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Case Study

BioGAS+ with Biostarter by Metanogenia SL –  Case Study – June 2022

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About Us

Aegle Technology (https://aegle-technology.es) is an advanced materials innovation, commercialization, and production company.   

We research and develop new solutions, bring our own, and third-party, patents to market, and have the know-how and facilities to manufacture products of the highest quality.

We are based in Barcelona, Spain, and work closely with both scientific experts and industry leaders to further technology innovation.

Introduction

BioGAS+ is the first ready-to-use additive for anaerobic digestion (AD) based on advanced materials, offered by Aegle Technology. It has obtained the highest ever-reported improvement of biogas production +285% and other significant benefits (following DIN-38414 standard)[1], with cellulose as feedstock.

Biostarter is an innovation developed by Metanogenia S.L. (Badajoz, Spain) based on high-efficiency anaerobic cell cultures adapted to the treatment of specific agricultural and food industry waste and by-products. In this case study, microbiota for slaughterhouse and oil mill by-products was selected.

Using knowledge extracted from preliminary studies, a round of BMP assays was carried out at optimized Hydraulic Retention Times (HRT) and BioGAS+ dosing (0.01% of Fe3O4NPs vs total volatile solids, w/w) in digesters with slaughterhouse by-products as feedstock. Additionally, an extra assay with goat’s dairy farm by-products (goat’s cheese whey + manure) was carried out in parallel.

Three combinations of substrate, HRT and BioGAS+ dosing were studied:  

Slaughterhouse Waste: 

  • 0.01% BioGAS+ dosing and 31 days HRT
  • 0.01% BioGAS+ dosing and 27 days HRT

Goat’s cheese whey + manure:

  •  0.1% BioGAS+ dosing and 20 days HRT

Addition of BioGAS+ yielded increases to biogas production, biomethane production, biomethane richness and energy yields for all three assays. Of special relevance are the absolute and relative increases of energy yields obtained when BioGAS+ is added.  

Figure 1. Relative increases in biogas production and energy yield when applying BioGAS+ compared to baseline production

These are remarkable results considering that BioGAS+ was added to reactors already highly optimized with the use of Biostarter adapted to each substrate and only marginal (if any) increases were expected. Higher production increases are to be expected if added to reactors which are not already optimized. 

RESULTS 

Slaughterhouse Waste: 

0.01% BioGAS+ dosing and 31 days HRT:

A +36% in biogas and a +40% in biomethane production per m3 of substrate vs baseline. A 59% decrease on Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the digestate.

0.01% BioGAS+ dosing and 27 days HRT:

A +5% in biogas and a +9% in biomethane production per m3 of substrate vs baseline. A 62% decrease on COD of the digestate.

Table 1 summarizes the effect of adding of Biogas+ to a reactor that already works with Biostarter. In other words, what BioGAS+ contributes to Biostarter.

Table 1. Quantification of the effects of applying Biogas+ to Biostarter for slaughterhouse by-products

Goat’s cheese whey + manure:

0.1% BioGAS+ dosing and 20 days HRT:

A +10% increase in biogas and a +16% in biomethane production per m3 of substrate vs baseline. A 51% decrease on COD of the digestate (in this case, a decrease of a 29% also in comparison with the “Biostarter alone” baseline).

Higher energy yields are obtained with added BioGAS+, showing an increase from 32.2 to 37.3 Nm3 methane/m3substrate. A similar effect is observed on the methane richness of the produced biogas, increasing from 67% to almost a 71%. 

In this case, the addition of BioGAS+ (0.1% dose) also yielded to a noteworthy decrease of COD of a 29% when compared with the baseline without BioGAS+. 

Table 2 summarizes the comparison of using and not using BioGAS+ in reactor that already works with Biostarter on the digestion of this substrate. 

Table 2. Quantification of  the effects of applying Biogas+ to Biostarter for goat’s cheese farm by-products

Conclusions

It is important to state that in all cases BioGAS+ was added to high stability reactors already working with the given feedstock and highly adapted microbiota with operational logs of over 1 year data was used as baseline. 

