HOW TO OPERATE AN ANAEROBIC

DIGESTION PLANT
Making biogas - demystified!

Steve
Last

info@anaerobic-digestion.com
http://anaerobic-digestion.com
 HOW TO OPERATE AN
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
PLANT
How to Operate an Anaerobic Monitoring10
Digestion Plant
Never Neglect to Keep the Digester
Contents Warm 11

Introduction 2 Keep an Eye on Nutrient Requirements 12

EPC Contractors 2 Primary Nutrient Requirements 12

The Purpose of this Report and Trace Nutrient Requirements 12

“Demystifying” 3
Avoiding Effects of Toxicity of Heavy
Independent 3 Metals on Soils 13

Disclaimer for Information Provided 3 Avoiding Effects of the Build-up of “Toxic

Concentrations of Metal Salts” and
The Anaerobic Digestion Process Ammonia on Digester Operation 13
De-mystified 4
pH and Alkalinity 14
General Principles 4
Salts and Salinity 14
Methane Bacteria: “The Ultimate Waste
Disposal System” 5 Hydrogen Sulfide (Sulphide) and Avoiding
AD Plants that “Turn Sour” 15
The Process 5
Digester Corrosion 16
Preparing the Feed Stock Before
Digestion and the Digestate for Sale or Rate Limiting Reactions and Optimum
Use Afterwards 6 Temperature Ranges 16

How to Start Up a Biogas Digester from Grit and Inert Solids Build-up 17
New 7
Commonest Biogas Reactor Types 17

2
The Moisture Content vs Solids Balance18
Biogas Digester Process Types 19
"Low-solids" Completely Stirred Tank
Digesters 19
"High-solids" Digesters 19
Summary 20
Conclusion 21
Disclaimer
Reasonable care has been taken to
ensure that the information presented in
this book is accurate. However, the
reader is only permitted to read this
document on the basis that the
information provided does not constitute
legal or professional advice of any kind.
No Liability: this book is supplied “as is”
and without liability. All warranties,
express or implied, are hereby
disclaimed.
Copyright © 2012 by IPPTS Associates. All
Rights Reserved.
Introduction
There are many publications about
Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas, but we
have found surprisingly little has been
published publically about the
practicalities of setting up and operating
3
anaerobic digestion plants. That is
perhaps not surprising when you
understand that most of the people and
organisations who will tell you how great
AD can be for treating waste and
generating income streams have a
vested interest in not telling you precisely
how they do it.
Why?
We suspect that it is because these
experts make their money from selling
their own particular design of biogas
reactor, and are quite reasonably
concerned that if they tell you the basics,
you will go off and do-it-yourself without
them.
Our view is that they are probably right.
For most commercial anaerobic digestion
plant projects this would not be a wise
move. It is certainly reasonable to use the
DIY method for home biogas plants, and
for your own research. It may also be a
possibility for small simple on-farm
digesters, but even for them we doubt
there are many that would risk not using a
design which is supported by someone
who will guarantee to get the process
set-up and running successfully. For larger
projects, or unusual and difficult feed
stocks “going it alone” would not be a
good policy, as the investment you risk is
too great, and any lender would be
reluctant to invest in a “first timer”.
EPC Contractors
Our view is that the best biogas plant EPC
(Engineering, Procurement and
Commissioning) Contractors have
learned a thing or two from their own
experience in designing, developing and
operating these plants, which is of
sufficient value to their clients. For all but
the simplest and smallest plants this is
enough to make it easily worthwhile
engaging them. Also, the level of
investment merits the avoidance of
process risks as far as possible, and
this can only be achieved by using
experts with extensive practical skills in
biogas plant operation and yield
maximization.
At www.anaerobic-digestion.com we are
not aligned with any particular anaerobic
digestion process, contractor, or
manufacturer, and we believe that by
combining information here which is
already available we will not jeopardise
any specialist contractor's business. All the
information we provide is from technical
papers and reports, which we have
re-written and assembled in a more
readily accessible form.
The Purpose of this Report and
“Demystifying”
By providing this report, we hope
to provide our readers a service
by, “demystifying” what some AD Plant
purchasers have described as a "black
box" - something which their EPC
Contractor talks of as being "efficient"
"optimized" and "innovative patented
4
technology", and won’t divulge the
“secrets” of the technology he will be
providing within it.
If tasked further to explain exactly what is
special about their process, we have
heard that some AD providers retreat
behind the fall-back of being described
as "commercially sensitive information"
which they decline to explain further due
to the need to avoid competitors stealing
their patented methods. So, if
you encounter one of those people,
or come across one in the future, just
remember this report.
Remember that whatever a biogas
contractor's special twist on Anaerobic
Digestion is, it will inevitably be based
upon most of what we describe here –
otherwise it isn’t anaerobic digestion...
Independent
Finally, before we start to describe the
anaerobic digestion process, you should
note that we are not commercial biogas
plant operators ourselves, so we may
have missed some points of operation,
and we recommend that
all commercial biogas plant project
promoters, and as stated already, owners
that don't already have biogas operation
experience should in our opinion, engage
an expert.
If you should need recommendations on
experts/organisations who may be able
to assist you, you can of course email us
from our contact page at
our website
www.anaerobic-digestion.com,
or steve@ippts.com.
Disclaimer for Information Provided CH3COOH > CH4 + C02

We accept no liability for the
completeness of the information that
follows nor do we give any guarantee
that it will produce the desired outcome
for you.
Now let’s get started...
The Anaerobic Digestion Process
De-mystified
In the first formula, we see how one type
of methane producing bacteria produce
it from carbon dioxide and hydrogen,
and in the second we see the other
route, where a more complex organic
molecule is broken down by another type
of bacteria to methane and carbon
dioxide. But, for the non-chemically
minded it really isn't necessary to
understand such formulae.

