Experimental Factors Affecting the Production of Biogas during Anaerobic Digestion of Biodegradable Waste

Abstract

Biogas production by anaerobic digestion from biodegradable organic waste is increasingly seen as a viable renewable energy source. However, the efficiency of anaerobic digestion process is limited by a number of factors affecting mainly slow hydrolysis of complex organic matter. Operating conditions and digester power supply are among the main factors affecting the biogas production. The operating conditions are pH and temperature. However, disturbances caused by the power supply include the composition of organic waste, the concentration of substrate digested and toxic compounds, digestion inhibitors which are mainly volatile fatty acids (AGV) and ammonia (NH4 +). Throughout this experimental study we tried to establish the relationship between the volume of biogas formed with the pH, temperature, AGV, and the production of NH4 +.