Vetenskapliga publikationer
Publicerat 2016
Författare:
Westerholm M., Moestedt J., Schnürer A.
Journal:
Applied Energy
Sammanfattning:
Anaerobic degradation of protein-rich materials has high methane potential and produces nutrient-rich residue, but requires strategies to avoid ammonia inhibition. A well-adapted process can cope with substantially higher ammonia levels than an unadapted process and analyses of pathways for methanisation of acetate, combined with determination of microbial community structure, strongly indicate that this is due to a significant contribution of syntrophic acetate oxidation. The microorganisms involved in syntrophic acetate oxidation thus most likely occupy a unique niche and play an important role in methane formation. This review summarises current insight of syntrophic acetate oxidising microorganisms, their presence and the detection of novel species and relate these observations with operating conditions of the biogas processes in order to explore contributing factors for development of an ammonia-tolerant microbial community that efficiently degrades acetate through the syntrophic pathway. Besides high ammonia level, acetate concentration, temperature and methanogenic community structure are considered in this review as likely factors that shape and influence SAO-mediated microbial ecosystems. The main purpose of this review is to facilitate process optimisation through considering the activity and growth of this key microbial community.
Protocol for Start-Up and Operation of CSTR Biogas Processes
Författare:
Schnürer A., Bohn I., Moestedt J.
Journal:
Springer Protocols Handbooks
Sammanfattning:
There is currently a lack of consensus on how biogas processes should be started and run in order to obtain stable, efficient operation. Agreement on start-up and operating parameters would increase the quality of research, allow better comparison of scientific results and increase the applicability of new findings in a general perspective. It would also help full-scale operators avoid common costly mistakes during start-up and operation of biogas processes. The biogas protocol presented in this paper describes appropriate approaches for characterisation of substrate, determination of methane potential, formulation of a suitable substrate, start-up of reactors and monitoring and operation of the biogas process in CSTR reactors.
Författare:
Christian Baresel, Jonas Malmborg, Mats Ek, Robert Sehlén
Sammanfattning:
Pilot tests as basis for the design, implementation and operation of a future full-scale oxidation plant completing the existing sewage treatment in Linköping, Sweden, were performed. Using an ozonation step between bio-sedimentation and post-denitrification processes, the primary goal was the removal of the highest priority substances to effluent water levels that will not cause adverse effects in the recipient considering the natural dilution. The study included initial emission screenings, dose control trials, treatment performance studies and eco-toxicity studies. At an ozone dose of 5 mg O3/L, most substances could be removed. Ecotoxicological tests showed no negative effect for the tested ozone doses. High levels of oxygen into the denitrification could be rapidly reduced in the biology. The number of bacteria in the treated water could be significantly reduced even at relatively low ozone doses. Based on these results, the planning for the full-scale implementation of the treatment system was initiated in 2015.
Författare:
Nilsson Påledal S., Arrhenius K., Moestedt J., Engelbrektsson J., Stensen K.
Journal:
Chemosphere
Sammanfattning:
Compression and upgrading of biogas to vehicle fuel generates process water, which to varying degrees contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) originating from the biogas. The compostion of this process water has not yet been studied and scientifically published and there is currently an uncertainty regarding content of VOCs and how the process water should be managed to minimise the impact on health and the environment. The aim of the study was to give an overview about general levels of VOCs in the process water. Characterisation of process water from amine and water scrubbers at plants digesting waste, sewage sludge or agricultural residues showed that both the average concentration and composition of particular VOCs varied depending on the substrate used at the biogas plant, but the divergence was high and the differences for total concentrations from the different substrate groups were only significant for samples from plants using waste compared to residues from agriculture. The characterisation also showed that the content of VOCs varied greatly between different sampling points for same main substrate and between sampling occasions at the same sampling point, indicating that site-specific conditions are important for the results which also indicates that a number of analyses at different times are required in order to make an more exact characterisation with low uncertainty.
Inhibition of VOCs in the anaerobic digestion (AD) process was studied in biomethane potential tests, but no inhibition was observed during addition of synthetic process water at concentrations of 11.6 mg and 238 mg VOC/L.
Publicerat 2015
Författare:
Moestedt J., Müller B., Westerholm M., Schnürer A.