General Principles Just be aware that it happens. It is a living

system, and a successful biogas plant
There is nothing mysterious about the operator always remembers that the
anaerobic digestion process. It is secret to success is in giving these
completely natural, it is happening all bacteria the right conditions to get on
around us all of the time in nature. The and do their thing - producing biogas.
methane producing bacteria are already
present in the environment. They occur Long-time operators of on-farm AD plants
worldwide in the bottom sediments of describe the biogas process as much
ponds, marshes, lakes and swamps and in more like a cow than a tractor. It is all
the intestinal tracts of man and many about the bacteria. Remember that, and
animals (especially cattle and other you will do well.
herbivores), usually in association with
sulphate-reducing bacteria. These bacteria rely for their food supply
on the action of intermediate
Think of methane bacteria as scavengers. bacteria known as "syntrophic bacteria".
They remove the final and most simple Examples of names of these bacteria
decomposition products of other have exotic names
anaerobic bacteria and convert them to like Syntrophobacter wolinii and
a mixture of carbon dioxide gas and Syntrophomonas wolfei. They convert
methane gas and that's what "biogas", is. propionate and other volatile acids
which are produced as the cells of the
For those that want to see this in the form AD Plant feedstock material break
of a chemical formula, we have provided open and disperse their complex organic
it below: chemicals.

