Abstract

The biological and technical performance during co-digestion of energy crops and the source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste has been investigated at laboratory and pilot scale. A 50:50 (TS-based) mixture of energy crops and organic waste reached a loading rate of 6.0 gVS L(-1)d(-1) with a methane yield of 0.33-0.38 LgVS(-1), while a 80:20 mixture showed elevated levels of volatile fatty acids at 5.5 gVS L(-1)d(-1). The better performance of the 50:50 mixture can partly be explained by a better nutritional composition. Mincing the ley crop reduced viscosity and reduced problems with fibre floating and scum-blanket formation. The electricity consumed for mincing and stirring at a full-scale plant corresponds to ca 3% of the energy produced. Calculations of the costs for full-scale plants indicate that the price of the upgraded biogas has to be at least 0.078 Euro/kWh in order to balance the costs.

Keywords

biogas; co-digestion; energy crops; source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste

Published in

Water Science and Technology
2005, Volume: 52, number: 1-2, pages: 217-222
Publisher: I W A PUBLISHING

UKÄ Subject classification

Bioprocess Technology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2005.0520

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/86827