Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.09.083
Title (Primary) Improving anaerobic digestion of sugarcane straw for methane production: combined benefits of mechanical and sodium hydroxide pretreatment for process designing
Author Janke, L.; Weinrich, S.; Leite, A.F.; Terzariol, F.K.; Nikolausz, M.; Nelles, M.; Stinner, W.
Source Titel Energy Conversion and Management
Year 2017
Department UMB
Volume 141
Page From 378
Page To 389
Language englisch
Keywords Sugarcane straw; Sodium hydroxide pretreatment; Methane yield; Process designing; Economic assessment
UFZ wide themes RU4;
Abstract Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as an alkaline pretreatment method to enhance the degradation kinetics of sugarcane straw (SCS) for methane production was investigated with a special focus on the benefits for designing the anaerobic digestion process. For that, SCS was previously homogenized by milling in 2 mm particle size and pretreated in NaOH solutions at various concentrations (0, 3, 6 and 12 g NaOH/100 g SCS) and the methane yields were determined in biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. The obtained experimental data were used to simulate a large-scale semi-continuous process (100 ton SCS day−1) according to a first-order reaction model and the main economic indicators were calculated based on cash flows of each pretreatment condition. The BMP tests showed that by increasing the NaOH concentration the conversion of the fibrous fraction of the substrate to methane was not only accelerated (higher α value), but also increased by 11.9% (from 260 to 291 mL CH4 gVS−1). By using the experimental data to simulate the large-scale process these benefits were translated to a reduction of up to 58% in the size of the anaerobic reactor (and consequently in electricity consumption for stirring), while the methane yield increased up to 28%, if the liquid fraction derived from the pretreatment process is also used for methane production. Although the use of NaOH for substrate pretreatment has considerably increased the operational expenditures (from 0.97 up to 1.97 € × 106 year−1), the pretreatment method was able to increase the profitability of methane production from SCS since a sensitivity analysis by varying the prices of anaerobic reactor, methane and NaOH showed a less attractive payback, net present value and internal rate of return for the control condition (0 g NaOH/100 g SCS) in all analyzed scenarios.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=18821
Janke, L., Weinrich, S., Leite, A.F., Terzariol, F.K., Nikolausz, M., Nelles, M., Stinner, W. (2017):
Improving anaerobic digestion of sugarcane straw for methane production: combined benefits of mechanical and sodium hydroxide pretreatment for process designing
Energy Conv. Manag. 141 , 378 - 389 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.09.083