Influence of Fluctuating Food Waste Concentrations on Horizontal Anaerobic Reactor Performance and Biogas Output

Jovale Vincent Tongco, Sang Hyeok Park, Su In Kim and Seokhwan Hwang ()
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Jovale Vincent Tongco: Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Dr, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
Sang Hyeok Park: Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
Su In Kim: Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
Seokhwan Hwang: Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Food waste (FW) sourced from treatment facilities is predominantly in solid form, with low water content and high variations in organic content. High organic content in FW is ideal in anaerobic digestion for bioenergy applications, but proper monitoring during start-up operations should be employed to avoid imbalance in the acidogenic/methanogenic population due to volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation in the system. The seed inoculum (5 L) in each horizontal anaerobic reactor (HAR) was fed with food waste without effluent flow (filling-up phase) until it reached the final working volume of 10 L (continuous phase). The pH, alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), VFA, biogas production, methane concentration, and microbial community dynamics were set as stability indicators during reactor operation. The results revealed that introducing fluctuations in FW concentrations does not negatively affect the biogas production (1.7 ± 0.2 L/L R /d) and methane concentration (59.0 ± 2.5%). Acclimatization of the methanogenic and bacterial population was also observed. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of fluctuating FW concentrations on the process performance of horizontal anaerobic reactors, focusing on process stability, microbial dynamics, and biogas output during filling-up and continuous phases.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; horizontal reactor; food waste concentration; process performance; microbial community analysis (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: 2025
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