Co-digestion of by-products and agricultural residues: A bioeconomy perspective for a Mediterranean feedstock mixture

Francesca Valenti; Simona M C Porto; Roberta Selvaggi; Biagio Pecorino

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134440

Co-digestion of by-products and agricultural residues: A bioeconomy perspective for a Mediterranean feedstock mixture

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jan 15:700:134440. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134440. Epub 2019 Oct 4.

Authors

Francesca Valenti¹, Simona M C Porto², Roberta Selvaggi³, Biagio Pecorino⁴

Affiliations

¹ Building and Land Engineering Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy. Electronic address: francesca.valenti@unict.it.
² Building and Land Engineering Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy. Electronic address: siporto@unict.it.
³ Agricultural Economics Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy. Electronic address: roberta.selvaggi@unict.it.
⁴ Agricultural Economics Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 100, 95123 Catania, Italy. Electronic address: pecorino@unict.it.

PMID: 31655454
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134440

Abstract

This study focused on applying batch and continuous co-digestion approaches to investigate the effects of a feedstock mixture (FM) constituted by ten Mediterranean feedstocks highly available in the Mediterranean area (i.e., olive pomace, olive mill wastewater, citrus pulp, poultry litter, poultry and cattle manure, whey and cereal straw) on methane production for bioenergy generation. For the same feedstock mixture (FM), two different anaerobic digestion (AD) tests were carried out to evaluate the possible inhibitory effects of some biomasses on the biological process. The first AD test showed a methane yield equal to 229 Nm³CH₄/tVS (27% lower than that measured during the batch test). During the second AD test, the specific production was 272 m³CH₄/tVS. Both tests showed a similar methane content of methane in the biogas, equal to about 57%. The first AD test showed an inhibition effect of the process: total conversion of the organic matter into biogas was not ended. The second batch test demonstrated that the selected FM could be viable to carry out the co-digestion and could provide a flexible solution to generate advanced biofuels in biogas plants located in the Mediterranean area.

Keywords: Advanced biofuels; Anaerobic digestion; Bioeconomy; Biomasses; Biomethane.

MeSH terms

Agriculture*
Animals
Mediterranean Region
Waste Management / methods*
Waste Products*

Substances

Waste Products