INTRODUCTION TO ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

1. History of Biogas Development

The fact that organic material, rotting under conditions where it is out of contact with air, will produce a
flammable gas has been known for centuries, particularly in the phenomenon of marsh gas. The gas from a
carefully designed septic tank was used for street lighting in Exeter, England, in 1895. This leads to the several
other successful designs to produce this gas in England. This process has also been utilized where energy
supplies have been reduced, as in France, Algeria and Germany during and after the World War II for running
automobiles.
In countries hampered by low natural abundance or inadequate distribution of energy supplies, this gas
generating equipment has often been adopted to meet rural needs. Family size biogas plants have been used in
diverse climates and weathers. In India, concern over the loss of cow dung for fertilizer because of its
traditional use as fuel, sparked early experiments to develop a system to provide fuel without destroying the
dried dung. These experiments were initiated in 1939 at the Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi. These
experiments resulted in the designing of a simple and easy to operate plant in which dung is fermented to yield a
combustible gas which can be used as a fuel and the dung residue can be utilized as manure. The work was
expended by KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission). In 1961, the Gober Gas Research Station was
started in Ajitmal, Etawah (U.P.) and in 1971 it published a variety of designs. From that time onwards,
thousands of plants have been constructed - most of them in the rural areas serving several families.
Experiments with the generation of gas from pig manure began about 1955 in Taiwan and developed into a
program supported by the government. Thousands of digesters have been built to date by small and medium
size farmers raising pig. In China, this practice has been promoted originally since 1970 and plants are
operating in China based on the use of night soil and other manures as raw materials. Korea too has wide
experience with such rural units. Japan also has played a significant role in the advanced technology
developments in this field. Thus extraction of energy from wastes by anaerobic digestion is decades old and the
general technology is well-known.
2. Benefits of Anaerobic Digestion

Fig 1. Components of a typical biogas system

Common materials used for biogas generation are often defined as 'waste' materials, viz. crop residues, animal
wastes and urban wastes including night soil. The use of these wastes for gas generation rather than directly as
fuel or fertilizer yields three direct benefits:

production of an energy resource that can be stored and used more efficiently.

creation of a stabilized residues (sludge) that retains the fertilizer value of the organic material.

the saving of the amount of energy required to produce an equivalent amount of N2 containing fertilizer by
synthetic processes.

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The indirect benefits of gas generation include:

reduction of the public health hazard of fecal pathogens

reduction of the transfer of fungal and other plant pathogens from one year's crop residue to next year's
crop.

3. Applications
The use of this gas for applications depends upon removal of noncombustible components such as CO2 and
corrosive elements such as H2S. The main uses of this gas are hot water heating, building heating, room
lighting, home cooking and fuel oil substitution to run engines. Gas from the digester can be used in gasburning applications if they are modified for its use. Conversion of IC engines to run on biogas is relatively
simple and so can be used to pump water for irrigation purposes. But its primary use is still for lighting and
cooking. The gas produced is colorless, flammable. Methane itself is a nontoxic gas and has a slight but not
unpleasant smell. Also methane can be stored at ambient temperature.
The organic fraction of sludge after digestion may contain upto 30-40 % of lignin and undigested cellulose and
lipid materials on a dry weight basis. The remainder consists of substances originally present in the raw material
but protected from bacterial decomposition by lignin and cutin, newly synthesized bacterial cellular substances,
and relatively smaller amounts of volatile fatty acids. The amount of bacterial cell mass is small (less than 10-20
% of the substrate is converted to cells). Therefore, there is less risk of creating odor and insect-breeding
problems when anaerobically digested sludge is stored and spread on land than there is when untreated are
similarly handled. The nutrient elements like nitrogen present in the raw material is conserved in the sludge
also, in the form of ammonia, proper storage of sludge and its application to land minimizes the loss of such
volatile chemicals. All other elements except carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and some sulfur contained in the raw
materials are conserved in the sludge. The end result of applying digested sludge to soil has same results like
applying any other organic matter. The humus materials formed improve physical properties of soil : aeration,
moisture holding capacity, water infiltration capacity and cation exchange capacity of soil is improved.
Furthermore, the sludge serves as a source of energy for the microbial populations that improves the solubility,
and thus higher availability of chemical nutrients in soil minerals to plants. Also the anaerobically digested
sludge from wastewater treatment plants which receive higher loads of industrial wastes have not caused
conditions toxic to plants. Due to the application of this sludge to plants, the elements likely to increase in plant
tissues are essential animal nutrients. Also the sludge produced is free flowing, thick and liquid sludge.
4. Anaerobic Digestion Microbial Process
Biogas is the gas produced during anaerobic digestion. It consists of approximately 65% of methane (CH4),
35% of CO2 and traces of N2, H2, H2S, O2 and ammonia (NH3). Anaerobic digestion is the stabilization of
organic material by bacteria which do not require oxygen. This process may be considered to be a three stage
process as in Fig. 2.
In the first stage, a group of facultative microorganisms act upon the organic substrates. By enzymatic
hydrolysis, the polymers are converted into soluble monomers that become the substrate for the microorganisms
in the second stage, in which the soluble organic compounds are converted into organic acids. These soluble
organic acids - primarily acetic acid - are the substrate for the final stage of decomposition accomplished by the
methanogenic bacteria. These bacteria are strictly anaerobic and can produce methane in two ways:
by fermenting acetic acid to methane and CO2, or
by reducing CO2 to methane using H2 gas produced by other bacteria.
The production of methane as gas, in the third stage reduces the amount of oxygen demanding material
remaining. This produces a biologically stable residue. Biological growth occurs during all stages of the
fermentation process. The proportion of total substrate utilized to support bacterial growth, however, is low
compared to that utilized in aerobic biological processes.

