Abstract
Anaerobic digestion of biomasses originates different products, the most abundant of which are methane and carbon dioxide. During this process, a 60-70% organic matter reduction occurs and the final product, the digestate, is charac- terized by high biological stability and high contents of recalcitrant organic molecules and nutrients. In the present work digestates obtained by different mixture of biomasses in a full-scale co-digestion plant operating in Italy were characterized as whole samples without any pre-treatment or extraction by means of Fourier transform infrared spec- troscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy in the synchronous-scan mode and results were compared to those obtained on the single fresh substrates. Biomasses considered were: beef cattle slurry, maize or sorghum silage, agro-industrial residues, olive residues and olive mill wastewater. These substrates exhibited typical spectra related to their different chemical composition. Results obtained on digestates provided evidence of distinctive characteristic of the final product as a function of the different composition of the biomasses loaded into the digestion plant. We concluded that FTIR and fluorescence spectra of digestates produced in a real co-digestion plant “inherit” the main spectroscopic features of the organic wastes from which they are produced. Spectroscopic techniques used in this work succeeded in qualitatively characterizing and differentiating digestates obtained from biomasses of different chemical composition.
Highlights
Anaerobic digestion has been known for centuries but interest in the economical recovery of fuel methane gas from different types of organic wastes on industrial scale has recently enormously increased owing to the changing socio economical situation in the world
Spectroscopic techniques used in this work succeeded in qualitatively characterizing and differentiating digestates obtained from biomasses of different chemical composition
High values of total solids (TS), volatile solid (VS) and TOC are shown by olive residues (OR), whereas beef cattle slurry (BCS) and olive mill wastewater (OMW) are characterized by high TKN content as opposite to lower values shown by sorghum silage (SS) and OR
Summary
Anaerobic digestion has been known for centuries but interest in the economical recovery of fuel methane gas from different types of organic wastes on industrial scale has recently enormously increased owing to the changing socio economical situation in the world. Depletion of fossil fuels has posed the urgent need to move to alternative energy supplies with emphasis on renewable sources and the number of anaerobic treatment plants in Europe has remarkably increased in recent years. Anaerobic digestion is a biological degradation of organic matter under anaerobic conditions which originates different products, the most abundant of which are methane and carbon dioxide. Co-digestion strategies, referring to the combined treatment of several biomasses with complementary characteristics, in most cases enhance the biogas production due to positive synergisms established in the digestion medium and the supply of missing nutrients by co-substrates [1]. The concept of energy crops has been known for many years but recently they have risen to represent a renewable biomass whose
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