Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactors Co-digesting Whey and Glycerin as a Possible Solution for Small and Mid-size Dairy I
- PDF / 1,221,004 Bytes
- 20 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 85 Downloads / 193 Views
Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactors Co-digesting Whey and Glycerin as a Possible Solution for Small and Mid-size Dairy Industries: Environmental Compliance and Methane Production Juliane Nogueira de Albuquerque 1 & Ana Paula Paulinetti 2 & Giovanna Lovato 1,2 & Roberta Albanez 2 & Suzana Maria Ratusznei 2 & José Aberto Domingues Rodrigues 2 Received: 17 March 2020 / Accepted: 23 June 2020/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
A significant part of whey generated in Brazil is from small and mid-size dairy companies. Cheese whey has great potential for methane production through anaerobic biological processes but presents instabilities due to its high biodegradability. To study an alternative for the destination of this residue, the aim of this work was to investigate methane from the co-digestion of whey with glycerin and its environmental compliance at 55 °C in an anaerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor. The best performance indicators were obtained with an influent composed of 88% cheese whey and 12% glycerin (by volume), fed-batch mode and organic loading rate of 19.3 kgCOD m−3 day−1 at 55 °C. This operational condition allowed us to achieve a methane productivity of 203 molCH4 m−3 day−1, a methane yield close to theoretical value, and to remove 68% of all organic matter in the influent. A kinetic metabolic model was fitted to the experimental data, which indicated methanogenesis with preference for the acetoclastic route. Finally, the energy production (approximately 197 MWh month−1) from an industrial scale reactor and its volume (three reactors of 152 m3) were assessed for a mid-size dairy industry, which could save up to US$ 22,000.00 per month in oil demand. Keywords Anaerobic digestion . AnSBBR . Bioenergy . Biomethane . Thermophilic
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-02003372-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* José Aberto Domingues Rodrigues [email protected]
1
São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (EESC/USP), Av. Trabalhador São Carlense 400, Sao Carlos, SP 13566-590, Brazil
2
Mauá School of Engineering, Mauá Institute of Technology (EEM/IMT), Praça Mauá 1, São Caetano do Sul, SP 09580-900, Brazil
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Introduction Cheese whey, or whey, stands out as one of the most problematic liquid organic residues of the agroindustry. It is the aqueous part that separates from the curd in the cheese making process, and it is the major by-product of dairy industries, consisting of 80–90% of the volume of milk used for cheese production [1, 2]. On a global scale, only 50% of all the whey produced is used. The European Union is the largest cheese and, consequently, whey producer in the world followed by the USA. These regions have strict legal requirements for whey treatment before disposal [3]. However, in developing countries, especially in Brazil, data about whey availability are highly inaccurate becaus
Data Loading...
