There are five different families of digesters, but over 90% of biogas plants in Europe belong to just one of them. In most cases, plants are engineered and optimised according to the constructor’s criteria, or its proprietary technology or patents, or the agreement it has with the suppliers of components. Such a definition of “optimum” does not mean that the final outcome is optimum for the specific context of the customer. Solutions that are “the market standard” in one country are not necessarily suitable elsewhere. Knowing to evaluate how to choose the most suitable solution for a given context is then crucial to get the highest return from the investment.

Learn about the basics of anaerobic digestion technology and how to manage the digestion process and biogas purification in this training course.

Agenda

Part 1: Basics of Anaerobic Digestion Biology

1.1 Understanding AD and its technical jargon: HRT, CRT, COD, TS, VS, TOL, OLR, etc.

1.2 Types of digesters, advantages and disadvantages of each one, depending on the substrate

1.3 The optimum diet for the digester: measurement of the BMP (biochemical methane potential) of the feedstock BEFORE the construction

1.4 Common mistakes in biogas plant design

Part 2: Managing the Digestion Process and Biogas Purification

2.1 The biological stability of the digester

2.2 Frequent problems of the biologic process and how to prevent them

2.3 Desulfurisation technologies: a short review of the pros and cons of each solution

2.4 Upgrading technologies : a short review