Abstract
The aim was to develop a temperature and time-dependent model that can calculate the methane production in an anaerobic digester and its subsequent digestate storage tank under realistic and variable conditions. With a daily resolution, the model was applied to a Swedish dairy farm under two different climatic conditions. The most influential parameters were hydraulic retention time and the substrate specific first order reaction rates in the digester, which have a big influence on the residual biogas potential, and hence the potential methane production in the digestate storage. The management of the storage can have a large impact on the emissions from the storage due to its temperature dependence. The model can be used to support plant design and operation of anaerobic digesters and storages, but further research is needed to determine first-order reaction rates and the relationship between the ambient and digestate temperatures at different times of the year.
Highlights
Anaerobic digestion is a way of increasing the value of organic residues, such as animal manure and crop residues, by converting the organic C in the residues into biogas
The aim of this study was to develop a model based on first-order kinetics, that can readily be incorporated in a tool to estimate the potential CH4 production in the digestate storage tank
The model developed in this study simulates a biogas plant consisting of a continuously operated anaerobic digester which empties into a digestate storage tank
Summary
Anaerobic digestion is a way of increasing the value of organic residues, such as animal manure and crop residues, by converting the organic C in the residues into biogas. The digestate is an organic fertilizer with readily plant-available nutrients, which is often easier to handle and apply to the field than raw manure (Montes et al, 2013; Sajeev et al, 2018). Biogas production can have negative impacts on the climate, mainly due to unwanted production of CH4 during the storage of digestate (Rodhe et al, 2015). The digestate storage tank is necessary to temporarily store the digestate before it can be applied to an agricultural field when the soil is not frozen. The result is a variable residence time for digestate entering the storage throughout the year
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