Journal:
Microbial Biotechnology
Sammanfattning:
Biogas production from nitrogen-rich feedstock results in release of ammonia (NH3), causing inhibition of the microbial process. The reported threshold ammonia value for stable biogas production varies greatly between studies, probably because of differences in operating conditions. Moreover, it is often difficult to separate the effect of ammonia inhibition from that of organic loading rate (OLR), as these two factors are often interrelated. This study attempted to distinguish the effects of ammonia and OLR by analysis of two laboratory-scale biogas reactors operating with thin stillage and subjected to an increase in free ammonia (from 0.30 to 1.1 g L−1) either by addition of an external nitrogen source (urea) or by increasing the OLR (3.2–6.0 g volatile solids L−1 d−1). The results showed that ammonia concentration was detrimental for process performance, with the threshold for stability in both processes identified as being about 1 g NH3-N L−1, irrespective of OLR. Analysis of the methanogenic community showed limited differences between the two reactors on order level and a clear increase in the abundance of Methanomicrobiales, particularly Methanoculleus sp., in response to increasing ammonia concentration. Further comprehensive molecular analysis revealed that diverse Methanoculleus species dominated in the reactors at a given ammonia level at different OLR. The acetogenic community was clearly affected by both ammonia concentration and OLR, suggesting that the volatile fatty acid load in relation to the higher OLR was important for the dynamics of this community.
Biogas production from thin stillage - exploring the microbial response to sulphate and ammonia
Författare: Moestedt, J.
Doktorsavhandling: Acta Universitatis agriculturae Sueciae, 2015:10
Sammanfattning:
The biogas plant in Norrköping (Tekniska verken i Linköping AB, publ.), Sweden, operates with thin stillage, a residue from bio-ethanol fermentation, as the main feedstock. Thin stillage is energy-rich due to its high protein content, but due to its high nitrogen and sulphate content is a somewhat complicated feedstock. The high nitrogen concentration results in inhibition of the microbial process and also selects for nitrogen-tolerant, but slow-growing, syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacteria (SAOB). The high sulphate concentration in the feedstock results in production of toxic and inhibitory sulphides through the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Measures currently applied at Norrköping biogas plant to optimise the degradation of thin stillage include: i) use of mesophilic temperature and addition of hydrochloric acid, ii) use of long hydraulic retention time and iii) addition of iron and trace elements.
This thesis investigated how to obtain a more efficient biogas process treating thin stillage, with Norrköping biogas plant as the model plant. It also explored the role of SRB in the anaerobic process at high nitrogen content and sought to identify optimal conditions for ammonia-tolerant methane-producing microorganisms. This was done by measuring SRB abundance in several large-scale biogas processes to identify conditions resulting in reduced numbers. In parallel, the effects of increasing temperature and organic load, calcium addition and a two-stage strategy were evaluated in laboratory studies.
The results showed a correlation between high ammonia level and temperature with decreased abundance of SRB, but none of the operating strategies tested proved successful in repressing sulphate reduction. However, increasing ammonia and/or organic loading rate influenced both the acetogenic and methanogenic community, including potential SAOB. Moreover, increasing the temperature to 44 ºC resulted in increased abundance of thermotolerant SAOB and their partner methanogen and higher biogas yield (+22%). A maximum ammonia threshold concentration of approximately 1.1 g L-1 was identified. Application of the findings reported in this thesis has resulted in increased process stability in biogas plants in Sweden.
Two stage anaerobic digestion for reduced hydrogen sulphide production
Författare: Moestedt J., Nordell E., Hallin S., Schnürer A.
Tidskrift: Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Sammanfattning:
Background: This study evaluated a two-stage process as an alternative to single-stage anaerobic degradation, with the aim of separating sulphidogenesis and methanogenesis while treating a mixture of organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and thin stillage. For full-scale applications, no pH regulation was applied. The hydrolytic/acidogenic stage was evaluated with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) between 3–15 days, with and without recirculation of methanogenic stage reactor material.
Results: Homoacetogenesis dominated in the hydrolytic/acidogenic stage. However, sulphate reduction was unsuccessful. Using a two-stage approach with OFMSW at a HRT of 10 days in the first stage and 28 days in the second stage resulted in a 12% increase in specific methane production and a 6% increase in methane content. The two-stage process with thin stillage was less effective, probably because of decreasing pH (<4) in the first stage.
Conclusion: Two-stage operation resulted in too low pH (~4) for successful sulphate reduction in the first stage. However the resulting pH and applied organic loading rate caused homoacetogenesis to dominate producing acetate as a favourable energy carrier between the stages.
Effects of trace element addition on process stability during anaerobic co-digestion of OFMSW and slaughterhouse waste
Författare: Moestedt J., Nordell E., Shakeri Yekta S., Lundgren J., Martí M., Sundberg C., Ejlertsson J., Svensson B. H., Björn A.
Tidskrift: Waste Management
Sammanfattning:
This study used semi-continuous laboratory scale biogas reactors to simulate the effects of trace-element addition in different combinations, while degrading the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and slaughterhouse waste. The results show that the combined addition of Fe, Co and Ni was superior to the addition of only Fe, Fe and Co or Fe and Ni. However, the addition of only Fe resulted in a more stable process than the combined addition of Fe and Co, perhaps indicating a too efficient acidogenesis and/or homoacetogenesis in relation to a Ni-deprived methanogenic population. The results were observed in terms of higher biogas production (+9%), biogas production rates (+35%) and reduced VFA concentration for combined addition compared to only Fe and Ni. The higher stability was supported by observations of differences in viscosity, intraday VFA- and biogas kinetics as well as by the 16S rRNA gene and 16S rRNA of the methanogens.
