title: Anaerobic digestion of food waste through the operation of a mesophilic two-phase pilot scale digester--assessment of variable loadings on system performance.
abstract: Single and two-phase operations were compared at mesophilic operating conditions using a digester system consisting of three 5-m(3) reactors treating food waste generated daily within the university campus kitchens. When normalizing the methane production to the daily feedstock characteristics, significantly greater methane was produced during two-phase mesophilic digestion compared to the single-stage operation (methane yield of 380 vs 446-L CH4 kg VS(-1); 359 vs 481-L CH4 kg COD(-1) removed for single vs two stage operation). The fermentation reactor could be maintained reliably even under very low loading rates (0.79±0.16 kg COD m(-3) d(-1)) maintaining a steady state pH of 5.2.
authors.affiliation: Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, USA. Electronic address: grimberg@clarkson.edu.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Grimberg
authors.affiliation: Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hilderbrandt
authors.affiliation: Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinnunen
authors.affiliation: Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D005502:Food; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014835:Volatilization; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products
keywords: Food waste; Two-stage anaerobic digestion