Integration of Hydrothermal Carbonisation with Anaerobic Digestion; Opportunities for Valorisation of Digestate

Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) has been identified as a potential route for digestate enhancement producing a solid hydrochar and a process water rich in organic carbon. This study compares the treatment of four dissimilar digestates from anaerobic digestion (AD) of agricultural residue (AGR); sew...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2019, Vol.12 (9), p.1586
Main Authors: Parmar, Kiran R., Ross, Andrew B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural wastes
Alternative energy sources
Anaerobic digestion
anaerobic digestion (AD)
biodegradability
Biogas
biogas (BMP)
Biomass
biorefinery
Calorific value
Carbonization
Coal
Crop residues
digestate
Heat
hydrochar
hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC)
Lignocellulose
Moisture content
Monetary incentives
Municipal solid waste
Municipal waste management
Organic carbon
Process water
pyrolysis
Raw materials
Sewage sludge
Slagging
slagging and fouling
Sludge
Soil investigations
Solid fuels
Solid waste management
Temperature effects
waste management
Water masses
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Summary:Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) has been identified as a potential route for digestate enhancement producing a solid hydrochar and a process water rich in organic carbon. This study compares the treatment of four dissimilar digestates from anaerobic digestion (AD) of agricultural residue (AGR); sewage sludge (SS); residual municipal solid waste (MSW), and vegetable, garden, and fruit waste (VGF). HTC experiments were performed at 150, 200 and 250 °C for 1 h using 10%, 20%, and 30% solid loadings of a fixed water mass. The effect of temperature and solid loading to the properties of biocoal and biochemical methane potential (BMP) of process waters are investigated. Results show that the behaviour of digestate during HTC is feedstock dependent and the hydrochar produced is a poor-quality solid fuel. The AGR digestate produced the greatest higher heating value (HHV) of 24 MJ/kg, however its biocoal properties are poor due to slagging and fouling propensities. The SS digestate process water produced the highest amount of biogas at 200 °C and 30% solid loading. This study concludes that solely treating digestate via HTC enhances biogas production and that hydrochar be investigated for its use as a soil amender.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en12091586