Detection of early imbalances in semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion process based on instantaneous biogas production rate

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of biogas production rate kinetics for the monitoring of anaerobic co-digestion. Recent extensive studies of degradation pathways showed that acetoclastic methanogenesis is not always the main pathway. Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and syntrophic acetate oxidation can also dominate, mostly for operating conditions with high concentrations of ammonia or volatile fatty acids … These conditions are also known to cause instability in the digester’s operation especially in co-digestion due to substrate variability. Therefore, co-digestion experiments were conducted with several co-substrates using a continuously stirred 35-L tank reactor. Degradation pathways and their potential shifts were identified by monitoring variations in biogas production rate kinetics using a principal component analysis model. The shifts in the degradation pathways were used to monitor the process. These shift points were found to provide early warnings of instabilities in the anaerobic co-digestion process.