Anaerobic Digestion Technology

ABSTRACT

Anaerobic digestion is one of the oldest process used for the

stabilization of sludge. It involves the demonstration of organic matter
in the absence of molecular oxygen. Anaerobic digestion of
biodegradable waste results in both, energy generation and reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions. It would not only replace the use of fossil
fuels in various applications but would also utilize methane, generated
from the waste.

A case study in milk processing unit in Maharashtra showed that

anaerobic treatment can achieve saving to the tune of Rs. 25 million
per year in Maharashtra alone (in 1997). This work reviews the current
status of anaerobic digestion technology and various types of reactors
used for the stabilization.
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INTRODUCTION

The generation and disposal of large quantities of biodegradable waste

without adequate treatment results in significant environmental pollution. The
degradation of waste in the environment can also lead to the release of
greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Some of the waste
streams are treated by conventional means like aeration, which is both energy
intensive and expensive, and generates significant quantity of biological
sludge, which must then be disposed off. In this context, anaerobic digestion
offers potential savings and is a more stable process for medium and high
strength organic effluents. Apart from treating wastewater, the methane
production from anaerobic system can be recovered. The anaerobic method
of waste treatment offers numbers of significant advantages, over the
treatment methods. This led to the development of range of reactors, suitable
for the treatment of low and high strength soluble wastewater.
Although the anaerobic treatment of wastewater has
been adopted since the beginning of the century, yet conventionally, the
anaerobic process is considered a slow process requiring digesters of large
hydraulic retention time (HRT). Maintaining a high concentration of microbes
in a reactor, and preventing them from escaping with the effluent can obtain
high rates of conversion of organics into methane and carbon dioxide by the
anaerobic treatment method .This concept is expressed by sludge retention
time (SRT), being the ratio of the mass of biological solids in the system to
that escaping from the reactor. This will however increase the reactor volume,
which will increase the capital costs because minimal HRT minimizes the
reactor volume.
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Other requirements of the high rate systems are:

1) Intimate contact between incoming water and the detained biological
solids in the reactor.
2) Maintenance of sufficiently warm temperatures.

The various high rate anaerobic systems that have been discussed, are
A) Standard rate digesters
B) Fixed bed reactor
C) UASB reactor
D) Fluidized bed reactor.
It is difficult to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each
system in relation to other concepts, as generalization are not usually
valuable in practice following considerations are important.
1) Purification rates
2) Loading rates
3) Investment costs
4) Energy balance
5) Space requirement
6) Operational costs
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PROCESS DESCRIPTION

In the anaerobic digestion process, the organic matter in mixture of

primary, settled and biological sludge is converted biologically, under
anaerobic conditions to methane (CH4). The process is carried out in an
airtight reactor. The sludge is introduced continuously or intermittently, is
retained in the reactor for varying period. The stabilized sludge withdrawn
from the reactor is reduced in organic and pathogen content and is non-
potresible.
The biological conversion of the organic matter in sludge occurs in
three steps. In first stage the higher molecular mass compounds were
converted into compounds suitable to use as a source of energy & cell
carbon. One group of microorganisms is responsible for hydrolyzing organic
polymers & lipids to basic amino acids & related compounds.
A second group of bacteria ferments the breakdown product to simple
organic acids, the most common of which in this digester is the ‘acetic acid’.
These groups of microorganisms are often identified as acidogens or acid
formers (Clostridium spp.)
The third group of microorganism converts the hydrogen and acetic acid,
formed by the acid formers to methane gas & carbon dioxide. The bacteria
responsible for this conversion are strictly anaerobic and are called as
methanogens / methenogenic. The principle genera of microorganisms that
have been identified include the rod & spheres.
The two types of commonly used anaerobic digesters are identified as
standard rate and high rate. In standard rate digestion process the contents of
the digester are unheated and unmixed. Detention time for standard rate
digesters vary from 30 to 60 days .In high rate digesters the contents are
heated and mixed properly. The detention time is typically 15 days or less. A
combination of the basic process is known as the two-stage process. The
function of the second stage is to separate the digested solids from the super
liquor, however additional digestion and gas production may occur.
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The reactions involved in the process are:

1) 4H2 + CO2 -------------- CH4 + 2H2O

2) 4HCOOH ------------ CH4 + 3 CO2 + 2 H2O

3) CH3COOH ------------- CH4 +CO2

4) 4CH3OH ------------ 3CH4 + CO2 + H2O

5) 4(CH3)3N + H2O -------- 9CH4 +3CO2 + 6H2O + 4NH3

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The figure shows the steps in Anaerobic digestion

Digestion with energy flow.

