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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Continuously-stirred Anaerobic Digester to Convert Organic Wastes into Biogas: System Setup and Basic Operation
Published on: July 13, 2012
Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste
T Forster-Carneiro1, M Pérez, L I Romero
1Department Chemical Engineering, Food Technology and Environmental Technologies, Faculty of Sea Sciences and Environmental Sciences, University of Cadiz, Campus Rio San Pedro s/n, 11510-Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain.
Abstract:
The influence of different organic fraction of municipal solid wastes during anaerobic thermophilic (55 degrees C) treatment of organic matter was studied in this work: food waste (FW), organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and shredded OFMSW (SH_OFMSW). All digester operated at dry conditions (20% total solids content) and were inoculated with 30% (in volume) of mesophilic digested sludge. Experimental results showed important different behaviours patterns in these wastes related with the organic matter biodegradation and biogas and methane production. The FW reactor showed the smallest waste biodegradation (32.4% VS removal) with high methane production (0.18 LCH4/gVS); in contrast the SH_OFMSW showed higher waste biodegradation (73.7% VS removal) with small methane production (0.05 LCH4/g VS). Finally, OFMSW showed the highest VS removal (79.5%) and the methane yield reached 0.08 LCH4/g VS. Therefore, the nature of organic substrate has an important influence on the biodegradation process and methane yield. Pre-treatment of waste is not necessary for OFMSW.
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