Running Head: The Effect of Co-Digestion of Multiple Substrates on the Amount of

Methane Produced in Anaerobic Digestion

The Effect of Co-Digestion on the

Quantity of Methane Produced in
Anaerobic Digestion
Environmental Services/Natural Resource Systems
Division IV

Daniel Brown and Bree Talbot

12
Springport High School
300 West Main Street Springport, MI 49284

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

2
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to determine if, in the process of anaerobic digestion, codigestion produces more methane than digestion of a single substrate. This experiment was
important because it determines what impact food waste has on methane production. Using food
waste can help take it out of landfills and it can contribute to the production of biogas. The
students hypothesized that if food waste was added to an anaerobic digester containing manure,
then methane output would at least double. This experiment was done using two anaerobic
digesters provided by Michigan State University Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education
Center. After the digesters were assembled, manure was pumped into both of them. After a two
week period for Hydraulic Retention Time, food waste was added to the second digester.
Methane production was measured by the use of two tip meters, which measured 100 mL of
methane per tip. After the food waste was added, the tip meter measurements were regularly
recorded. This data collection took place over two weeks. The results exceeded the hypothesis,
with the experimental digester producing three times the amount of methane of the control. The
food waste addition to the manure caused an immediate spike in methane production in the
experimental digester. This experiment suggests that using food waste in the process of anaerobic
digestion makes it a more sustainable form of renewable energy, and allows for more methane to
be produced, creating a larger amount of energy.
Daniel Brown and Bree Talbot
MI
Environmental Services/Natural Resource Systems
Division IV

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

3
Introduction
The idea for this experiment came after a group of students from the Springport FFA traveled to
Costa Rica for a Spanish and Agriculture Immersion Experience. One of the students who
performed this experiment attended the trip. On the trip, the group was able to see three
examples of anaerobic digesters. Anaerobic digestion is a process in which organic wastes such
as manure and food waste are broken down by microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and
enzymes, and converted into methane gas. In Costa Rica, anaerobic digesters help the people
practice sustainability in agriculture. In agriculture, many farmers have manure which they can
only use to spread on their field, which releases harmful chemicals like carbon dioxide and
methane into the atmosphere. The farmers in Costa Rica realized that this was an issue, and
many decided to build anaerobic digesters to recycle the manure from their animals while
powering and heating their homes with the methane gas produced. The Costa Rican anaerobic
digesters were very basic, usually just a hole dug in the ground with a thick plastic covering to
trap the methane. It was easy to see how the anaerobic digesters work, but there was no way for
farmers to quantitatively measure the amount of methane they were receiving, giving the student
their first idea for an experiment. However, by using this simple technology, farmers are able to
reduce their carbon footprint and farm more sustainably. The use of anaerobic digestion as a
renewable energy source is a relatively easy technology. Manure is converted into methane gas in
the absence of oxygen, and the methane can be burned for heat and electricity. When the manure
has been digested, farmers can still spread the now digested manure onto their fields as fertilizer,
and there is a smaller amount of harmful chemicals entering the atmosphere. After the trip, the
student was interested in learning more about this technology. At Michigan State University,
there is a research facility dedicated to anaerobic digestion, called the Anaerobic Digestion

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

4
Research and Education Center (ADREC). Wanting to learn more about the process, the student
partnered with a fellow classmate and contacted the ADREC. They began consulting with the
professors and educators in order to learn more about the process of anaerobic digestion and
receive input on ideas for projects. The professors at the ADREC allowed the students to borrow
two small-scale anaerobic digesters to perform an experiment where they test the amount of
methane produced in anaerobic digestion when food waste is digested along with manure. When
more than one substrate is digested at a time, this variation of anaerobic digestion is called codigestion. In this experiment, food waste was taken from the Springport High School cafeteria to
a digester that also had dairy manure. The manure was collected directly from the stalls at a local
dairy farm, to ensure that the students were receiving the most recent droppings. The students
hypothesized that if food waste is added to an anaerobic digester containing manure, then
methane output would at least double. Using food waste from the cafeteria reduces the amount of
waste that goes in landfills and pollutes the environment. This experiment determines if digestion
of just manure produces more or less methane than digestion of both food waste and manure.

