Heat and Mass Limitations in an Anaerobic Digestion Process

Abstract

In this study, heat and mass limitations in an anaerobic reactor containing domestic solids were researched in batch reactors. The dynamic and static anaerobic data for 365 days showed that the methane production for the dynamic digestion reactor was measured as 176.86 m3 which is extremely high for static anaerobic one (102.78 m3). As the heat transfer data increased with elevated temperature the methane productions also were highlighted. The external mass transfer was observed for easily degradable solids. In the calculation of external mass transfer during the degradation of organics dissolved with difficulty some semiempirical regressions were used. In the calculation of internal mass transfer the microorganisms in the solids were taken into consideration and the diffusion was defined with Fick's law. The diffusion coefficient D, was found to be constant. Generally, the diffusion coefficient of solids in water (Dw) was < 1.0. The effect of the total solid (TS) concentration in anaerobic batch reactors (TS between 12% and 39%) was investigated. The methane gas production decreased minorly when the TS levels elevated to 30%. At a TS percentage of 39%, the methane generation decreased significantly. At high TS, the mass transfer was inhibited and ended with lowered methane generations while the hydrolysis process did not affect significantly at high TS concentrations.