Fast production of methane by anaerobic digestion. Volumes 1 and 2. Progress report, May 24, 1977--May 23, 1978 [electronic resource]
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| Online Access: |
Online Access |
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| Format: | Government Document Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oak Ridge, Tenn. :
distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy,
1978.
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| Subjects: |
| Abstract: | Methane gas is produced as the organic fraction of solid refuse is rendered inert by anaerobic digestion. Objectives of this research were to show: (i) product gases are inhibiting and their transfer is rate-limiting; (ii) anaerobic digesters can be optimized to promote faster methane production; and (iii) optimal performance requires separation of hydrolysis from gasification. Characterization with glucose as substrate revealed 70/sup 0/C to be the maximal thermophilic temperature and the region near 62/sup 0/C is the optimal thermophilic temperature. There was a significant lag between the disappearance of soluble COD and its appearance in the gas phase. Components of the lag are thought to include a period for reaction in the cells and a period for transfer of products from solution. Pulsed-agitation was employed to observe that the quantity of gases in solution was directly proportional to substrate concentration and inversely proportional to mixing power. Although trends were less than clear-cut, there appeared to be dependencies upon agitational speed for the appearance of gases, for the disappearance of acids, and for the efficiency of loading. The research has revealed that there is a purely economic justification for a two-stage technology: the masses of bacterial cells and methane were found to be about equal and the protein content of the concentrated cells has potential as a premium agricultural feedstock. |
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| Item Description: | Published through SciTech Connect. 06/01/1978. "coo-2900-16" Finney, C.D.; Evans, R.S. II; Finney, K.A. Natural Dynamics, Des Moines, IA (USA) |
| Physical Description: | Pages: 275 : digital, PDF file. |