Experimental determination of the energy recovery of a two-stage process of mesophilic-thermophilic anaerobic digestion of cheese whey

Among renewable energy sources, hydrogen and methane are gaseous fuels that have a higher energy density than petroleum-derived gasoline and diesel. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in converting existing anaerobic digestion systems to a two-stage process that results in the production of hydrogen in the first stage and then the production of methane in the second stage. In this study, an assessment was made of the energy yields of a two-stage process of mesophilic-thermophilic anaerobic fermentation of native cheese whey. Cheese whey was fed into a mesophilic acid reactor at three CODs of 6.8 g/l, 9.2 g/l and 13.8 g/l with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 hours. The acidogenic reactor effluent was then fed to three methanogenic reactors, which operated at different HRTs: 72, 48, and 24 hours. The working volumes of the reactors were 900 ml each. Polyurethane foam was used to immobilize the anaerobic acidogenic and methanogenic sludge. The heating value (HV) was determined according to the measurement method using a bomb calorimeter for modes with the highest methane content and with the highest hydrogen content, as well as a calculation method based on the content of combustible gases in biohythane. The obtained deviations of the calculated HV value of biohythane from the experimentally determined HV value (2.51–7.11%) could be due to the fact that the HV value of biohythane is probably not equal to the sum of the HV values of hydrogen and methane. While an increase in the hydrogen content in biohythane leads to a decrease in the deviation of the calculated and experimental HV values of biohythane. The maximum energy production rate (EPR) was 53.2 kJ/(l day) at a COD concentration in the influent of 13.8 g/l, a hydraulic retention time (HRT) in an acidogenic reactor of 10 h, and a HRT in a methanogenic reactor of 48 h. The maximum energy yield (EY) (14,42 kJ/g COD) was observed at a COD concentration in the influent of 9.2 g/l, HRT in an acidogenic reactor for 10 h and HRT in a methanogenic reactor for 72 h.

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