Literature Review

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

5
Anaerobic digestion is a centuries old process, dating back to the 10th century B.C. (Stepan "The
Breakdown on Anaerobic Digestion.") Anaerobic digestion has also been used at wastewater
treatment plants to remove the impurities from the water. Extensive research exists on the
process of anaerobic digestion. It is a process that is used to extract methane gas, which is a
greenhouse gas, from manure. The process is called anaerobic digestion because it is done in the
absence of oxygen. Organisms break down the manure and food waste to produce methane gas.
Research suggests that using more than one substrate can improve the methane output. (Wu,
"Anaerobic Co-digestion of Biomass for Methane Production: Recent Research Achievements.").
By adding wastes from food, the sugars help release the methane from the manure, providing a
larger volume of methane production. Using this food for anaerobic digestion gives it another
use. A 2004 study shows that 50% of all food ready for harvest is wasted. Using this food for
anaerobic digestion helps the environment by making methane as an alternative energy source.
Another benefit of anaerobic digestion is the energy that can be created. It is considered a
renewable energy source because methane comes naturally off of manure, which is a limitless
resource. From a farmer standpoint, anaerobic digestion could be a great use for their manure.
However, it is an expensive process, and because it would take years for the anaerobic digesters
to pay for themselves, many farmers do not utilize this technology. A recent article claims that a
typical dairy farm can power its robotic milkers with energy made from its own manure.
(Newcastle University "Anaerobic digestion on farms could turn agriculture green") Anaerobic
digestion is a sustainable, renewable way of creating energy. By using manure and food waste,
digestion can help cut down on two substances which are often wasted. Using this technology is
a green step for agriculture and for the world. Research suggests that co-digestion is more
efficient than digestion of a single substrate. The most effective substrate that can be added to

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

6
manure is starchy food waste. The starches and sugars help break down the manure and release
more methane.

Materials and Methods

The materials used include two anaerobic digesters, two methane tip meters, two Guzzler hand
pumps, two electric mixing pumps, four five gallon buckets, one electrical blender, two electric
heating blankets, insulation, thermometers, manure, and food waste. The students began the
experiment by assembling the anaerobic digesters. Once assembled, the students collected the
manure from their local Elder Creek Dairy Farm, and the food waste from the Springport High
Schools cafeteria. In the control digester, thirty gallons of only dairy manure was added by
pumping it into the control digester using the Guzzler pump, which was attached to the intake
valve. In the experimental digester, thirty gallons of manure and food waste mixture were
pumped in. The students blended four gallons of food waste and water (to allow for a runnier
consistency), and added it, along with twenty-six gallons of dairy manure, to the experimental
digester. This was equivalent a 13% ratio of food waste to manure. The students allowed the
digesters to ferment by waiting fifteen days, then the students begin taking initial tip meter
measurements and recording tip counts every day for ten days. The tip meter indicates how much
methane has been produced. The gas travels through a thin tube placed at the top of the digesters,
into the bottom of a tip meter that contains a teeter-totter mechanism that tips when enough gas
fills the under-side of the tip meter. These tip meters are calibrated so that 100 mL of methane are
required for one tip. Next, the students record the number of tips and convert the tips to methane

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

7
gas production. Then, the digesters are recycled by taking out two gallons of manure/ manurefood waste mixture, then feeding more manure or food waste back into the corresponding
digester. This is done for 10 days for the first trial. At the end of the trial, the students compared
the amount of methane produced through the duration of the trial.

Results
The results matched the hypothesis. The amount of tips in the second digester was nearly three
times the amount in the first digester after ten days. The number of tips after ten days in the first
digester, which contained only manure, was 1003 tips, equivalent to 100.3 Liters of methane gas.
The second digester, containing both manure and food waste tipped the meter 3115 times,
producing 311.5 Liters of methane gas. Figure 1 below shows the correlation between the control
and experiment with a line graph. The blue line represents Digester #1, and the red line
represents Digester #2. The graph provides a visual side-by-side comparison of both digesters,
and allows one to see the relatively large difference between the two results. In Digester 2, the
food waste seemed to have an immediate and dramatic impact on the amount of methane
produced with 2448 tips in the first three days alone. However after the fifth day, the rate of
production leveled off to a steady rate.

