Biomethanation II

209 Pages·2003·5.64 MB·English

by  Irini Angelidaki

82
Advances in Biochemical
Engineering / Biotech nology
Series Editor: T. Scheper
Editorial Board:
W. Babel. H. W. Blanch. I. Endo. S.-O. Enfors
A. Fiechter • M. Hoare • B. Mattiasson • H. Sahm
K. Schiigerl • G. Stephanopoulos • U. von Stockar
G. T. Tsao. J. Villadsen • C. Wandrey • J.-J. Zhong
Springer
Berlin
Heidelberg
New York
Hong Kong
London
Milan
Paris
Tokyo
Biomethanation II
Volume Editor: Birgitte K.Ahring
With contributions by
B. K. Ahring, I. Angelidaki, J. Dolfing, L. EUegaard,
H. N. Gavala, F. Haagensen, A. S. Mogensen, G. Lyberatos,
P. E Pind, ]. E. Schmidt, I.V. Skiadas, K. Stamatelatou
~ Springer
Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology reviews actual trends in modern
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In references Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology is abbreviated as
Adv Biochem Engin/Biotechnol as a journal.
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ISBN 3-540-44321-5
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Series Editor
Professor Dr. T. Scheper
Institute of Technical Chemistry
University of Hannover
Callinstrafle 3
30167 Hannover, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
Volume Editor
Professor Birgitte K. Ahring
Biocentrum
The Technical University of Denmark
DTU, Block 227
2800 Lyngby
Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial Board
Prof. Dr. W. Babel Prof. Dr. H.W. Blanch
Section of Environmental Microbiology Department of Chemical Engineering
Leipzig-Halle GmbH University of California
Permoserstrafle 15 Berkely,C A 94720-9989, USA
04318 Leipzig,G ermany E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. I. Endo Prof. Dr. S.-O. Enfors
Faculty of Agriculture Department of Biochemistry and
Dept. of Bioproductive Science Biotechnology
Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Royal Institute of Technology
Utsunomiya University Teknikringen 34,
Mine-cho 350, Utsunomiya-shi 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Tochigi 321-8505, Japan E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. A. Fiechter Prof. Dr. M. Hoare
Institute of Biotechnology Department of Biochemical Engineering
Eidgen6ssische Technische Hochschule University College London
ETH-H6nggerberg Torrington Place
8093 Ztirich, Switzerland London, WC1E 7JE, UK
E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected], uk
VI Editorial Board
Prof. Dr. B. Mattiasson Prof. Dr. H. Sahm
Department of Biotechnology Institute of Biotechnolgy
Chemical Center, Lund University Forschungszentrum ]filich GmbH
P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden 52425 ]filich, Germany
E-mail: [email protected] E-maih [email protected]
Prof. Dr. K. Schiigerl Prof. Dr. G. Stephanopoulos
Institute of Technical Chemistry Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Hannover Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Callinstrat3e 3 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA
30167 Hannover, Germany E-maih [email protected]
E-maih [email protected]
Prof. Dr. U. von Stockar Prof. Dr. G. T. Tsao
Laboratoire de G~nie Chimique et Director
Biologique (LGCB) Lab. of Renewable Resources Eng.
D~partment de Chimie A.A. Potter Eng. Center
Swiss Federal Institute Purdue University
of TechnologyL ausanne West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
1015 Lausanne, Switzerland E-maih [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. ]. Villadsen Prof. Dr. C. Wandrey
Center for Process of Biotechnology Institute of Biotechnology
Technical University of Denmark Forschungszentrum ]filich GmbH
Building 223 52425 ]/Llich, Germany
2800 Lyngby,D enmark E-maih c. [email protected]
E-maih john. [email protected]
Prof. Dr. J.-J. Zhong
State Key Laboratory
of Bioreactor Engineering
East China University of Science
and Technology
130 Meilong Road
Shanghai 200237, China
E-maih [email protected]
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Preface
In November 1776, Alessandro Volta performed his classic experiment disturb-
ing the sediment of a shallow lake, collecting the gas and demonstrating that this
gas was flammable. The science of Biomethanation was born and, ever since, sci-
entists and engineers have worked at understanding this complex anaerobic bio-
logical process and harvesting the valuable methane gas produced during anaer-
obic decomposition. Two lines of exploitation have developed mainly during the
last century: the use of anaerobic digestion for stabilization of sewage sludge,
and biogas production from animal manure and/or household waste. Lately, the
emphasis has been on the hygienic benefit of anaerobic treatment and its effect
on pathogens or other infectious elements. The importance of producing a safe
effluent suitable for recirculation to agricultural land has become a task just as
important as producing the maximum yield of biogas from a given type of
waste. Therefore, anaerobic digestion at elevated temperatures has become the