This is turned into simpler (smaller

molecule size) chemicals including acetic
CO2 + 4H2 > CH4 + 2H20 acid and hydrogen gas, and other
anaerobic (food "rotting") bacteria
decompose complex organics into
5
volatile fatty acids.
Methane Bacteria: “The Ultimate
Waste Disposal System”
Thus, methane bacteria provide the
ultimate waste disposal system for a
whole community of bacteria that grow
together to provide the biological basis
for what has become known as the
"anaerobic digestion process", which
occurs naturally in sludge digesters at
sewage works and
in the damp putrescible deposits in
landfill sites.
The proposal is simply to "engineer the
inevitable" and allow this natural
fermentation to proceed to completion
before discharging the "digestate" to
landfill or to a "compost windrow area" to
stabilize further.
The Process
Because of its widespread previous use in
the water industry, the
biological requirements and
performance characteristics of the
anaerobic digestion process are have
been well established since the 1960s. The
microbiology and biochemistry of the
process is complex but largely
self-regulating. It is a natural fermentation
that essentially requires just the conditions
to multiply which are provided by
the mechanical equipment required to,
heat, pump and mix the reactor to
provide a useful and reliable
treatment and/ or biogas
producing process.
In this report we will describe
the practical requirements for
6
the successful operation of most
common type of AD processes.
The most common of all is the single
stage "wet" anaerobic digestion process,
and the so-called "dry" equivalent is the
second most common for wastes and
energy crop digesters, which rely on
pumping a mashed-up mixture of the
macerated feedstock in water, into the
reactor (fermentation vessel), allowing a
retention period, and then removing a
mixed solid and liquid proportion of the
flow as digestate.
Some operators feed a proportion of the
liquid digestate back into the feed,
however, the proportion of the total flow
recirculated must be limited such that the
build-up of salts, and the ammonia
concentration in the reactor does not rise
excessively and inhibit the bacteria.
In digestion plants on farms it appears
that no digestate recirculation is
practised, as the digestate (both liquid
and solid fibre) has a high value when
used on the land. In other applications of
Anaerobic digestion recirculation of the
liquid may make sense financially
to concentrate the digestate, and
pre-heat the incoming flow. It may also
reduce the amount and therefore also
the cost of treating the liquid digestate,
where the digestate is unsuitable for any
use other than disposal, if for example it
contains heavy metals above a trigger
level.
Preparing the Feed
Stock Before Digestion and the
Digestate for Sale or Use Afterwards
To explain this we have provided the example of what
happens in an MSW Anaerobic Digestion Plant, other
processes usually have similar stages.
Refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) deliver
the collected waste to the plant and the
degree of sorting then applied varies.
Source separated garden and food
waste often can go straight into the
process, but mixed residual (‘black bag’)
waste needs sophisticated sorting
mechanically to remove the
non-biodegradable contaminants. The
plant in which this sorting is done
is often called a Materials Recycling
Facility (MRF). You may also have heard
of an MBT plant, an MBT (Mechanical
Biological Treatment) plant is any waste
processing facility which contains a MRF
stage and a biological treatment stage.
Very often the biological treatment stage
inside an MBT plant is an anaerobic
digestion plant.
The MRF is where sorting is carried out.
It may involve screens, rotating drums for
segregation, air classifiers, and powerful
magnets. The organic waste fraction is
then shredded and usually mixed
with water, some call it being “pulped”,
or “made into a mash”.
The waste and water slurry is then
pumped into a sealed vessel where it
is heated, and stirred where it stays for up
7
to about 20 to 40 days (actual residence
periods vary widely). This is known as the
digestion or fermentation stage.
During this period the bacteria digest the
waste and create a gas
comprising of about sixty percent
methane, with the remainder being
mostly carbon dioxide. This can be used
as the source of the heat energy to warm
the digesters(s), and there is usually
sufficient methane left over to power an
electricity generation set.
The process is normally continuous and
filling and removal of the treated material
takes place simultaneously. The output
takes two forms, apart from the biogas
which bubbles up and is stored in a
specially designed bag or gasholder.
There is a solid digested material
(digestate) which is often pressed to
reduce the water content. The solid
digestate from MSW, and farm manure is
fibrous and can be used as a soil
improver once it has been further
matured usually by being placed in piles
to aerobically compost, further reducing
its weight, for about two to
six weeks. (Food waste digestate, when
food waste is the only material
processed tends to be different, and
according to the detailed type of
process used may produce a paste. But
this is still very good as fertiliser.)
The digestate for all processes other than
food waste, as mentioned above, is very
similar to the result of composting once it
has stood in the air for this period (often
called the maturation
period). Sometimes, any one of several
methods is used to reduce the water
content of the solid digestate before it
leaves the AD Plant, and this is known as
“dewatering”.
Unfortunately, even for most source
segregated wastes there will be foreign
matter, especially bits of plastic etc, in
the matured digestate. So, additional
sorting will usually be required to remove
contaminates before it can be sold or
used on the farm, and the most common
is to use a screening plant with a small
mesh-size screen.
In the diagram which follows we have
shown the main stages of the operation
of
a typical commercial anaerobic
digestion plant. Home and on-farm plants
will be simpler, although in general all
have the same requirements.
So, now that we have described briefly,
what stages anyone operating one of
these plants will need to incorporate, we
will talk about how the plant is made to
work.
How the plant is started up from being an
empty tank, to being a fully operating
and biogas producing “living” system is
8
vitally important for the success of any AD
project.
This first stage of biogas plant operation, is
described in the section which follows.
How to Start Up a Biogas Digester from
New
A new digester tank, or one which has
been emptied for maintenance, can be
started with or without introducing any
existing sludge.
If no seeding sludge is added, bacteria
present in the environment will become
established, but most plant operators
believe that introducing at least some
sludge from a successfully operating
digester is worth the cost of transport of
the sludge.
A popular source of seeding sludge in
areas which have few on-farm AD plants,
and even fewer commercial community
AD plants to use as seeding sludge
sources, is the local waste water
treatment works (WWTW) AD plant
sludge. Most waste water WWTP
operators will allow sludge to be taken by
tanker from their plants, and some who
normally pay to dispose of their sludge
may provide their own delivery service, so
it is always worth calling a local WWTW
manager and ask.
Most digesters are filled from empty at
their design throughput rate, and
moisture content is kept as low as possible
while still slightly below the maximum
allowed in the design, and a
supplementary (alternative) heating
source is used with mixing to bring the
whole digester's reactor up to the design
temperature. Full treatment / optimum
biogas production rates will only be
possible once a high enough
temperature is achieved in the mixed
liquor in the digestion vessel, and after
that when enough time has passed for a
full complement of methane producing
bacteria have become established.
Once the digester has had time to fill
fully, the throughput flow will need to be
throttled back, so that the first retention
period of plant operation will be
significantly longer than specified, and
over the next few weeks to months, the
plant operator will take regular samples
and have them analysed. For a period of
methane bacteria growth, the operator
will feed and discharge at a reduce
flow, or may
also recirculate digestate, while gradually
increasing the outlet flow the design
throughput.
The criteria applied during this start up
period, and subsequently is normally that
only so much digestate is removed from
the system as can be taken out, or needs
to be removed, while:
retaining the specified treated effluent
(digestate) quality set in the process
design of the plant within the body of
the completely mixed reactor
and, in the case of starting up the plant
from new that means,
waiting, monitoring and adjusting the
conditions in the digester continuously
to attain the specified treated effluent
(digestate) quality set in the
process design.
9
In other words, the operator of an
anaerobic digestion plant always seeks to
keep the water quality, just like the
temperature and the solids content,
within the optimum band of operation
which will provide conditions which will:
Take care of and grow the biological
organisms which perform the digestion
process.
Everything else is a subsidiary
consideration. For example, if the
contents of the digester become too
acidic, which may occur initially, manual
addition of lime may be carried out.
Other checks will be made for Hydrogen
sulphide etc.
Clearly, while the “first fill” of feed stock is
being processed it is a case of doing
much the same as will be done once the
plant is producing biogas, but not
discharging digestate until full
fermentation has started and then
starting at a low flow rate and increasing
that flow at an optimum rate to grow-on
the bacteria and other organisms which
provide the methane.
At this time detailed monitoring is the
most important it ever will be, and a close
check on the water quality analysis and
methane volume and quality being
produced, to ensure that the operator
does not push flow rates up faster than
the digester reaction is proceeding is
essential, otherwise the methane
bacteria might be washed out. On the
other hand, not increasing the flow rate
through the digester as fast as the
bacteria can cope with is simply a waste
of time, and in this the experience of the
AD plant operator is important.
The digester will be being heated
throughout this period, at all times when
heat is needed to raise the temperature
to within the optimum range for digestion
in accordance with the designer's
specification, mixing will be taking place,
and biogas will need to be stored and
removed as necessary.
Clearly, biogas must only be set alight
when the oxygen level has been
reduced to safe levels. Even with a home
biogas plant it is quite possible to cause
an explosion if the biogas in the gas
holder has an explosive mixture of air and
methane in it. As the initial biogas is
produced there will be a period of gas
venting before the methane
concentration rises in the gas storage to
above the L. E.
L. (Lower Explosion Limit) of gas in air, and
as more gas is generated in the digester
the proportion of gas to air will rise.
It is vital that ONLY after the proportion of
gas to air has risen to above what is
known as the Upper Explosion Limit (U. E.
L.) as monitored with a methane
monitoring device by a good safe
margin, that the gas can be ignited. Most
large digesters will be equipped with
10
a flare for use when the biogas quality is
above the U. E. L. but, below the quality
needed for use in a generator or can be
upgraded as compressed natural gas
(CNG) for:
vehicle use, or
pumping into a local natural gas grid.
Monitoring
Close monitoring of every AD
Plant commissioning stage is essential to
ensure that mixing and stirring is taking
place effectively, temperature and pH is
within the expected range, alkalinity is
within normal limits, and that
the anticipated gas volumes are being
produced. For small biogas plants
on-farm and where feedstocks which are
well known to the operator vary little, not
much formal sampling and analytical
laboratory reporting will be
needed, once it has been commissioned,
other than as a diagnostic method if
things go wrong.
Monitoring adds complexity, which
ultimately brings with it a cost. All the
available sensors on the market need
regular recalibration and automatic
devices bring with them the potential for
breakdown. There is no ‘one size fits all’
standard when it comes to monitoring or
record-keeping.