Absolute values of energy yields obtained when BioGAS+ is added for the slaughterhouse by-products, values of 41.2 and 37.5 Nm3 methane/m3substrate for 31 and 27 days HRT respectively are obtained, compared with 29.4 and 34.5 Nm3 methane/m3 substrate when not using BioGAS+. For the goat’s cheese by-products, the mean increase is from 32.2 to 37.3 Nm3 methane/m3 substrate.

In terms of activity of the resulting digestate, decreases of COD were notable for all three assays with added BioGAS+. In the case of the digestion of goat’s cheese farm by-products, the addition of BioGAS+ (0.1% dose) also yielded to a noteworthy decrease of COD of a 29% when compared with the baseline without BioGAS+. COD values of the digestate are related to non-converted organic matter. This added to a biomethane increase of almost a 16%, makes us reassert our previous findings that BioGAS+ presents greater advantages when applied to more recalcitrant substrates. 

For more information:

Please contact us for additional information and to begin your own trial of BioGAS+.

BioGAS+ BGplus effectiveness case study
BioGAS+ BGplus

Aegle Technology SL

Rambla de Catalunya, 25, 1º

08007 Barcelona, Spain

+41 78 600 8995

sales@aegle-technology.es

BioGAS+ Effectiveness Case Study – June 2022

by

About Us

Aegle Technology (https://aegle-technology.es) is an advanced materials innovation, commercialization, and production company.   

We research and develop new advanced material solutions, take to market our own, and third-party, patents and have the know-how and facilities to manufacture products of the highest quality.

We are based in Barcelona, Spain, and work closely with both scientific experts and industry leaders to further technology innovation.

Introduction

Biomass transformation into biogas is a potential solution to the pressing problems of a decrease in mineral oil resources, increase in energy demand, [1] and the need to improve organic waste processing towards a sustainable scenario for waste management all over the world. [2] 

Additionally, increased biogas production efficiency will favour the implantation of tailored-size reactors fed with local biomass in isolated areas. [3] 

Recent world events as well as the launch of the REPowerEU Plan, by the European Union, only accelerate the need for energy savings, diversification of energy supplies, and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels in homes, industry and power generation.

The process, methanogenesis (biomethanation), is performed by the methanogen microorganism Archaea, which has an important role in the carbon cycle, participating in the decay of organic matter in anaerobic ecosystems, such as sediments, marshes and sewage. Therefore, bacterial colony performance enhancement has been greatly explored, [4] including co-digestion and pre-treatments of the biomass, by selective hydrolysis, heating the waste, [5] or adding iron salts. [6]

It is already well known that trace elements are necessary for anaerobic digestion, and have been used in studies as additives at μM to mM concentrations, [7] however the results were disappointing and did not show long-term gains

With this in mind, BioGAS+ was designed to disperse and then progressively dissolve over an extended period of time to yield the dietary supply of essential minerals, including trace and ultratrace elements, for the microorganisms in the reactor.

Results

When 100 ppm of BioGAS+ additive was introduced into an anaerobic waste treatment reactor, the biogas production per gram of organic matter increased by up to 180%, which approaches the theoretical limits of organic matter into biogas conversion (Figure 1) [8]. The results presented correspond to the cumulative biogas production obtained. 

The composition of the biogas produced at different time points was determined by gas chromatography. 

Note that results show not only an enhancement of biogas production, but also that this is richer in methane (8% more CH4 respect controls in the final measure). The measured CH4 percentage in the biogas is 48% in the control experiments and 56% in the case of BioGAS+. This represents a total increase in methane production of 234%. The rest is majorly CO2 while there is less than 1% of other gases as H2S. 

BioGAS+ BGplus effectiveness case study

Figure 1. Biogas production boosted by the sustained release of trace element ions.

Biogas production of the anaerobic digestion processes using BioGAS+ (black line, solid circles), 10 mM TMAOH (black line, hollow circles) and control experiment is shown. Three replicate experiments were performed for each case. 

It is worth noting that, in the anaerobic methanogenic conditions of the closed digester, addition of BioGAS+ gives rise to insoluble precipitates of ferric hydroxide that are reduced to Fe2+ which is soluble and therefore becomes bioavailable.