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Fig. 2 Three stages of anaerobic digestion

5.1Enzymatic Hydrolysis
The initial substrate for stage I will be various waste materials given in Table I. These composed primarily of
carbohydrates with some lipid, protein and organic material. The major carbohydrates are cellulose and lignin.
These are found not only in crop residues but also in animal wastes, since they are often not digestible. A broad
spectrum of anaerobic bacteria is required to stabilize these materials, including bacteria processing cellulosic,
lipolytic and prototypic enzymatic capacity.
Cellulosic activity is the most critical in reducing the complex raw material to simple, soluble organic
monomers. The largest fraction of the organic matter in sewage sludge is cellulose, and if crop residues are
utilized directly, an even higher proportion of the total dry matter will be cellulose. Cellulose consists of
polymerized glucose units in a chain of indefinite length with complex branching patterns. Cellulolytic bacteria
sequentially reduce the chain and branches to organic acids.
The cellulotic bacteria are usually divided into two classes on the basis of the optimal temperature at which
digestion occurs. Mesophilic bacteria have optimum in the range of 30 - 40 C, while thermophilic species work
optimally at 50 - 60 C. Both groups have pH optima in the range of 6.5 7.6. As organic acids are produced
during the breakdown of cellulose, the pH may fall; during the initiation of the fermentation and during the
digestive process, it may be necessary to buffer the system with lime to stabilize it. When the acid forming
bacteria of stage II and the methanogenic bacteria of stage III are present in a balanced reaction, the pH of the
entire system will reach an equilibrium value of about 7, since the organic acids will be removed as they are
produced. The conversion of cellulose and other complex raw materials to simple sugars is probably the ratelimiting step in methane production, since bacterial action is much slower in stage I than in either stage II or III.
The hydrolysis rate is dependent on substrate and bacterial concentration as well as on the environmental factors
like pH and temperature.
5.2 Acid Production
The products of hydrolytic breakdown that occurs during stage I bacterial action become the substrate for the
acid producing bacteria of stage II. The acids are produced as the end products of bacterial metabolism of
carbohydrate; acetic, proprionic and lactic acids are the major products. Methanogenic bacteria are very
restricted in substrate utilization and are probably capable of utilizing only acetic acid. Some species of
methanogenic bacteria can produce methane from hydrogen gas and CO2. Methane can also be produced by the
reduction of methanol, another possible by-product of carbohydrate breakdown. However, acetic acid is
probably the single most important substrate for methane formation and 70% of the methane produced is from
acetic acid. The microbiology involved is not very clear and many bacteria are involved in this process and it
depends on the flora involved also.
5.3 Methane Production
Methanogenic bacteria are highly restricted in substrate utilization and probably utilize only those substrate that
are produced during stage II. Methanogenic bacteria utilize acetic acid, methanol or CO2 and H2 gas to produce
methane. This bacteria are also dependent on the stage I and II bacteria to provide nutrients in a useful form.
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Methane bacteria are also sensitive to certain environmental factors. Because they are obligate anaerobes, their
growth is inhibited even by small amounts of O2 and it is essential that a highly reducing environment be
maintained to promote their growth. Not only O2, but any highly oxidized material, such as nitrates or nitrites,
can inhibit methanogenic bacteria.

