Stabilization of anaerobic co-digestion of biowaste using activated carbon of coffee ground biomass

Abstract

Process instability commonly encountered in anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of organic fractions of municipal solid wastes (OFMSWs) is addressed by utilizing hydrochar (CB-HTC) and activated hydrochar (ACB-HTC) derived from coffee ground biomass. Addition of CB-HTC or ACB-HTC shortened the lag phase resulting in high biogas yield of 68.57 Nl/kg oTS or 102.86 Nl/kg oTS, respectively within the first week. Improvement in biogas yield (~5% higher than the control) was due to unique properties which prevented washout of consortia of bacteria useful for AcoD and subsequently led to a more stable process. An increase in either OLR [1.0 kg oTS/(m³*d) to 1.5 kg oTS/(m³*d)] or temperature (36.5 °C to 42.5 °C) did not lead to increase in ammonium-nitrogen or TKN in reactors amended with hydrochars. Likewise, ratio of VFA/TA was within 0.2-0.3 after the fourth week in ACB-HTC treated reactor. Addition of ACB-HTC greatly improved nutrient retention in the digestate.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas production; Hydrochar; Organic fertilizer; Process stability.