*Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion is a series of biological processes in which microorganisms

break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. A range of
anaerobic digestion technologies are converting livestock manure, municipal
wastewater solids, food waste, high strength industrial wastewater and residuals,
fats, oils and grease (FOG), and various other organic waste streams into biogas,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week

*The Biological Process

The digestion process begins with bacterial hydrolysis of the input materials in
order to break down insoluble organic polymers such as carbohydrates and make
them available for other bacteria.

*Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of MSW provides an engineered and
highly controlled process of capturing methane, especially when compared to
landfill gas capture of methane generated by putrescible waste. Typically,
digestion of mixed solid waste is done as part of compliance with directives to
stabilize the organic fraction of the waste stream prior to disposal. The current
trend is toward anaerobic digestion of source separated organic waste streams,
including food waste, yard trimmings and soiled paper. Presorting is necessary to
prevent clogging of the pumps and to reduce the amount of reactor volume
occupied by inert material. Even source-separated waste inevitably contains
metal and plastic contaminants and must be presorted. Anaerobic digestion
systems for MSW include:
Single-stage wet digesters: Typically simpler to design, build, and operate and
generally less expensive, the organic loading rate (OLR) of single-stage digesters
is limited by the ability of methanogenic organisms to tolerate the sudden
decline in pH that results from rapid acid production during hydrolysis.

Dry fermentation: Type of single-stage digester, but distinctive from other AD

categories because feedstocks are in a solid state that can be handled with a
front-end loader and normally no additional water is added. Digestion takes place
at 20-45% total solids, and can be done in either a batch or continuous mode. In
batch mode, materials are loaded into chambers then inoculated and maintained
until the end of the retention time. In continuous mode, fresh feedstock is
continuously fed to the digester and digestate is continuously removed.

Two-stage digesters: System separates the initial hydrolysis and acid-producing

fermentation from methanogenesis, which allows for higher loading rates for
high nitrogen containing materials but requires additional reactors and handling
systems. Another important design parameter is the total solids (TS)

concentration in the reactor, expressed as a fraction of the wet mass of the

prepared feedstock. The remainder of the wet mass is water by definition.
Feedstock is typically diluted with process water to achieve the desirable solids
content during the preparation stages.
*ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
Anaerobic digestion is a process which breaks down organic matter in simpler
chemicals components without oxygen. This process can be useful to treat
arising organic waste such as:
-sewage sludge
-organic farm wastes
-municipal solid waste
-green/botanical wastes
Organic industrial and commercial wastes

Variation of Anaerobic Digestion :

-Low solid anaerobic digestion
a) Most conventional system
b) Concentration 4-10%
c) Agricultural and industrial factors
d) Typical production value gas with a 50-70% methane content
e) Time cycle in the reactor about 20 days

-high solid digestion

a) Solid content in the reactor are 25-35%
b) Time cycle in 16-21
c) Biogas 5-8 M3/M3
d) Gas content 55% CH4