Innovative Hydrodynamic Disintegrator Adjusted to Agricultural Substrates Pre-treatment Aimed at Methane Production Intensification—CFD Modelling and Batch Tests

Monika Zubrowska-Sudol, Aleksandra Dzido, Agnieszka Garlicka, Piotr Krawczyk, Michał Stępień, Katarzyna Umiejewska, Justyna Walczak, Marcin Wołowicz and Katarzyna Sytek-Szmeichel
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Monika Zubrowska-Sudol: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Aleksandra Dzido: Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-655 Warsaw, Poland
Agnieszka Garlicka: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Piotr Krawczyk: Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-655 Warsaw, Poland
Michał Stępień: Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-655 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Umiejewska: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Justyna Walczak: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland
Marcin Wołowicz: Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-655 Warsaw, Poland
Katarzyna Sytek-Szmeichel: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-653 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-19

Abstract: The study objective was to adjust the hydrodynamic disintegrator dedicated to sewage sludge pre-treatment (HDS) to work with agricultural substrate. This involved the development and implementation of a mathematical model of flow via the device’s domain. An innovative disintegrator (HAD—hydrodynamic disintegrator for agriculture) was designed, built, and tested based on the obtained results. The main improvements to the HDS include the implementation of shredding knives in order to overcome clogging by crushed substrate, and the application of ribs in the recirculation zone, contributing to the development of an additional structure damage zone. The challenge of this study was also to determine the operating parameters of the HDA that would provide for an increase in methane production with positive energy balance. The testing procedures, for which maize silage was selected, involved batch disintegration tests and biochemical methane potential tests. No clogging of rotor or spontaneous shutting off of the device, in other words, problems that had occurred in the HDS, were observed. The applied pre-treatment method permitted an increase in the methane potential of maize silage by 34.4%, 27.0%, and 21.6%, respectively for samples disintegrated at energy densities of 10 kJ/L, 20 kJ/L, and 35 kJ/L with net energy profit.

Keywords: agricultural substrates; hydrodynamic disintegration; computational fluid dynamic; mathematical modelling; immersed solid method; cavitation; specific methane production; energy balance (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 (3)

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