Ultrasonic equipment to increase biogas production
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Ultrasonic equipment for increasing biogas production
Ultrasonic systems from Ultrawaves GmbH are used in agricultural and wastewater treatment biogas plants to intensify the anaerobic biodegradation of all types of added biomass materials (e.g. renewable raw materials, corn, organic waste, slurry, etc.). This makes the ultrasonic technology very versatile. Ultrasound usually either increases biogas production without increasing or decreasing the amount of substrate supplied, or saves the biomass used without incurring biogas production losses.
Technical limitations of fermentation and overcoming them with ultrasound
Anaerobic fermentation of organic substrate (biomass) is an excellent, mature technology. Biomass is decomposed at a temperature of about 37°C by bacteria in a fermenter. Biogas is produced as a metabolic product, the main component and actual energy carrier of which is methane. However, the biological anaerobic digestion process is very slow, since it is difficult for bacteria to break down biomass. The so-called hydrolysis is the first step in the digestion chain. It reduces particles or molecules and therefore hydrolysis determines the speed of the entire digestion process.
Our ultrasound is designed to bypass this limiting step of hydrolysis. Ultrasonic vibrations not only affect the structure of the substrates (cell disruption), but also the active microorganisms (stimulation through fluctuating sound pressure and cavitation, prevention of agglomeration, release of enzymes). Therefore, our ultrasound system facilitates or completely replaces biological hydrolysis to achieve rapid and larger-scale digestion
Intensification of fermentation with ultrasound
Ultrasound intensifies fermentation in biogas plants. Fermenting microorganisms produce enzymes (exoenzymes), which are necessary for the decomposition of organic matter. Using our
high-power ultrasound equipment, even at low energy doses, the release of these enzymes is increased in order to stimulate the activity of microorganisms. Disruption by ultrasound also leads to a more pronounced interface between the liquid and solid phases (particles and flocs are broken down), which facilitates the “attack” of the enzymes. Further energy supply also destroys the plant walls and bacterial cells and therefore releases dissolved organic cell contents, which in turn are very easily decomposed during fermentation. The end result is an intensified fermentation process, where organic substrates are further decomposed and biogas is produced on a larger scale. Therefore, on the one hand, more gas can be produced from the same amount of biomass using ultrasound. On the other hand, it is also possible to reduce the amount of biomass and produce at least the same amount of biogas. In addition, the quality of the biogas is improved, as the methane content in it increases. Since agricultural biomass is difficult to decompose, the methane fraction produced by traditional biogas plants is sometimes less than 50%. In addition, the added volumetric flow of ultrasonication reduces the viscosity of the fermented content and therefore makes it more fluid. This results in less electricity consumption for mixers and pumps.Design and easy integration
Because of the complex structure of the raw biomass fed into the system, we tend to ultrasonically disrupt a portion of the fermented biomass flow from the primary or secondary fermenter.
The ultrasonically disrupted sludge in the loop is then returned to the primary fermenter. This volumetric flow typically represents 30 to 50% of the daily substrate addition. The standard Ultrawaves ultrasonic system (connected load 5 kW) is very compact, occupying only 1.45 m x 0.25 m, and therefore requires little space. At the installation site, it is only important to take care of the input and output connections, as well as the electricity and water connections. The ultrasonic systems themselves are usually operated 24 hours a day.
Advantages at a glance
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Intensification of fermentation
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Increase in biogas production
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Increase in methane content
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Less substrate consumption
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Reduced viscosity
- Mixers and pumps consume less electricity
Do you need more information? Please contact us.
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Intensification of fermentation