Researchers, chemists, process engineers,
and regulators do need to closely
monitor their work, and this is appropriate
for trials and studies. When it comes to
operating an AD plant which is running
robustly and where the operator is
experienced in maintaining the process
optimally, spending on real-time data
collection and external lab test reporting,
can be kept to a minimum.
What is indispensible is that the people
responsible for the plant attend it for a
short period on every working day, and
are pro-active when faults occur. These
plants will not thrive on neglect. They
must be "fussed over", fed feedstock with
care, and attended by staff who will
always take action when any pump or
control device shows a problem.
If, for example, the designer
has provided duty and standby pumps,
site staff must make a point of getting
that pump repaired straight away, after it
has been moved to standby mode due
to the presence of a fault. If
standby equipment is left unrepaired on
the basis that a repair will be done when
something else goes wrong, before you
know it this culture will become one
11
of laziness. One day the duty pump will
also show a fault and the whole plant will
then be put out of commission for several
days before a repair can be achieved.
Those who are trying to maximise their
digester income, especially when
bought-in or high value feed stocks are
concerned, will of course find it worth
their while to carry out careful and
detailed monitoring to protect their
investment.
The addition of a CHP system to even a
simple or relatively small plant requires a
minimum amount of record-keeping, so
that maintenance schedules are
followed, electricity output recorded, gas
quality checked and down-time noted.
Long term drifts in feedstock quality and
output volume and quality may
sometimes go unheeded. So, timely
review of this data by someone who has
training in the process requirements is
essential to highlight forthcoming
problems and enable the operator to
avert them, avoiding loss of revenue due
to plant “process” downtime.
Never Neglect to Keep the Digester
Warm
Operators report that the most important
thing to monitor frequently, once the
process has been commissioned, and
never neglect, is the temperature of the
digester. The method of doing this can be
very simple and should be made as far as
possible technologically foolproof. All
sensors can fail, and ultimately will fail.
So, don't mock the plant operator who
occasionally sticks his hand, or a
standard tubular glass thermometer, into
the hot out-flowing digestate. Old hands period of many months,
at the game will also quite regularly feel the data were usually well collated by
the outgoing and return heat circuit a clerk or technician,
temperatures of their CHP systems, with a
healthy scepticism of all sensing devices. but:

the data has not been

reviewed, and a lack of active
interpretation of the data has
been quite often found. It can at
times seem as if those involved almost
imagined that the mere activity of
data collection and archiving was
enough to keep the plant working as it
should...