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GAS PRODUCTION

The volume of methane gas produced during digestion process can be

estimated using equation

Uch4 = (0.35m3/kg) (10-3) -1.42 (p-x).

Uch4 = volume of methane produced

0.35 = Theoretical conversion factor for amount of methane

produced from conversion of 1 kg of BOD.

E = Efficiency of waste utilization.

Q = Flow rate (m3/d)

So = ultimate BOD

1.42 = conversion factor for cell tissue to BOD

Px = Net mass of cells tissue produced per day (kg/d)

The total production is usually estimated from the volatile solids loading
of the digester or from the percentage of volatile solids reduction. Gas
production can fluctuate over a wide range, depending upon the volatile solids
content of sludge & biological activity in the digester.
Excessive gas production rate sometimes occur during startup period,
and may cause foaming, and escape of foam & gas from around the edges
of floating digester covers. If stable operating conditions have been achieved
and the foregoing gas production rates are being maintained, it is assured that
the result will be a well-digested sludge
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TYPES OF REACTORS USED FOR TREATMENT PROCESS

& DIGESTION TECHNIQUES.

Although anaerobic treatment of waste water has been adopted since

the beginning of the century , yet conventionally, the anaerobic process is
considered to be a slow process. Maintaining a high concentration of
microbes in a reactor & preventing them from escaping with the effluents can
obtain high rates of conversion.

The digestion techniques are classified as: -

1) Standard rates digestion. And
2) High rates digestion.

(A) Standard rates digestion:- In standard rate digestion, the

functions of digestion sludge i.e. thickening & supernatant formation are
carried out simultaneously. In the single stage process, untreated sludge is
added to the zone where the sludge is actively digested. As gas raise to the
surface it lifts sludge particles & other materials like grease oil and fats,
ultimately giving rise to formation of scum layer. As a result of digestion, the
sludge becomes more mineralized & it thickens because of gravity. Because
of these limitations standard rate process is used for small installations.
Example:- CSTR

(B) High rate digestion process: In this process, the sludge intimately
mixed by gas recirculation, pumping or by mixers and the temperature is
maintained to obtain high digestion rates. With the exceptions of high loading
rates and improved mixing there are few differences between standard rate
digestion and high rate digestion process. The high rate digestion reactors are
being developed, some of them are
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1) Fixed film reactor

2) Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket
3) Fluidized bed reactor
4) Hybrid reactor

These are shown as:

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Industries were this technique could be implemented

Due to increased, human and industrial activities most of the Indian

rivers are polluted and made them unfit for designated use. Total waste
generation from major water consumption industries such as agro based
industries, refineries, petrochemicals, fertilizers and industrial chemicals were
estimated to be about 3000 million liters per day. Table above shows the
share of industrial out put to water pollution.

The central pollution board has selected 17 categories of major

polluting industries for prior action. Table 2 shows characteristics of
wastewater from various sectors of industries. More than 50% of the units in
four categories, namely distillery, pulp and paper, textile, and steel industries
are yet to attain satisfactory performance.
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Pollution control systems in some major polluting industries are shown in

above table:
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Constraints in development and popularizing anaerobic reactors .

