Abstract

ESCALANTE-HERNANDEZ, Humberto; CASTRO-MOLANO, Liliana; BESSON, Veronique  and  JAIMES-ESTEVEZ, Jaime. Feasibility of the anaerobic digestion of cheese whey in a Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) under local conditions. Ing. invest. y tecnol. [online]. 2017, vol.18, n.3, pp.265-277. ISSN 2594-0732.

The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior and the stabilization of Cheese Whey (CW) anaerobic digestion in a plug flow reactor by means of the effluent recirculation use and the implementation of the Anaerobic Co-Digestion (ACOD) system with Fresh Dairy Manure (FDM). These alternatives were proposed to avoid the potential acidification. For the monodigestion, it was proved that the system cannot support high OLR. The ACOD of CW with FDM presented a benefic alternative because it implemented a balanced medium due to each substrate contribution. The efficiency stability of the process was guaranteed by the buffer capacity, which was kept around 0.4. The ACOD process allowed maintaining process stabilization, and the biogas production surged when recirculation began. The best performance of the system was reached with 2g VS/L*day with recirculation, obtaining a biogas production of 469.2 L/kg*day and a degradation of the 81% in volatile solid basis from the input organic matter.

Keywords : Anaerobic co digestion; biogas; plug flow reactor; cheese whey; recirculation.