In fact, well designed AD plants can run

really well for such long periods, that their
operators become complacent. Busy
Of course, making a point
people naturally concentrate on what
of regularly glancing at the control panel
they think matters, and all is well until the
to ensure the lights are green, or
AD plant process conditions drift so far off
whatever their status should be should
the optimum that rapid bacterial
be, if the plant has such sophistication,
population changes occur. With the
is second nature to a skilled AD plant
fermentation process, once that “tipping
operator.
point” occurs, it can take quite a lot of
biogas production downtime while the
Good plant monitoring is a frame of
operator brings the essential methane
mind, and while the careful collection,
bacteria back into health. So, operators
recording and archiving of data can be
must always remain vigilant with their
a great aid to that, no amount of
plants, and keep a good watch on them.
sophisticated automatic monitoring
devices in use, and paperwork on file, will
Monitoring using analytical
make any difference to plant reliability or
data should always to be seen as a
output unless, it has been studied and
secondary process, and no replacement
acted upon.
for active and daily use of the operator's
eyes, ears, (and nose as well at certain
This might seem an obvious point, but
times!). Plus, informed thought about the
very often it has been found after a
health of the process.
process failure, at well monitored and
sophisticated plants, that:
Keep an Eye on Nutrient
copious Requirements
data was successfully collected over

12
Primary Nutrient Requirements
Ammonium and phosphate are the major established plants.
nutrients required by the bacteria, at a
rate of typically around 5kg nitrogen and In theory, the addition of some
1kg phosphorus per tonne of organic
matter destroyed.
Decomposition of the proteins in
household refuse generally provides
ample quantities of ammonium ions, but
some additional phosphate may be
required to obtain maximum activity, at
times.
Trace Nutrient Requirements
Methane bacteria require trace
quantities of a long list of micro-nutrients,
including: iron, manganese, copper,
nickel, zinc and cobalt, all of which are
likely to be present in manures
and sludges, and MSW.
There may also be a very low
background level requirement for
cadmium, chromium, mercury and lead
to be preset for optimum microbiological
health.
Recent work on food waste which has
been reported by researchers at the
University of Southampton, UK, has shown
that reliable food waste fermentation
over periods of several years of
continuous operation in food waste only
reactors, does require micro-nutrient
augmentation, and products are now
available to meet that need. We suggest
that those planning to operate food
waste only digesters should refer to the
studies carried out under Professor
Charles Banks at the
University of Southampton, UK, in order to
avoid trace nutrient depletion problems
causing process instability in well
sewage sludges and animal slurries to a
food waste digester, would provide a
source of all the major and
micro-nutrients required by the anaerobic
digestion bacteria. However, now that
there are products available to remove
the guesswork, we recommend their
use by food waste only digester
operators.
Avoiding Effects of Toxicity of Heavy
Metals on Soils
Sometimes when MSW is the
feedstock, heavy metals may be
present in too great an
abundance and concerns
may raised over the potential for the
build-up of heavy metals in the digestate
fertilised soil. Many countries have policies
on the spreading of sludges on land to
provide land becoming unsuitable for
crop growth after long periods of the
application of sludges containing heavy
metals which gradually accumulate in
the soil.
Plant operators will need to ensure that
the use of digestate will not cause
build-up in the soils, and comply with all
local regulations in this respect. Once in
use the biogas plant operator may be
required to monitor for metals and keep
records to show compliance with these
regulatory requirements.
13

Avoiding Effects of the Build-up of
“Toxic Concentrations of Metal Salts”
and Ammonia on Digester Operation
The bacteria in the digester are
protected from excessive concentrations
of "toxic" metal salts by the action of
sulphate-reducing bacteria which tend
to precipitate "surplus" metal ions as their
insoluble sulphide salts.
However, there is a point as the
concentration rises, as may occur if the
net rate of digestate removal is too low,
at which concentrations of these
substances will start to inhibit the process,
and biogas production will tail-off. (See
the Table 1 below.)
pH and Alkalinity
Methane bacteria will grow at all pH
values between 6.0 and 8.5 with an
optimum near pH 7.0 or slightly above.
A minimum alkalinity of about
500 mequiv/l, is required to neutralise the
acidity of the dissolved carbon dioxide
gas and to form a bicarbonate buffer of
the correct pH value.
14
Higher alkalinities are sometimes helpful,
especially during start-up, to neutralise
the acidity of any temporary
accumulation of volatile fatty acids. This
can be achieved by manual dosing, and
does not usually require the inclusion of
any dedicated equipment in the final
plant.
A major source of this alkali is ammonia
liberated by the breakdown of proteins
and as a result "high solids" and "high
protein" wastes tend to ferment at high
pH values (7.5-8.5) resulting from the high
concentrations (1,000-4,000 mgN/l) of
ammonium ions present.
Salts and Salinity
If an anaerobic digester was to be
operated with marine strains of methane
bacteria they would require 1.5-3.0%
sodium chloride for growth, but the
methane bacteria in sludge digesters
and landfill sites are normally freshwater
species that can only tolerate limited
salinity in the reactor. Optimum and
inhibitory concentrations of some
common salts (mostly data from
McCarty, 1964: McCarty P. L. (1964)
“Anaerobic Waste treatment
Fundamentals, Pt. 3 (Toxic Materials and
Their Control), Public Works . Nov., 95,
(11), pp91-94.) are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Optimum and inhibitory
concentrations of some common salts to
anaerobic digestion (mg/1).

