A new approach for concurrently improving performance of South Korean food waste valorization and renewable energy recovery via dry anaerobic digestion under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions

Dinh Duc Nguyen; Jeong Seong Yeop; Jaehoon Choi; Sungsu Kim; Soon Woong Chang; Byong-Hun Jeon; Wenshan Guo; Huu Hao Ngo

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2017.03.049

A new approach for concurrently improving performance of South Korean food waste valorization and renewable energy recovery via dry anaerobic digestion under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions

Waste Manag. 2017 Aug:66:161-168. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.03.049. Epub 2017 Apr 9.

Authors

Dinh Duc Nguyen¹, Jeong Seong Yeop², Jaehoon Choi², Sungsu Kim², Soon Woong Chang³, Byong-Hun Jeon⁴, Wenshan Guo⁵, Huu Hao Ngo⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department for Management of Science and Technology Development & Faculty of Environment and Labour Safety, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Department of Environmental Energy & Engineering, Kyonggi University, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: nguyendinhduc@tdt.edu.vn.
² Department of Environmental Energy & Engineering, Kyonggi University, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Environmental Energy & Engineering, Kyonggi University, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: swchang@kyonggi.ac.kr.
⁴ Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, South Korea.
⁵ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁶ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: huuhao.ngo@uts.edu.au.

PMID: 28404512
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.03.049

Abstract

Dry semicontinuous anaerobic digestion (AD) of South Korean food waste (FW) under four solid loading rates (SLRs) (2.30-9.21kg total solids (TS)/m³day) and at a fixed TS content was compared between two digesters, one each under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Biogas production and organic matter reduction in both digesters followed similar trends, increasing with rising SLR. Inhibitor (intermediate products of the anaerobic fermentation process) effects on the digesters' performance were not observed under the studied conditions. In all cases tested, the digesters' best performance was achieved at the SLR of 9.21kg TS/m³day, with 74.02% and 80.98% reduction of volatile solids (VS), 0.87 and 0.90m³ biogas/kg VS_removed, and 0.65 (65% CH₄) and 0.73 (60.02% CH₄) m³ biogas/kg VS_fed, under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. Thermophilic dry AD is recommended for FW treatment in South Korea because it is more efficient and has higher energy recovery potential when compared to mesophilic dry AD.

Keywords: Dry anaerobic digestion; Food waste; Mesophilic condition; Renewable energy recovery; Solids loading rate; Thermophilic condition.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels
Bioreactors
Food*
Refuse Disposal*
Republic of Korea

Substances

Biofuels