juice and brown juice after precipitation of protein concentrate from the green juice) where determined in batch and reactor experiments and a mass balance of the nutrients was established based on analysis of N, P, K, and S from the different process stages of the concept. The AD process was tested in lab-scale both as co-digestion of press cake and brown juice in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and of the brown juice alone in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Both reactor processes showed stable performance without signs of inhibition or nutrient deficiency. The methane yields, the nutritional value of the digestates from these experiments as well as the mass balances for the whole process will be presented. In mesophilic co-digestion (50:50 ratio based on VS) of press cake and brown juice from red clover at 20d hydraulic retention time (HRT) methane yields of 237 to 283 L-CH4/kg-VS were achieved while mesophilic treatment of brown juice from clover grass in the high-rate reactor yielded on average 202 L-CH4/kg-VS at 3 days HRT. For red clover, concentrations of N, P, K and S were 5.07, 0.45, 4.58, and 0.25 g/-kg-biomass, respectively while the values for these nutrients were 2.97, 0.40, 5.51, and 0.23 g/-kg-biomass for clover grass. After screw press separation and protein precipitation of red clover 52, 53, 43 and 52% of the respective nutrient input were left in the press cake while 15, 30, 38, and 13% were found in the brown juice. After processing of clover grass it was 60, 56, 39 and 55% of the respective nutrient input left in the press cake while it was 11, 27, 31, and 26% in the brown juice. Nitrogen in the digestate from the co-digestion process with 20 days HRT was made more bioavailable with an increase of the share of NH4+-N of total-N from 13% to 62%. During 3 days HRT in the UASB process this effect was much lower with only an increase from 11% to 16%

Типовая учебная программа для учреждений высшего образования по специальности 1-86 01 01 Социальная работа (по направлениям)

This work studied the anaerobic digestion of brown juice, a liquid residual stream generated from biomass fractionation in a green biorefinery. Biomethane potential batch tests and inhibition studies of brown juice were performed during continuous processing in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. Prolongation of the lag phase in the batch tests with increasing substrate/inoculum ratio suggested initial inhibition, which was, however, overcome by adaptation. This was indicated by high final methane yields, which were close to the theoretical maximum of up to 500 L-CH4 kg-VS−1, achieved after 15 days for most of the set-ups. Reactor operation at the organic loading rate of 13.9 g-COD L−1 day−1 and hydraulic retention time of 3 days revealed methane yields of 202 L-CH4 kg-COD−1 (307 L-CH4 kg-VS−1). Particle size analysis of the granules used in the reactor showed disintegration of the larger granules