In practice, inhibition by calcium and
magnesium ions is limited by their
solubility. In anaerobic digesters, they
tend to precipitate as CaCO3 and
Mg(NH4)PO4 respectively.
Hydrogen Sulfide (Sulphide) and
Avoiding AD Plants that “Turn Sour”
During the anaerobic treatment
process, sulfur compounds are converted
to hydrogen sulfide. The digestion of
waste containing high nitrogen
and sulfur concentrations can produce
toxic concentrations of ammonia and
hydrogen sulfide.
Ammonia build-up has been discussed
earlier and is controlled by limiting
recirculation and water addition at the
feed stage, and the same can if needed
be applied to hydrogen sulphide for
certain feedstocks.
But, where high solids digestion creates
high concentrations of end products that
inhibit anaerobic decomposition, dilution
despite its positive effects may (by
increasing the size of digester reactors)
render the process less profitable, or
15
unprofitable. But, operating a digester
close to sulphide
inhibition concentrations to
minimize cost, runs the risk of everyone's
fear that a digester may turn
sour, occurring.
Small on-farm digesters rarely seem to be
reported as suffering from this fate. But
larger digesters which accept wastes
such as the organic fraction of residual
MSW, and food waste, run this risk
more acutely.
Acid forming bacteria grow much faster
than methane forming bacteria. If
acid-producing bacteria grow too fast,
they may produce more acid than the
methane forming bacteria can consume.
Excess acid builds up in the system. The
pH drops, and the system may become
unbalanced ("turn sour"), inhibiting the
activity of methane forming bacteria.
Methane production may then stop
entirely.
Maintenance of a large active quantity
of methane producing bacteria
is reported to be the answer to the
long-term prevention of pH instability, and
therefore avoids plants “turning sour”. This
is where retained biomass systems of the
traditional large retention time fully-mixed
digester tank systems are inherently
more stable than fixed-film and plug-flow
digesters.
Digester Corrosion
It is also important to note that most
digester corrosion damage occurs due to
the effects of acidity in digester gas, and
the source of this acidity being in the
most part from the ever present traces of
hydrogen sulphide in biogas. This
becomes more of a problem at high
intensity biogas production rates, and as
inhibition levels are approached.
In the event that a digester turns sour, a
relatively large quantity of hydrogen
sulphide is emitted. This can be
dangerous to operators, and of course
the bad neighbour odour which might be Optimum Temperature Ranges
produced might lead to strong objections
from local residents.
Currently, one of the advantages of
engaging an experienced AD EPC
contractor or partnering with an
organisation with substantial operational that convert acetic acid to carbon
experience in biogas production, is that
they will have developed their own
commercial techniques for the
prevention of sulfide problems.
At present such methods, and to an
extent the sensing and control of
equipment installed to
prevent sulfide problems, is considered
within the industry to be a commercial
secret by most contractors.
It is clear that sulfide problems can be
avoided by
the judicious injection of small amounts
of oxygen into the system in exactly the
right manner, and the careful use of
chemicals (notably Ferric Chloride) which
can liberate some oxygen chemically,
and thus control the formation of
16
hydrogen sulfide.
It is thought that many AD plant buyers
consider this to be a reason for not "going
it alone" when designing their AD plant
and yet for simple on-farm digesters run
at fairly sedate residence times and
low dilution, in practise the risk
of sulfide problems is low. In fact, our web
research appears to indicate that it has
not been one highlighted as being of any
great concern when plants
are fed with commonly available on-farm
waste materials.
Rate Limiting Reactions and
In all complex systems the overall rate of
reaction is limited by the slowest reaction
rate step. In anaerobic digestion reaction
rates are thought to be limited by the
slow growth of those methane bacteria
dioxide and methane. In general within
the ranges of temperature within which
the organisms are comfortable the
warmer or hotter the temperature the
more rapidly the reactions will take
place.
Mesophilic methane bacteria grow best
at 35-40°C Thermophilic methane
bacteria grow best at 55-60°C. For ease
of operation and to conserve heat, most
anaerobic digestion plants are operated
at mesophilic temperatures of 30-35°C
which require 15-20
days minimum retention time in the
digestion tank to produce a high quality
digestate product.
Favourable heat balances from the
higher solids contents available for MSW
digestion permit more rapid (10-15 days)
fermentation
at thermophilic temperatures (55-60°C)
which also provides a better barrier to the
passage of weed seeds and "pathogens".
Grit and Inert Solids Build-up
Many feed stocks will contain inert
material such as dust, sand and grit, and
this may build up over time. Plants that
are susceptible to the build-up of inert
material within the digester, especially
grit, are provided with equipment to
remove it. In order to operate such plants
correctly, it is necessary to regularly run
any de-gritting or de-sludging tank
cycles and remove the grit etc., from the
bottom.
The presence of grit and other inert
material can often be detected by
analysing for the proportion of inert solids
as a proportion of the total solids present.
This is achieved by oven drying a
mixed-liquor sample to remove
all the water, and weighing it. The sample
is then combusted and the residue is
weighed. When the weight of the
remaining “ashed solids” as a proportion
of the total solids exceeds a percentage
defined by the designed, the operator
should run the de-gritting equipment.
Commonest Biogas Reactor Types
"Mesophilic" digesters are by far the most
common and operate at temperatures
between 20°C and 45°C, but typically
around 30°-38°C has been quoted for UK
on-farm digesters although several of the
digesters in recent case studies reported
17
in a Royal Agricultural Society of England
Report (
http://www.rase.org.uk/what-we-do/core
-purpose-agricultural-work/AD-Full-
Report.pdf ) operate in the 38-40°C
range.
For digesters in cold climates an
especially important aspect is that, as
heating input rises as the temperature
increases, a balance is needed between
the pay-off for higher temperature
operation and increased feedstock
throughput/ biogas output, against the
downside of a higher sacrificial heating
load.
Maintaining digester temperature is most
critical to the process ( as we have
previously mentioned), so most AD
systems must be provided with a
secondary method of heating the
digester. This heating method is used both
to bring the digester temperature up to
temperature initially and after any
down-time to warm it in order to bring the
bacteria back into normal biogas
producing activity.
For on-farm digesters which are not used
in summer when the livestock is in the
fields, this alternative heating method is
essential to pre-heat the dormant reactor
in readiness for the cows coming back in
under cover.
On other occasions the back-up heating
method must be used to mitigate against
the ‘dreaded digester spiral of death’.
This scenario occurs if a digester is heated
solely by its own gas or heat from a CHP
and the gas boiler and is insufficient to
maintain or raise the temperature, or CHP
fails. If the digester begins to cool, the
lower the temperature, the less gas is
produced, eventually a further gradual
temperature drop will take the
bacteria activity and biogas production,
still lower, and beyond a certain point the
digester ceases to be gas producing.
This can be especially risky in particularly
cold weather, and is a strong argument
for not skimping on digester tank
insulation.
The Moisture Content vs Solids
Balance
Pilot-scale digestion plants are usually
operated on a requirement for at least
65-70% moisture (30-35% Dry Solids
content (DS)), but efficient fermentation
can be achieved at
very much lower moisture contents than
this. In fact, if organic materials are wet
enough to produce even one drop of
drainage liquor (leachate), they are
probably more than wet enough to
produce methane. Higher moisture
contents may sometimes be required to
dilute excessive salinity, but usually in wet
process AD, the moisture content at
which the process is operated is much
higher and is governed by the need to
pump mix and stir the feed mixture.
18
The higher the solids content of the
mixed liquor in the digester, the higher is
the potential volume of biogas produced
per litre of reactor volume. Clearly, a high
biogas volume per litre of reactor vessel is
best, as this reduces digester vessel size
and capital (construction) cost.
Therefore, operators will always seek to
run their plants at the highest solids
content possible, which the mechanical
equipment can handle. Wet AD process
operators talk of their feedstock being
the consistency of ”porridge", and
the whole of the completely
mixed digester tank contents will only be
at a slightly higher water content than
that at any time.
As the solids content rises, the viscosity of
the feed mixture rises. In the end for all
pumped and mixed reactors this boils
down to pumping energy, and the
maximum solids content that the
specified combination of pumps
and pipework/ valving can reliably cope
with.
Dry digesters which are better
described as “high solids” are available
in two types. These are those that are
completely mixed digesters and take the
solids content as high as possible while still
running a traditional completely mixed
system, and truly
"high solids" digesters which run as
plug-flow reactors with the feedstock
being moved through a tunnel by
mechanisms such as paddles.
These progressively turn and
move the predominantly solid phase
material horizontally so that it progresses
to the other end for removal as
digestate.
The ultimate in "low-solids" systems act
rather like compost tunnels which are
"charged" by being loaded by wheeled
front-end loading vehicles, and are
emptied after fermentation in a similar
fashion.
Biogas Digester Process Types
"Low-solids" Completely Stirred Tank
Digesters
In this AD reactor type, which is used for a
huge range of feedstocks from organic
MSW to energy crops, the organic
fraction of the feed is slurried, and
digested in a stirred tank reactor at a low
(below 10%) solids concentration.
This can be very effective when done
with MSW with co-digestion with sewage
sludge. This has the advantage of using
well proven anaerobic digestion
technology. If used for MSW with the
inclusion of a large proportion of sewage
sludge, this assures a plentiful supply of
nutrients and a reliable pH buffer for a
robust fermentation system.
It is also used with more
dilute feedstocks such as farm slurry,
although this requires relatively large tank
volumes per cubic metre of biogas
19
produced, which increases capital costs
and provides large volumes of dilute
digestate for subsequent dewatering and
disposal. However, for on-farm
applications this large volume of liquid
digestate is normally an asset.
"High-solids" Digesters
These "high-solids" digesters are fed with
the organic fraction of MSW as a damp
paste containing 30-40% dry solids using
pumps, designed originally for delivering
"ready-mix" concrete, together with
specialist patented mixing and unloading
systems. Or, these AD plants may use
tunnels and digester charging and
loading more similar to in-vessel
composting than other systems.
They have the advantage of requiring
smaller tank volumes and of easier
digestate water management in the
event that the feedstock source causes
difficulties in simply spraying the liquid
digestate onto farmland.
Summary
In our efforts to explain in a very practical
way, how to operate an anaerobic
digestion plant, we have described the
anaerobic digestion process, and in at
the same time we hope that we have
de-mystified it for you.
We started out by describing the general
principles and the manner in which
methane producing bacteria are at the
heart of a set of complex biological
reactions, and if you look after them they
will provide you with the “The Ultimate
Waste Disposal System”.