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This section discusses the major barriers faced in the implementation

of anaerobic digestion in industries, including distilleries, pulp and paper, and
dairy industries. A high strength effluent producer, the distillery sector has to
meet stringent pollution control regulations. That’s why this sector has most
suitable condition for implementation of this technique, but only 145 of 254
industries in the country have adopted anaerobic digestion method for
wastewater treatment. This is partly because of the fact that high rate
anaerobic digestion technique was established in India in early 1990’s. Most
of the plants installed prior to this period were based mainly on aerobic
process. There is some hesitation to change over to anaerobic technique
partly due to lack of information on installations. Moreover, it is difficult to
obtain reliable plant scale data because distilleries are unwilling to divulge the
digester performance due to fear of reprisals from the pollution control
authorities.

Although a significant potential exists for the energy generation from

anaerobic technology, most of dairy industries employ aerobic plants for
effluent treatment. Thus installing anaerobic plant after demolishing the
existing aerobic unit is not acceptable due to additional cost. Moreover being
in the small-scale sector most of them do not find it economically feasible to
install the treatment plant.

Although pulp and paper mill effluent is a prime candidate for this
technique, instance of its use is limited .One, reason is the presence of toxic
components in the effluent, which results in non-adaptation of the
microorganisms. Identifying cultures that can adapt toxic components in the
effluent may be one of the solutions for the above problem.
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Government policies for promotion of anaerobic digestion Technology

To meet the growing energy needs of the country, the government of

India has placed growing emphasis on new and renewable sources of energy.
the government of India, under the chairmanship of secretary MENS, setup
the national bioenergy board for providing policy guidelines and directions for
harnessing bioenergy from urban municipal and industrial waste.
MENS has initiated a project for development of high rate bio
methanation processes as a means of reducing GHG emission .It has a total
out lay of Rs. 400-million .The objective of the project are:

1) Development of institutional framework at national level to generate

necessary awareness and capabilities to provide impetus to the bio energy
development programme utilization high rate bio methanation processes.
2) development of requisite expertise and capabilities in the national and state
level institutes,R&D organizations, and universities to assimilate and adapt
technologies, improve applied R&D skills in the field of high rate
methanisation processes , and to provide technical know how and bio
assistance in setting up plants using bio methanisation process.
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Besides several incentives and subsidy’s, the following tax benefits are
applicable to bio methenation projects:

1) Accelerated 100% depreciation in the first year.

2) Tax holiday for five years.
3) No excise duty on gas engine and municipal waste conversion device
producing energy.
4) Concessional custom duty of 10% for all goods, imported by the
manufacturer for manufacturing and supply of machinery and equipments
to a power generation plant.
5) Concessional custom duty (20% custom duty + 13% countervailing duties)
on project import.
6) Interest subsidy, i.e. 10% on the lone amount for the entire loan repayment
period, subject to maximum capitalized amount of Rs 10 million per
megawatt electricity.
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CONCLUSION

Though anaerobic digestion system have been operational in certain

industries like distillerie, there is still some apprehension regarding adopting
this technique of anaerobic digestion in other sector, since large number of
industries in India are yet to establish adequate waste water treatment
facilities, the government of India is actively promoting anaerobic digestion
technology. Apart from funding pilot studies, financial & fiscal intensives are
also provided for establishing full-scale plants. There is urgent need for more
intensive interaction between research organizations and suppliers of
anaerobic systems. This supported by the fact that over the last 15 years,
even though MNES has supported more than 90 researches oriented projects
on biogas production there is still lack of sufficient design information. Out of
nearly 60 demonstration projects, only one has been selected for commercial
application.

Still number of industries have not attaining the sufficient performance

and had wide scope in industrial sector for implementing anaerobic digestion
technology. There is wide gap between R&D efforts and technical
implementation pointing to the need for more efforts towards technology
adoption aspects.
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REFERENCES

1. Metcalf & Reddy inc. Waste water engineering ,Mc Graw Hill New
York 1972.

2. Environmental pollution control engineering

By: C.S. Rao

3. Waste and waste water technology

By: M.J. Hammer

Websites :-

1) www.energy.ca.gov/dev/anaerobic.html

2) www.teriin.org/digestion.html

3) www.climatetechnology.com

4) www.synargo.com

5) www.epa.gov/workshop.html