Co-digestion of manure and industrial waste – The effects of trace element addition
Författare: Nordell E., Nilsson B., Nilsson Påledal S., Karisalmi K., Moestedt J.
Tidskrift: Waste Management
Sammanfattning:
Manure is one of the most common substrates for biogas production. Manure from dairy- and swine animals are often considered to stabilize the biogas process by contributing nutrients and trace elements needed for the biogas process. In this study two lab-scale reactors were used to evaluate the effects of trace element addition during co-digestion of manure from swine- and dairy animals with industrial waste. The substrate used contained high background concentrations of both cobalt and nickel, which are considered to be the most important trace elements. In the reactor receiving additional trace elements, the volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration was 89% lower than in the control reactor. The lower VFA concentration contributed to a more digested digestate, and thus lower methane emissions in the subsequent storage. Also, the biogas production rate increased with 24% and the biogas production yield with 10%, both as a result of the additional trace elements at high organic loading rates. All in all, even though 50% of the feedstock consisted of manure, trace element addition resulted in multiple positive effects and a more reliable process with stable and high yield.
Pharmaceutical residues in sewage sludge: Effect of sanitization and anaerobic digestion
Författare: Malmborg, J., & Magnér, J.
Tidskrift: Journal of Environmental Management
Sammanfattning:
The fate of pharmaceutical residues in treatment of WWTP sludge was evaluated during mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) and six sanitization technologies (pasteurization, thermal hydrolysis, advanced oxidation processes using Fenton's reaction, ammonia treatment, thermophilic dry digestion, and thermophilic anaerobic digestion). Sludge spiked with a selection of 13 substances was used and in total 23 substances were detected. A correlation between substance lipophilicity and sludge partitioning was found after sample centrifugation, with e.g., SSRI drugs (90-99%) and estrogens (96-98%) mainly found in the solid phase. A correlation between lipophilicity and persistence of pharmaceutical residues during AD was also detected, indicating that hydrophobic substances are less available to degrading microorganisms. Overall, AD was found to be the most effective technology in reducing a wide spectrum of organic substances (in average ca 30% reduction). Similar effects were obtained for both AD treatments, suggesting that temperature (mesophilic or thermophilic) is less important for micropollutant reduction.
Advanced oxidation processes using Fenton's reaction also affected several compounds, including substances showing general stability over the range of treatments such as carbamazepine, propranolol, and sertraline. Pasteurization, ammonia treatment, and thermophilic dry digestion exhibited relatively modest reductions. Interestingly, only thermal hydrolysis efficiently removed the ecotoxicologically potent estrogenic compounds from the sludge.
Författare: Moestedt J., Malmborg J., Nordell E.
Tidskrift: Energies
Sammanfattning:
To optimize commercial-scale biogas production, it is important to evaluate the performance of each microbial step in the anaerobic process. Hydrolysis and methanogenesis are usually the rate-limiting steps during digestion of organic waste and by-products. By measuring biogas production and methane concentrations on-line in a semi-continuously fed reactor, gas kinetics can be evaluated. In this study, the rate constants of the fermentative hydrolysis step (kc) and the methanogenesis step (km) were determined and evaluated in a continuously stirred tank laboratory-scale reactor treating food and slaughterhouse waste and glycerin. A process additive containing Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ was supplied until day 89, after which Ni2+ was omitted.
The omission resulted in a rapid decline in the methanogenesis rate constant (km) to 70% of the level observed when Ni2+ was present, while kc remained unaffected. This suggests that Ni2+ mainly affects the methanogenic rather than the hydrolytic microorganisms in the system. However, no effect was initially observed when using conventional process monitoring parameters such as biogas yield and volatile fatty acid concentration. Hence, formation rate constants can reveal additional information on process performance and km can be used as a complement to conventional process monitoring tools for semi-continuously fed anaerobic digesters.
Publicerat 2014
Comparison of operating strategies for increased biogas production from thin stillage
Författare: Moestedt J., Nordell E., Schnürer A.