Fig 3. Various types of methanogenic bacteria.

The spherically shaped bacteria are of the methanosarcina genus; the long, tubular ones are methanothrix
bacteria, and the short, curved rods are bacteria that catabolize furfural and sulfates. The total length of the
broken bar at top left, which serves as a size reference, corresponds to 1 micron.
These bacteria are also very sensitive to changes to pH. The optimum pH range for methane production is
between 7.0-7.2, although gas production is satisfactory between 6.5 - 7.6. When the pH drops below 6.3, there
is a significant inhibition of the methanogenic bacteria, and the acid production will continue, since the
acidogenic bacteria will produce acid until the pH drops to 4.5-5.0. Under balanced digester conditions, the
biochemical reactions tend to maintain the pH in the proper range automatically. Although the volatile organic
acids produced during the first stage of the fermentation process tend to depress the pH, this effect is
counteracted by the destruction of volatile acids and reformation of bicarbonate buffer during the second stage.
A number of materials may be toxic to the methane bacteria and this toxicity results in a reduction - sometimes
to zero - gas production. Stages 1 & 2 are less sensitive to toxicity than stage 3. They are ammonia, ammonium
ion, soluble sulfides and soluble salts of metals such as copper, zinc and nickel. Higher concentrations of
metallic salts of Na, K, Ca and Mg are also inhibitory. It should be noted that only materials in solution are
potential toxins.
The methane bacteria include the following identified genera: methanococcus, methanobacterium,
methanospirillum, methanobacillus, methanogenium, etc.
5. Factors affecting Anaerobic Digestion

Temperature
pH
Availability of feed material
C/N ratio
Concentration of feed
Mixing
Toxic materials
Anaerobic condition
Retention time

5.1 Temperature
Temperature has a significant effect on anaerobic digestion of organic material. The optimum temperature is as
below:

