Anaerobic Digestion Performance: Separate Collected vs. Mechanical Segregated Organic Fractions of Municipal Solid Waste as Feedstock

Przemysław Seruga, Małgorzata Krzywonos, Anna Seruga, Łukasz Niedźwiecki, Halina Pawlak-Kruczek and Agnieszka Urbanowska
Additional contact information
Przemysław Seruga: Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Wrocław University of Economics and Business, Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wrocław, Poland
Anna Seruga: Wrocław University of Economics and Business, Komandorska 118/120, 53-345 Wrocław, Poland
Łukasz Niedźwiecki: Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Department of Boilers, Combustion and Energy Processes, Wyb. Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland
Halina Pawlak-Kruczek: Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Department of Boilers, Combustion and Energy Processes, Wyb. Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland
Agnieszka Urbanowska: Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Chair in Water and Wastewater Treatment Technology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wyb. Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: The replacement of fossil fuel with renewable energy sources seems as though it will be crucial in the future. On the other hand, waste generation increases year by year. Thus, waste-to-energy technologies fit in with the actual trends, such as the circular economy. The crucial type of generated waste is municipal solid waste, which is in the research area. Regarding the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), anaerobic digestion (AD) allows the recovery of biogas and energy. Furthermore, if it is supported by source segregation, it should allow the recovery of material as fertilizer. The AD process performance (biogas yield and stability) comparison of source-segregated OFMSW (ss-OFMWS) and mechanically sorted OFMSW (ms-OFMSW) as feedstocks was performed in full-scale conditions. The daily biogas volume and methane content were measured to assess AD efficiency. To verify the process stability, the volatile fatty acid (VFA) content, pH value, acidity, alkalinity, and dry matter were determined. The obtained biogas yield per ton was slightly higher in the case of ss-OFMSW (111.1 m 3 /ton), compared to ms-OFMSW (105.3 m 3 /ton), together with a higher methane concentration: 58–60% and 51–53%, respectively, and followed by a higher electricity production capacity of almost 700 MWh for ss-OFMSW digestion. The obtained VFA concentrations, at levels around 1.1 g/kg, pH values (slightly above 8.0), acidity, and alkalinity indicate the possibilities of the digester feeding and no-risk exploitation of either as feedstock.

Keywords: energy recovery; biogas; organic waste; food waste; green waste; process control (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 (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3768/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3768/ (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:15:p:3768-:d:388125

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 ().