We took you through the most common
form of process technologies which are
used, and the most common steps
involved, from preparing the feed stock
before digestion to the digestate for sale
or use afterwards, and we have provided
you with information on how to start up a
biogas digester from new.
Once you have done that once,
operating the plant for an unlimited
period after that should normally be
simply a matter of continuing to apply
the same rules. All that is needed is to
carry on adopting the same simple
actions to look after the bacteria.
Remember that a biogas plant is; "more
of a cow than a tractor".
This led us to explain how biogas plant
operators carry out monitoring to
understand how well the process is
performing and where things may need
adjusting to show them which
adjustments to make to keep the
micro-organisms in the digester
producing methane as efficiently as
possible. We stressed that a biogas plant
operator must never neglect to keep the
digester warm, and ensure a full range of
nutrient are available within the
bio-reactor.
20
But, as in all walks of life, you can have
too much of a good thing, and for an AD
plant that means avoiding high
concentrations of a range of chemicals
which can inhibit the process, in other
words; reduce the productivity of the
digestion process. If these substances
were to continue to build-up, they could
even stop fermentation and hence
biogas production altogether, but when
armed with this knowledge a good AD
plant operator who knows how to
operate an anaerobic digestion plant,
simply won't ever let this happen.
The well trained and conscientious plant
operator, will also, as we have explained,
maintain the pH and alkalinity, salts and
salinity within recommended ranges and
when processing feed materials
susceptible to sulfide production, or
pushing the plant hard for its maximum
biogas yield, know how to avoid an AD
plant ever “Turning Sour”.
We warned about safety, and that
anyone who really knows how to operate
an anaerobic digestion plant must be
aware of costly digester corrosion. This
can hit budget priced AD plants quite
severely. This is particularly the case
where the designer has used a lot of steel
and iron in their fabrication and
mechanical equipment, instead of for
example, stainless steel and concrete.
Having explained the basis of the process
and the commonest biogas reactor
types, we explained the pay-off between
high moisture content versus high solids
digester types. We told you how there is a
balance to be struck between high solids
with intensified biogas creation, and
lower percentage solids process with
larger tanks, but more robust operating
characteristics.
Conclusion
We hope that you now agree that you
now know the basic principles of how to
operate an anaerobic digestion plant.
In fact, I have often heard people say
that "knowledge is power". Well, that is
quite literally true for those that take
action and apply this very valuable
knowledge!
ARE YOU CONSIDERING THE FEASIBILITY OF
AN ANAEROBIC DIGESTION PLANT FOR
YOUR BUSINESS?
Did You Know That Anaerobic Digestion
is Just One of a Wide Range of Waste
Processing Technologies?
Are you sure that one of the other waste
processing technologies might not be a better
buy for your project?
Some AD Plant buyers would be better off with a
gasification plant – That’s a Fact!
Don’t Buy an AD Plant Before
You Understand what the other Waste
Technologies have to offer - with this great eBook:
An Introduction to Waste
Technologies

