Modeling Anaerobic Batch-Fermentation of Glucose to Methane

Abstract

ABSTRACT THE rate equations for substrate degradation, inter-mediates appearance and disappearance, and end-product production for anaerobic batch fermentation of organic matters to produce methane were formulated based on conservation of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the stoichiometric equations of the fermentation. The substrate COD was partitioned into cells' COD and products' COD. The amount of COD to each product was based on the relative amount of COD of the product in the stoichiometric formulas. The simulation shows that quantitative changes of substrate, intermediates and products can be predicted based on the assumption that the COD in the anaerobic fermentation is conserved. The relationships between substrate, intermediates and the products follow the relationship of the stoichiometric equations. Since the formulation of the rate equations concerns with only COD values and the substances without COD value are not included in the formulation, this will greatly reduce the complexity of the simulation processes.