Experimental method (in brief)

Anaerobic assays were performed in 600 mL gas-tight reactors, equipped with a pressure transducer to monitor biogas production. [11] Each anaerobic reactor contained: 250 mL of bacterial inoculum from a local waste-management plant (Consorci per a la Defensa de la Conca del riu Besòs, Granollers, Spain), the sample (an ammonium salt as Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) 10 mM solution as control solvent or nanoparticle suspension), 1.7 g of cellulose, and water up to 500 mL. The pH value of each reactor was adjusted to 8 (if necessary) with citric acid, and nitrogen gas was used to purge oxygen from the system, prior to incubation at 37 Celsius for 60 days. The 60 day process took place in a closed reactor and it could not be interrupted, as every time that the reactor is opened this allows oxygen to get in, killing a fraction of the bacterial productive substrate.

Control experiments with 10 mM of TMAOH showed no biogas production enhancement (Figure 1).

If we compare the biogas production profiles in the presence and absence of BioGAS+ (Figure 1), we observe that while in the latter case, the biogas production is virtually over at day 21, the production of biogas in the presence of BioGAS+ still runs up to day 40, where all of the organic substrate is consumed.

As at this point there is still a significant amount of remaining BioGAS+ in the reactor; this indicates that biogas production could be further increased with the same BioGAS+ if more organic matter were supplied. It is also important to note that there is a delay in the increase of biogas production when the BioGAS+ are present. 

Summary

Production of biogas by conversion of biomass is an important source of fuel that will help to overcome challenges of energy shortage. Addition of the BioGAS+ additive to an anaerobic bacterial reactor demonstrated a clear increase biogas production, without giving rise to toxicity and excess reactivity. 

Acknowledgments

The original study, containing full details on the experimental method and additional information regarding results is available from the following source: Casals E, Barrena R, García A, González E, Delgado L, Busquets-Fité M, Font X, Arbiol J, Glatzel P, Kvashnina K, Sánchez A, Puntes V. Programmed iron oxide nanoparticles disintegration in anaerobic digesters boosts biogas production. Small. 2014 Jul 23;10(14):2801-8, 2741. doi: 10.1002/smll.201303703. Epub 2014 Apr 1. PMID: 24692328. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201303703

 

For more information:

Please contact us for additional information and to begin your own trial of BioGAS+.

BioGAS+ BGplus effectiveness case study
BioGAS+ BGplus

Aegle Technology SL

Rambla de Catalunya, 25, 1º

08007 Barcelona, Spain

+41 78 600 8995

sales@aegle-technology.es

 

Additional References:

[1] a) A. Jess , Energy Policy 2010 , 38 , 4663 ; b) C. Wolfram , O. Shelef , P. Gertler , J. Econ. Perspect. 2012 , 26 , 119 .

[2] a) A. Distaso , Int. J. Sust. Dev. 2012 , 15 , 220 ; b) D. Y. Hou , A. Al-Tabbaa , P. Guthrie , K. Watanabe , Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012 , 46 , 2494 .

[3] A. D. Karve , Science 2003 , 302 , 987 .

[4] a) M. Morita , K. Sasaki , Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2012 , 94 , 575 ;

b) I. M. Nasir , T. I. M. Ghazi , R. Omar , Appl. Microbiol. Biot. 2012 , 95 , 321 ; c) Yadvika, Santosh, T. R. Sreekrishnan , S. Kohli , V. Rana , Bioresour. Technol. 2004 , 95 , 1 .

[5] a) J. Abelleira , S. I. Perez-Elvira , J. R. Portela , J. Sanchez-Oneto , E. Nebot , Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012 , 46 , 6158 ; b) C. Bougrier , J. P. Delgenes , H. Carrere , Biochem. Eng. J. 2007, 34, 20 .

[6] a) D. J. Hoban , L. Vandenberg , J. Appl. Bacteriol. 1979 , 47 , 153 ;

b) P. P. Rao , G. Seenayya , World J. Microb. Biot. 1994 , 10 , 211 .

[7] L. Vandenberg , K. A. Lamb , W. D. Murray , D. W. Armstrong , J. Appl. Bacteriol. 1980, 48, 437 .

[8] a) A. Donoso-Bravo , F. Mairet , J. Chem. Technol. Biot. 2012 , 87 , 1375 ; b) H. B. Nielsen , I. Angelidaki , Water Sci Technol. 2008 , 58 , 1521 .