An alternative parameter to characterize biogas materials: Available carbon-nitrogen ratio

Ming Wang; Wenzhe Li; Pengfei Li; Shuiping Yan; Yanlin Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2017.02.025

An alternative parameter to characterize biogas materials: Available carbon-nitrogen ratio

Waste Manag. 2017 Apr:62:76-83. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.02.025. Epub 2017 Mar 1.

Authors

Ming Wang¹, Wenzhe Li², Pengfei Li³, Shuiping Yan⁴, Yanlin Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agriculture Biological Environment and Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Huazhong Agriculture University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, PR China; Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, PR China. Electronic address: mwang211@163.com.
² Department of Agriculture Biological Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agriculture University, No. 59 Mucai Street, Xiangfang District, Harbin 150030, PR China. Electronic address: liwenzhe9@163.com.
³ Department of Agriculture Biological Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering, Northeast Agriculture University, No. 59 Mucai Street, Xiangfang District, Harbin 150030, PR China.
⁴ Department of Agriculture Biological Environment and Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Huazhong Agriculture University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430070, PR China; Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, PR China.

PMID: 28259537
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.02.025

Abstract

Available carbon-nitrogen ratio (AC/N) was proposed as an alternative parameter for evaluating the potential of biogas materials in this paper. In the calculation of AC/N ratio, only the carbon that could be effectively utilized in anaerobic digestion (AD) process is included. Compared with total C/N, AC/N is particularly more suitable for the characterization of biogas materials rich in recalcitrant components. Nine common biogas materials were selected and a series of semi-continuous tests for up to 110days were carried out to investigate the source of available carbon and the relationship between AC/N and the stability of AD process. The results showed that only the carbon existing in proteins, sugars, fat and hemicelluose should be considered as available carbon for anaerobic microbes. Besides, the optimal AC/N for semi-continuous AD process was preliminarily determined to be 11-15. Taken together, our results demonstrate that AC/N is more effective than total C/N in the evaluation of the potential performance of AD process.

Keywords: Available carbon-nitrogen ratio; Biogas production; Feedstock characteristic; Semi-continuous anaerobic digestion.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis
Air Pollutants / standards*
Air Pollution / prevention & control*
Anaerobiosis
Carbon / analysis
Carbon / standards*
Nitrogen / analysis
Nitrogen / standards*
Refuse Disposal / methods*

Substances

Air Pollutants
Carbon
Nitrogen