Abstract
In this study, a simulation was carried out using BioWin 3.1 to test the capability of the software to predict the biogas potential for two different anaerobic systems. The two scenarios included: (1) a laboratory-scale batch reactor; and (2) an industrial-scale anaerobic continuous lagoon digester. The measured data related to the operating conditions, the reactor design parameters and the chemical properties of influent wastewater were entered into BioWin. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to identify the sensitivity of the most important default parameters in the software’s models. BioWin was then calibrated by matching the predicted data with measured data and used to simulate other parameters that were unmeasured or deemed uncertain. In addition, statistical analyses were carried out using evaluation indices, such as the coefficient of determination (R-squared), the correlation coefficient (r) and its significance (p-value), the general standard deviation (SD) and the Willmott index of agreement, to evaluate the agreement between the software prediction and the measured data. The results have shown that after calibration, BioWin can be used reliably to simulate both small-scale batch reactors and industrial-scale digesters with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of less than 10% and very good values of the indexes. Furthermore, by changing the default parameters in BioWin, which is a way of calibrating the models in the software, as well, this may provide information about the performance of the digester. Furthermore, the results of this study showed there may be an over estimation for biogas generated from industrial-scale digesters. More sophisticated analytical devices may be required for reliable measurements of biogas quality and quantity.
Highlights
The production of biogas from covered anaerobic digesters is of growing interest to many developed and developing countries, as fossil-fuel resources decline [1,2]
Many assumptions have been made in order to carry out the simulation for the anaerobic lagoon
The altering of the hydrolysis rate was significant to accomplish a match between the measured values of the effluent
Summary
The production of biogas from covered anaerobic digesters is of growing interest to many developed and developing countries, as fossil-fuel resources decline [1,2]. The AD process requires a balance between the design parameters of the digester, the chemical and physical properties of the inlet wastewater, the conditions inside the digester and the biological aspects of the activated sludge These variables have to be in the correct balance in order to accomplish optimum nutrient removal and economical biogas generation. In the Australian meat industry, despite much effort being made to measure biogas flow rate, the biogas quantity was unable to be accurately determined This is due to many substantial technical problems, such as crust formation over the top of the anaerobic ponds/lagoons and a lack of design parameters [9,10]. Association (IWA), and these account for the most important parameters in treatment processes [18].
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