Mesophilic flora

: 30 - 40 C

Thermophilic flora

: 50 - 60 C

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The choice of mesophilic / thermophilic flora is made during design of digester. Normally mesophilic range is
followed due to the additional heating requirements required to maintain the digester at 50-60 C which is the
optimum for thermophilic bacteria.
Methane producing bacteria are very sensitive to sudden thermal changes. For optimum process stability, the
temperature should be controlled within a narrow range of the optimum temperature. At the least, the digester
should be protected from sudden temperature changes. That is why it a common practice to bury the digester in
the ground, taking advantage of the insulating properties of the surrounding soil. External heating in the form of
solar heated water can also be circulated inside the digester to keep it in the required temperature range.
To minimize heating requirements, the insulation of the digester with materials like leaves, saw dust, straw may
be warranted. These materials may be composted in an annual ring surrounding the digester and the heat
generated during composting is transferred to the digester contents. The methane generation rate is slower in
mesophilic than in thermophilic digestion.
5.2pH
Methane forming bacteria are sensitive to pH. They will work best between a range of pH 6.8-7.2. Normally,
the stage II and III bacteria will break down acids into CH4. If the pH grows too high by the accumulation of
acids, then those bacteria are unable to use the acids quickly and the digestion stops. In this case, liming the
sludge as a buffer is recommended.
5.3Availability of raw materials
Steady supply of substrate and continuous operation of the digester ensures a higher output than intermittent
use.
5.4C/N Ratio
Gas production has been found to vary significantly with the mixture of materials used as feed. The gas
production increases with the substrate having higher carbon that contains N2 also. The need for N2 for
anaerobic digestion is not very large, still, the ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen in the raw materials is important for
efficient methane production. N2 is required for incorporation into the cell structure; thus, if there is insufficient
N2 present to permit the bacteria to reproduce themselves, the rate of gas production will be limited by the N2
availability. If more N2 is available than needed to enable the cells to reproduce normally, NH3 will be formed.
Its concentration may rise to the point where it is inhibitory for methane production and so gas production will
cease.
Thus, if the C/N ratio is too high, the process is limited by N2 availability and if it is too low, ammonia may be
formed in quantities large enough to be toxic. By practice, it has been found that C/N ratio (by weight) close to
20 is required to achieve an optimum rate of digestion. The C/N ratio of various raw materials are given in
Table II. Waste materials that are low in nitrogen can be combined with materials high in carbon to achieve the
optimal C/N ratio of 8 to 20:1.
5.5 Concentration of feed
The anaerobic fermentation of organic matter proceeds best if the feeding material contains 7-13 % of solid
matter. The usual materials fermented in a biogas plant normally contain higher percentage of solids and they
are therefore usually diluted with water. From experiments, it is found that a 1:1 (by volume) slurry of cow
dung and water, corresponding to a 10-12% of total solids, is effective for optimum gas production.
5.6Mixing
Stirring of slurry inside the digester is desirable to simulate bacterial action resulting in higher gas production,
though it is not always essential. Continuous feeding of fresh waste into the digester always induces some
movement in the mass of material in the digester, helping to expose fresh undigested material to the bacteria.
Normally, for small size plants, stirring is not provided.
5.7Toxic Materials
The main toxic elements are: higher concentrations of ammonia, soluble sulfides, metallic salts of Cu, Zn, Ni,
Na, K, Ca, Mg, etc. The materials in solution can only be toxic to digestion.

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5.8 Anaerobic Conditions

Inside the digester, strict anaerobic condition has to be maintained since the methane producing bacteria is
sensitive to the presence of O2.
5.9 Retention Time
It is the average length of time a sample of waste remaining in the digester. For batch digestion, it is simply the
time from the start-up to the completion of the cycle. For continuous digestion, the HRT (Hydraulic Retention
Time) is the ratio between the volume of the digester contents to the volume of feed (m3 / (m3/day)). The
optimum retention time is found to vary between 14 to 60 days.
6. DIGESTER DESIGN
The design of a digester is based on two factors:

Based on the amount of waste available and the gas produced based on the wastes.

Based on the needs

Most of the digesters are based on the second objective since it is easy to adjust the feed available than to have
insufficient gas.
6.1 Site Selection
The following points have to be kept in mind during the selection of a suitable site for a digester.

Adequate space should be provided for plant construction near the staple where the animals are placed
or near the latrines.

Sufficient space should be provided for the handling of digested sludge.

The digester should be away from a well by at least 15 m.

The digester should be located at a place where the water table is sufficiently low to avoid polluting the
ground water sources.

6.2Design characteristics based on the size

Raw material availability: The gas production is proportional to the amount of raw material digested.
Type of material: C/N ratio of the raw material should be in the optimum range for better digestion. If the raw
material is an easily digestible one, the size of the digester can be reduced proportionally.
Size of raw materials: The feed material should be cut into pieces so that the surface area for the reaction is the
maximum. Also, the slurry produced should flow smoothly. The scum produced should be minimized.
Heating requirements: If the digester is situated in cold areas, sufficient heating arrangements should be
provided to keep the digestion temperature within the optimum range. Burying the digester under the ground
helps to minimize the temperature fluctuations of the ambient around the digester.
Mixing requirements: Providing a mechanism of mixing the feed inside the digester helps to ensure the easy
availability of feed to the bacteria for the reactions. Also it provides proper slurry flow inside the digester and
avoids the formation of scum.
Construction materials available: Use of locally available expertise and materials close to the site for the
construction of a digester reduces the cost. Fabrication from corrosion resistant materials such as wood,
ferrocement, concrete, brick or stone rather than metal may also reduce costs by extending equipment life.
Larger digesters require proper maintenance also. Removal of inert wastes such as sand and rocks prevents wear
on mechanical parts and extends equipment life.
7. Disadvantages of Anaerobic Digestion
a. Possibility of explosion
b. High capital cost
c. May produce a volume of waste material much larger than the original feed material since water is
added to substrate.

