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Vorbehandlung lignocellulosehaltiger Substrate zur Steigerung des Biogasertrages
(2019) Baumkötter, Daniel; Jungbluth, Thomas
There are various approaches for the optimization in biogas technology. One possibility is the pretreatment of the used substrates in order to achieve higher biogas yields, open up new substrates and increase the overall economic viability of biogas plants. For this pretreatment, mechanical treatment technologies are used, which are very different in construction. Therefore, a systematic investigation of the mechanical pretreatment by means of impact with regard to particle size distribution, biogas yield and power consumption for different substrates was carried out for the first time. The aim of this thesis was thus to optimize and eva¬luate the technology “impact reactor” for pretreatment of lignocellulosic substrates for use in an agricultural biogas plant. Substrates with a model character were selected for the experiments, which allow the results to be transferred to comparable substrates. These were triticale straw, oat whole crop silage, maize straw and horse manure. In addition, the substrate mixture of a biogas plant, in which an impact reactor is also used for pretreatment, with a high proportion of grass silage (53 % grass silage, 40 % maize silage and 7 % cattle and horse manure) was examined. Pretreatment of all substrates showed a reduction in particle size. As expected, finer particle sizes also required more effort and therefore higher power consumption. However, no direct correlation could be established between a finer particle size and an increased methane yield. Therefore, an increase in the processing intensity does not necessarily lead to an increase in microbial degradation. In addition to the use of alternative substrates, the main objective of substrate pretreatment was to increase biogas yields. Mechanical pretreatment of triticale straw made it possible to increase methane yield by up to 16 %, horse manure by up to 14 % and substrate mixture by up to 10 %. In contrast, no additional methane yields were recorded for oat whole crop silage and maize straw. Apparently short chopped silages are already sufficiently broken down by the silage. To avoid possible losses due to aerobic degradation, the pretreated substrates must be fed directly into the fermenter. Therefore, the pretreatment should ideally be integrated into the process engineering of the biogas plant between storage and the feed system. In order to classify the results with the impact reactor, additional treatment experiments were carried out with an extruder on a laboratory scale. In principle, the extruder was also suitable for all substrates examined, but liquid had to be added to substrates with a high dry substance content (straw). The results for increasing methane yields were comparable. Besides the investment costs, power consumption had the greatest influence on the costs of pretreatment. These varied significantly depending on the selected settings at the impact reactor. With the help of the determined optimal settings, power consumption of 12.9 kWhel/tFM for triticale and maize straw, 2.6 kWhel/tFM for oat whole crop silage, 10.8 kWhel/tFM for horse manure and 6.1 kWhel/tFM for the substrate mixture could be determined. After combining the results on power consumption and additional methane yield, the mechanical pretreatment of triticale straw, horse manure and the substrate mixture resulted in a gain after energetic balancing. From an economic point of view, horse manure and maize straw showed their potential as an alternative substrate compared to silage maize. Due to their residual material character and the associated lack of market value, these two substrates are economically interesting. By contrast, the market value of cereal straw makes triticale straw more economical than silage maize. However, the results may vary depending on substrate quality and biogas plant, which is why an individual consideration is required for each project. The impact reactor as a method of mechanical pretreatment is basically suitable for various substrates. The pretreatment process increases the biogas yield and opens up previously unused residues for the biogas process, which also improves economic efficiency.