main area of interest and has been growing during the last few years
Anaerobic digestion demands the concerted action of many groups of
microbes each performing their special role in the overall degradation process.
Both Bacteria and Archaea are involved in the anaerobic process while the
importance, if any, of eukaryotic microorganisms outside the rumen environ-
ment is still unknown. The basic understanding of the dynamics of the complex
microflora was elucidated during the latter part of the last century where the
concept of inter-species hydrogen transfer was introduced and tested. The isola-
tion of syntrophic bacteria specialized in oxidation of intermediates such as
volatile fatty acids gave strength to the theories. Lately the use of molecular tech-
niques has provided tools for studying the microflora during the biomethana-
tion process in situ. However, until now the main focus has been on probing the
dynamic changes of specific groups of microorganisms in anaerobic bioreactors
and less emphasis has been devoted to evaluating the specific activities of the
different groups of microbes during biomethanation. In the future we can expect
that the molecular techniques will be developed to allow more dynamic studies
of the action of specific microbes in the over-all process. From the present
studies we know that many unknown microbes are found in anaerobic bio-
reactors. Especially within the domain of Archaea, there are whole phyla of
microbes such as the Crenarchaeota, which make up significant fractions of
microbes in a reactor but without cultured representatives. Improving the
techniques for the isolation of presently unculturable microbes is a major task
for the future.
X Preface
Anaerobic digestion of waste has been implemented throughout the wodd for
treatment of wastewater, manure and solid waste and most countries have sci-
entists, engineers and companies engaged in various aspects of this technology.
Even though the implementation of anaerobic digestion has moved out of the
experimental phase, there is still plenty of room for improvements. The basic
understanding of the granulation process, the basis for the immobilization of
anaerobic microbes to each other without support material in UASB reactors, is
still lacking. Like any other bioprocess, anaerobic digestion needs further con-
trol and regulation for optimization. However, until now suitable sensors for
direct evaluation of the biological process have been lacking and anaerobic
bioreactors have generally been controlled by indirect measurements of biogas
or methane production along with measurements of pH and temperature. The
newly development of an on-line monitoring system for volatile fatty acids could
be a major step in the right direction and the use of infra-red monitoring sys-
tems could bring the price down to a reasonable level. A better performance of
large-scale anaerobic bioreactor systems for treatment of complex mixtures of
waste can be expected to be based on on-line monitoring of the process in the
future along with controlling software for qualified management of these plants.
Besides treatment of waste, anaerobic digestion possesses a major potential
for adding value to other biomass converting processes such as gasification,
bioethanol or hydrogen from ligno-cellulosic materials. Conversion of ligno-cel-
lulosic biomass will often leave a large fraction of the raw material untouched
which will be a burden for the over-all economy of the process and will demand
further treatment. Anaerobic digestion will on the other hand be capable of con-
verting the residues from the primary conversion into valuable methane, which
will decrease the cost and the environmental burden of the primary production.
Biomethanation is an area in which both basic and applied research is
involved. Major new developments will demand that both disciplines work
together closely and take advantage of each other's field of competence. The two
volumes on Biomethanation within the series of Advances in Biochemical Engi-
neering and Biotechnology have been constructed with this basic idea in mind
and, therefore, both angles have been combined to give a full picture of the area.
The first volume is devoted to giving an overview of the more fundamental
aspects of anaerobic digestion while the second volume concentrates on some
major applications and the potential of using anaerobic processes. The two vol-
umes will therefore be of value for both scientists and practitioners within the
field of environmental microbiology, anaerobic biotechnology, and environ-
mental engineering. The general nature of most of the chapters along with the
unique combination of new basic knowledge and practical experiences should,
in addition, make the books valuable for teaching purposes.
The volume editor is indebted to all the authors for their excellent contribu-
tions and their devotion and cooperation in preparing these two volumes on
Biomethanation.
Lyngby, January 2003 Birgitte K. Ahring