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d.
e.
f.
g.
h.

Liquid sludge presents a potential water pollution problem if handled incorrectly.

Maintenance and control of digester, feed and sludge handlers are required.
Certain chemicals in the feed, if in excess, may interfere the biochemical process and cause serious
problems in the digester operation.
Proper operating conditions and a suitable environment should be maintained for optimum gas
production.
Most efficient use of the gas as a fuel requires removal of impurities such as CO2 and H2S.

8. DESIGN PROCEDURE FOR A BIOGAS DIGESTER

8.1 Gas requirement
Gas required for cooking for 5 people
(@ 0.35 m3 / day / person)

8.2 Cow dung requirement

1 kg of wet cow dung yields
So, the requirement of cow dung

1 cattle yields
So, number of animals required

8.3 Digester dimensions

Amount of slurry fed (1:1 ratio
of slurry:water)

= 5 * 0.35
= 1.75 m3/day
~ 2 m3/day
= 0.035 m3
= 2.0/0.035
= 57.14 kg
~ 60 kg (wet)
= 12 kg (wet)
= 60/12
= 5 animals

= 60+60 lt/day
= 120 liters/day

(density of slurry is assumed to be 1.0)

Retention time
Volume of the digester required

= 0.12 m3/day
= 45 days
= 0.12 * 45
= 5.4 m3

Using a ratio of 1 to 1.1 for height to diameter,

pi* D2 * (1.1D) / 4
= 5.4
Thus,
D
= 1.84 m
H
= 2.03 m

8.4 Dome design

Assuming that the gas is used twice a day, the dome is designed for 50 to 60% of the total gas produced.
Volume of dome
= 2.0 * 0.6
= 1.2 m3
Dome bottom diameter
(same as digester diameter)

= 1.84 m

As a rule, height of dome is taken as 0.2D to 0.25D

Height of dome
= 0.37 to 0.46 m

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Table I : Initial substrate for Stage I of Anaerobic Digestion Process

Crop residue

Wastage of animal origin cattle shed wastes

poultry litter
sheep and goat droppings
slaughter house wastes
leather & wool wastes
Wastes of human origin
feces, urine and refuse

sugarcane trash
weeds
corn and related crop stubble
straw
spoiled fodder

By products & wastes from agriculture based industries:

oil cakes, bagasse, rice bran
tobacco wastes & seeds
wastes from fruits and vegetable processing
press-mud from sugar factories
tea waste
cotton waste from textile industries

Forest litter twigs, bark, branches, leaves

Wastes from aquatic growth

marine algae
sea weeds
water hyacinths

Table II C/N ratio of various raw materials

Animal wastes:

Urine (0.8); Blood (3.0); Dry fish scraps (5.1)

Manure:

Human faeces (6 to 10); Human urine (15); Cow excreta (18)

Sludge:

Fresh sewage (11)

Plant wastes:

Soybean (5); Cotton seed (5); Peanut hull (36); Wheat straw (150); Sawdust (200 to 500);
Mixed grasses (19)

Food wastes:

Cabbage (12); Tomato (128); Potato peels (25)

Appendix 1. Some useful data on biogas

Dung Production:
Buffalo
Bullock or cow
Calves

12 - 15 kg / day
10 - 12 kg / day
4 - 5 kg / day

Gas Production: 1 kg of wet cow dung

= 0.1 kg of dry cow dung
Gas production from 1 kg of wet cow dung = 0.35 m3 / kg (dry) dung
= 0.035 m3 / kg (wet) dung
COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand): COD is a measure of the oxygen required for oxidation by chemicals of
organic matter.
BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand): BOD is a measure of the oxygen consumed during the oxidation of organic
matter by a mixed microbial population.

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Cross-section of a Fixed-dome biogas digester

Fixed-dome biogas digester

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Cross-section of a Floating drum biogas plant

Floating drum biogas plant

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