The Efficiency of Industrial and Laboratory Anaerobic Digesters of Organic Substrates: The Use of the Biochemical Methane Potential Correction Coefficient

Krzysztof Pilarski, Agnieszka A. Pilarska, Piotr Boniecki, Gniewko Niedbała, Karol Durczak, Kamil Witaszek, Natalia Mioduszewska and Ireneusz Kowalik
Additional contact information
Krzysztof Pilarski: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Agnieszka A. Pilarska: Institute of Food Technology of Plant Origin, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 31, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Piotr Boniecki: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Gniewko Niedbała: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Karol Durczak: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Kamil Witaszek: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Natalia Mioduszewska: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Ireneusz Kowalik: Institute of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 50, 60-637 Poznań, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: This study is an elaboration on the conference article written by the same authors, which presented the results of laboratory tests on the biogas efficiency of the following substrates: maize silage (MS), pig manure (PM), potato waste (PW), and sugar beet pulp (SB). This article presents methane yields from the same substrates, but also on a technical scale. Apart from that, it presents an original methodology of defining the Biochemical Methane Potential Correction Coefficient (BMPCC) based on the calculation of biomass conversion on an industrial scale and on a laboratory scale. The BMPCC was introduced as a tool to enable uncomplicated verification of the operation of a biogas plant to increase its efficiency and prevent undesirable losses. The estimated BMPCC values showed that the volume of methane produced in the laboratory was overestimated in comparison to the amount of methane obtained under technical conditions. There were differences observed for each substrate. They ranged from 4.7% to 17.19% for MS, from 1.14% to 23.58% for PM, from 9.5% to 13.69% for PW, and from 9.06% to 14.31% for SB. The BMPCC enables estimation of biomass under fermentation on an industrial scale, as compared with laboratory conditions.

Keywords: laboratory-scale efficiency; industrial-scale efficiency; biomass conversion; Biochemical Methane Potential Correction Coefficient; loss prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/5/1280/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/5/1280/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:5:p:1280-:d:330634

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().