Anaero Technology, a UK-based research company, is committed to advancing anaerobic digestion (AD) on a global scale. AD is the most sustainable treatment route currently available for breaking down degradable materials such as food waste, agricultural by-products, energy crops, wastewater sludge, and food processing waste to recover energy and fertilizers. With increasing demands for treatment and environmental sustainability, modern AD plants must adhere to high operational and safety standards while producing high energy output, generating good quality digestate, and ultimately being profitable.
To effectively manage these demands, tools are needed to assess the biogas potential of feedstock in a timely manner. This helps determine pricing, yield, and potential impact from inhibitory feeds. While AD operators have various process control tools at their disposal such as monitoring pH, Lab volatile fatty acids (VFA), CH4/CO2 content, and VFA to alkalinity ratio (FOSTAC), these tools do not provide confirmation of the treatability or toxic behavior of feedstock entering AD plants. This highlights the need for more comprehensive assessment methods.
Anaero Technology emphasizes that it is crucial for modern AD plants to have access to more advanced assessment methods in order to ensure effective management of feedstock before it enters the plant. By doing so they can avoid costly delays due to non-treatable feedstocks or unexpected toxic behavior which could potentially harm the plant’s operation or even lead to shutdowns.
