A simple kinetic model applied to anaerobic digestion of cow manure

A simple model of anaerobic degradation in a continuous stirred digester is presented. The hydrolysis of cow manure was modelled as consisting of two fractions, one rapidly degradable and the other more slowly degradable, and both processes were represented by first-order kinetics in a two-substrate first-order (TSFO) model. The fractions were separated by water flushing. Biomethane potential (BMP) tests were performed to determine the hydrolysis constant and biodegradability of each fraction. The hydrolysis constants of the rapidly and slowly degradable fractions were 0.278 and 0.069 d^-1, respectively. Coupled with a simple anaerobic digestion model, the TSFO model was used to simulate the digester behaviour and predict methane production. Experiments in a 3.0 L digester were used to determine the decay constant and yield values and to validate the model. Two solid loads (2.9 and 4.4 gVS/L.d) were applied to the digester, and the dynamics of both biodegradable fractions, the non-biodegradable fraction and the microorganism concentration were reproduced by the model. These results approximate the actual biodegradable solids removal to within 85%. A parametric sensitivity study was performed, and the results show that the hydrolysis constant mainly influences the biodegradable fractions and that the decay and yield parameters mainly influence the microorganism concentration.