title: Modelling the energy balance of an anaerobic digester fed with cattle manure and renewable energy crops.
abstract: Knowledge of the net energy production of anaerobic fermenters is important for reliable modelling of the efficiency of anaerobic digestion processes. By using the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) the simulation of biogas production and composition is possible. This paper shows the application and modification of ADM1 to simulate energy production of the digestion of cattle manure and renewable energy crops. The paper additionally presents an energy balance model, which enables the dynamic calculation of the net energy production. The model was applied to a pilot-scale biogas reactor. It was found in a simulation study that a continuous feeding and splitting of the reactor feed into smaller heaps do not generally have a positive effect on the net energy yield. The simulation study showed that the ratio of co-substrate to liquid manure in the inflow determines the net energy production when the inflow load is split into smaller heaps. Mathematical equations are presented to calculate the increase of biogas and methane yield for the digestion of liquid manure and lipids for different feeding intervals. Calculations of different kinds of energy losses for the pilot-scale digester showed high dynamic variations, demonstrating the significance of using a dynamic energy balance model.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Water Quality Control, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall, 85748 Garching, Germany. m.luebken@bv.tum.de
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lübken
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wichern
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlattmann
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gronauer
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horn
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration; D002417:Cattle; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D008372:Manure; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008962:Models, Theoretical
chemical_list: D008372:Manure