Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Some definitions
TS = Total solids: % of substrate wet weight
VS = Volatile solids (same as organic matter, OM): % of TS or % of substrate
wet weight
OLR = Organic Loading Rate: kg VS/m3r/d i.e. kg VS/m3 digester volume/d (the
daily mass of organic matter applied to a given digester volume).
Typical values: 3-6 kg VS/m3r/d
HRTi = Hydraulic Retention Time: d (theoretical average residence time of a
liquid volume in a digester). HRTi = V/Qi, where V = active digester volume (m3)
and Qi = volume flow into the digester (m3/d).
Typical values: 20-50 d
Biogas yield = nm3 biogas/kg VS in substrate or nm3 biogas/kg wet weight
NH4-N (ammonia-nitrogen)
Should be below 3 g/L
Net-mineralisation of nitrogen = The proportion (%) of the organic nitrogen in
the substrate, which has mineralized to ammonia-nitrogen during anaerobic
digestion
Theoretical calculations
Theoretical calculations on the volume of biogas and the concentration of
methane and carbon dioxide can be done using the following general equation
(the Buswell equation) based on the content of C, H, O, N and S:
1 mol protein
The same calculations can be made for fat/lipid and carbohydrates giving biogas
yields and gas composition presented in table 1
Table 1
Fat/Lipid (C57H104O6)
Protein (C5H7O2N)
Carbohydrate (C6H12O6)
*At 1 atm, 0 C
Biogas (nm3/kg)*
Methane (%)
1.4
1.0
0.8
70
50
50
Task 1: Calculate the theoretical biogas yield (nm3/tonne wet weight), methane
yield (nm3/tonne wet weight) and the composition of the biogas (% methane and
% carbon dioxide) for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW)
with the following composition (Table 2). Use data in table 1.
1000 kg
33 % of wet weight
90% of TS
19% of VS
20% of VS
61% of VS
Practical calculation
Task 3: Calculate from the data given below
a) The organic loading rate, OLR, (kg VS/m3/d)
b) The hydraulic retention time, HRTi (d)
c) The ammonia-nitrogen concentration (g/L = kg/ton digestate) from the
following parameters
Is the HRTi and ammonia-nitrogen concentration reasonable for a stable
process? Comment!
Organic nitrogen concentration
Net mineralisation of N
Mass flow of substrate mixture
(OFMSW + water)
Mass flow of OFMSW
TS (OFMSW)
VS (OFMSW)
Active digester volume
Biogas yield
Substrate mixture density