If so, we would like to assist you by

offering you our consultancy service.

If you send an email

to steve@ippts.com stating your
requirements, or if you have not yet got
that far, just give us your ideas and ask us
for a comment as to whether we think
your project is viable.

We offer two consultancy options.

According to your wishes, we would
either act directly for your organisation as
your professional advisor, or we would
partner with a top European Anaerobic
Digestion Contracting company to offer
you a full turnkey package.

Other consultants: Please consider

including us on your tender list as an EPC If you found this ebook interesting, or you
Contractor for full turnkey projects. were trying to find out about

Waste Technologies, from Incineration to

MBT, MRFs,
and Composting,
21
 then you are bound to find 900 subscribers.
our ebook even more so!
It’s also completely free, and we always include
This ebook includes concise information an “unsubscribe” button in every email, so
unsubscribing is never more than a click away.
on each technology plus
If you would like to give it a try, just click on the link
very broad indicative costs for each type below, and fill out the simple form.
of facility.
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=88884
Buy now at our lower price of £12.99
(GBP) - about $20 US.
(Tip: If your settings prevent this working,
copy and paste the link text into you
Buy it online here
browser’s address panel.)
and you can be downloading it in the
next 5 minutes
Copyright © 2012 by IPPTS Associates. All
- available at any time. 30 day money
Rights Reserved.
back guarantee.
Terms of Use
Are you receiving your
This is a free ebook. If you were charged
Anaerobic Digestion to download this document you should
News? not have been. If you did pay for this
report, please email
info@anaerobic-digestion.com with the
details of the download page, in order
that we may take action against the
distirbutor.

Personal Use Only: This document is

provided for personal use only. You may
keep only one copy on your hard drive,
and one backup copy. You may not
publish this document on the internet, or
redistribute this in any form.

Sign up for our biogas news blog, and we will send

you an email version of each blog article every
time we update our blog.

We been running it since 2006, and we have over

22

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)