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Effect of Mixing and Agitator Type on Biogas Production from Food Waste in a Pilot Plant Digester

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Abstract

Disposal of food waste is generally carried out by incineration, composting, or digestion. Anaerobic digestion of food waste is one of the alternatives for the disposal of food waste. The objective of this work was to investigate the effects of mixing speed and agitator type on biogas production from food waste in pilot plant digesters. Biogas production from food waste was carried out at mixing speeds 20, 5 rpm, and intermittent mixing conditions with turbine and propeller agitators. The highest biogas production obtained with intermittent mixing was 125 L and 123 L from turbine and propeller agitator respectively which is 30% higher than biogas obtained in the stratified digester. Lowest biogas production was obtained at a speed of 20 rpm. Kinetic study of anaerobic digestion was carried out by modified Gompertz model which fits well for experimental data with the coefficient of determination (R2) 0.99. Turbine agitator showed the best results with the highest biogas production rate of 9.2 L/day in a minimum hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 17 days. A significant reduction in HRT of 26% was achieved with intermittent mixing of turbine agitator as compared to the stratified digester. The results showed a 99% reduction in COD and a 97% reduction in BOD of effluent from digester with intermittent mixing facility as compared with inlet substrate values.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra, 411037, India

    Hemlata Karne & Dhananjay Bhatkhande

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  1. Hemlata Karne
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  2. Dhananjay Bhatkhande
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Correspondence to Hemlata Karne.

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Karne, H., Bhatkhande, D. Effect of Mixing and Agitator Type on Biogas Production from Food Waste in a Pilot Plant Digester. Waste Biomass Valor 13, 1885–1895 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-021-01633-5

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