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

8

Digester #1- Manure

Notes
Date
Time
Tip count
Initial
1-20-2015
12:43
614 tips
1-21-2015
12:03
715 tips
1-22-2015
9:15
798 tips
Replaced 2 gal manure 1-23-2015
9:33
874 tips
1-24-2015
8:35
1009 tips
1-25-2015
9:58
1120 tips
1-26-2015
12:25
1252 tips
1-27-2015
11:48
1367 tips
1-28-2015
12:26
1493 tips
1-29-2015
4:43
1685 tips
Table 1 above shows the steady, almost linear production of methane. With no foreign substrate
being added to the manure, it maintained a relatively steady and slow rate of production,
eventually resulting in a total of 107.1 Liters of methane produced from the control digester.

Digester #2- Manure and Food Waste

Notes
Date
Time
Tip count
Initial
1-20-2015
12:45
1 tips
Added 2 gal food waste
1-21-2015
12:03
426 tips
1-22-2015
9:15
1985 tips
Replaced 2 gal manure
1-23-2015
9:34
2449 tips
1-24-2015
8:34
2700 tips
1-25-2015
9:58
2849 tips
1-26-2015
12:25
2955 tips
1-27-2015
11:49
3035 tips
1-28-2015
12:26
3107 tips
1-29-2015
4:49
3115 tips
Table 2 shows the effect that the addition of food waste has on the amount of methane produced.
There is an obvious spike in methane production, with a decrease after three days. After those
three days, the methane production hit a plateau and slowed down immensely. This could be
explained by the short amount of time it takes for sugars to break down. To address this in the
next trial, the students can put food waste in consistently rather than erratically.

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

9
3500

3000

2849

2955

3035

3107

3115

2700
2449

2500

2000
1579Control

Food Waste

1500

1003
881

1000
640
500

425
102

0 1
42024

397

42025

186

42026

755

508

262

42027

42028

42029

42030

42031

42032

42033

Discussion and Conclusions

The students hypothesized that if food waste were added to manure, then the volume of methane
produced would be at least double that of a munure-only mixture. The students found that if food
waste is added to manure in the process of anaerobic digestion, then the volume of methane
produced will be three times greater than if manure alone is digested. The amount of tips in the
second digester was significantly greater than the amount in the first digester after ten days. The
number of tips after ten days in the first digester, which contained only manure, was 1003 tips,
equivalent to 100.3 Liters of methane gas. The second digester, containing both manure and food

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

10
waste tipped the meter 3115 times, producing 311.5 Liters of methane gas. As Figure 1 shows,
the methane production in the experimental digester increased drastically within the first three
days of data collection. However, after the three days, the rate of production leveled off to a
steady, linear rate, similar to the control digester. This can be explained by the sugars and
starches in the food waste that were added to the experimental. The sugars accelerated the rate of
breakdown of the manure. However, because the sugars break down after a short amount of time,
this caused the temporary spike in methane production. This can be solved by adding food waste
at a consistent rate, and in the next experiment, the results should reflect a steady, high-level
increase in production. This particular experiment was cut short due to complications and
technicalities, but the students plan to run two more trials that will each last a period of 14 days.
This will provide further information on whether or not co-digestion is more effective. With all
of the materials already available to them, the students will be able to start taking data
immediately, and should face minimal complications. This will allow them to collect better, more
accurate data that will help them to better conclude their experiment.

Effect of Co-Digestion on Methane Production

11

References
Wu, W. (n.d.). Anaerobic Co-digestion of Biomass for Methane Production: Recent Research
Achievements. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from
http://home.engineering.iastate.edu/~tge/ce421-521/wei.pdf
Stepan, D. (n.d.). The Breakdown on Anaerobic Digestion. Retrieved January 11, 2015, from
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/1680/the-breakdown-on-anaerobic-digestion
Food Waste in America / Society of St. Andrew. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2015, from
http://endhunger.org/food-waste/
Newcastle University. (2011, March 23). Anaerobic digestion on farms could turn agriculture
green. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 11, 2015 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110304091456.htm

Acknowledgements
Mr. Dennis Pennington- Sr. Bioenergy Educator at Michigan State University
Dr. Dana Kirk- Assistant Professor and Manager of Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education
Center at Michigan State University
Elder Creek Dairy Farm; Ray and Kathy Jo Heisler