The reaction front hypothesis in solid-state digestion: estimation of minimum size of viable seed body

An alternative mechanism for the anaerobic digestion of a bed of solids was recently proposed. A multizoned reaction front might form around a suitable body of seed material, then advance through the bed, within the solid phase. Such a solid-phase mechanism might coexist with liquid-phase digestion but one or the other of these two parallel mechanisms might generally be dominant. It is envisaged that solid-phase digestion would be favored by the presence of viable seed bodies: single particles of a suitable seed material above a minimum size or equivalent aggregates. A key determinant of the feasibility of this mechanism is expected to be the minimum viable size for a seed body (dmin). This would depend on the thickness of the reaction zones, some of which must initially be accommodated within the seed body. In this article, we present some theoretical estimates of dmin, which indicate a magnitude of 7-700 mm. Such values suggest that solid-phase digestion might be the norm in semi-dry waste digesters. Such digestion might be rare in unseeded landfills but it would appear likely that it could easily be initiated by suitable seeding.