Tidskrift: Journal of Biotechnology
Sammanfattning:
The effect of increasing organic loading rate (OLR) and simultaneously decreasing hydraulic retention time (HRT) during anaerobic digestion of sulphur- and nitrogen-rich thin stillage was investigated during operation of continuously stirred tank laboratory reactors at two different temperatures. The operating strategies and substrate were set in order to mimic an existing full-scale commercial biogas plant in Sweden. The reactors were operated for 554–570 days with a substrate mixture of thin stillage and milled grain, resulting in high ammonium concentrations (>4.5 g L−1). Initially, one reactor was operated at 38 °C, as in the full-scale plant, while in the experimental reactor the temperature was raised to 44 °C. Both reactors were then subjected to increasing OLR (from 3.2 to 6.0 g VS L−1 d−1) and simultaneously decreasing HRT (from 45 to 24 days) to evaluate the effects of these operational strategies on process stability, hydrogen sulphide levels and microbial composition. The results showed that operation at 44 °C was the most successful strategy, resulting in up to 22% higher methane yield compared with the mesophilic reactor, despite higher free ammonia concentration. Furthermore, kinetic studies revealed higher biogas production rate at 44 °C compared with 38 °C, while the level of hydrogen sulphide was not affected. Quantitative PCR analysis of the microbiological population showed that methanogenic archaea and syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacteria had responded to the new process temperature while sulphate-reducing bacteria were only marginally affected by the temperature-change.
Publicerat 2013
Biogas Production from Thin Stillage on an Industrial Scale—Experience and Optimisation
Författare: Moestedt, J., Nilsson Påledal, S., Schnürer, A., Nordell, E.
Tidskrift: Energies
Sammanfattning:
With the increasing demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste treatment, biogas production is expanding. Approximately four billion litres of bio-ethanol are produced annually for vehicle fuel in Europe, resulting in the production of large amounts of stillage residues. This stillage is energy-rich and can be used for biogas production, but is a challenging substrate due to its high levels of nitrogen and sulphate. At the full-scale biogas production plant in Norrköping, Sweden (Svensk Biogas i Linköping AB), thin grain stillage is used as a biogas substrate. This paper describes the plant operation and strategies that have been implemented to digest thin stillage successfully. High ammonia concentrations in the digester have resulted in syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) becoming the major pathway for acetate degradation. Therefore, a long hydraulic retention time (HRT) (40–60 days) is used to allow the syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacteria time to grow. The high sulphate levels in thin stillage result in high levels of hydrogen sulphide following degradation of protein and the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), the presence of which has been confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis.
To optimise biogas production and maintain a stable process, the substrate is diluted with tap water and co-digested with grain residues and glycerine to keep the ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) concentration below 6 g L−1. Combined addition of iron, hydrochloric acid and cobalt successfully precipitates sulphides, reduces ammonia toxicity and supplies microorganisms with trace element. Mesophilic temperature (38 °C) is employed to further avoid ammonia toxicity. Together, these measures and doubling the digester volume have made it possible to increase annual biogas production from 27.7 TJ to 69.1 TJ.
Zeolites relieves inhibitory stress from high concentrations of long chain fatty acids
Författare: Nordell E., Hansson A., Karlsson M.
Tidskrift: Waste Management
Sammanfattning:
Protein and fat rich slaughterhouse waste is a very attractive waste stream for the production of biogas because of the high biochemical methane potential of the substrate. The material has however some drawbacks as the sole material for biogas production due to the production of several process disturbing metabolites such as ammonia, sulfides and long chain fatty acids. We can in this work present results that show that zeolites have the potential to relieve inhibitory stress from the presence of long chain fatty acids. Moreover, the results strongly indicate that it is mainly acetic acid consumers that are most negatively affected by long chain fatty acids and that the mechanism of stress relief is an adsorption of long chain fatty acids to the zeolites. In addition to this, it is shown that the effect is immediate and that only a small amount of zeolites is necessary to cancel the inhibitory effect of long chain fatty acids.
Författare: Moestedt, J., Nilsson Påledal, S., & Schnürer, A.
Tidskrift: Bioresource Technology 132 (2013) 327-332
Sammanfattning:
This study evaluated the effects of operational parameters and type of substrate on the abundance of sulphate-reducing bacteria in 25 industrial biogas digesters using qPCR targeting the functional dissimilatory sulphite reductase gene. The aim was to find clues for operational strategies minimizing the production of H2S. The results showed that the operation, considering strategies evaluated, only had scarce effect on the abundance, varying between 10(5) and 10(7) gene copies per ml. However, high ammonia levels and increasing concentration of sulphate resulted in significantly lower and higher levels of sulphate-reducing bacteria, respectively.
Publicerat 2008
Författare: Karlsson, A., Vallin, L., & Ejlertsson, J.
Tidskrift: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 33 (2008) 953-962
Sammanfattning:
The production of H2 from food residues and manure has been optimised using a central composite face-centred (CCF) design. In all 17 assays were run, varying the temperature (20, 37 and 55 {ring operator} C), hydraulic retention time (2, 5 and 8 days) and N2-flow rates (5, 25 or 125 mL/min). Completely stirred tank reactors (2 L) were operated for three hydraulic retention times and hydrogen production was determined during the course of a 24-h period before termination. The concentrations of H2, CH4 and volatile fatty acids were measured, together with pH, throughout the experiment. A temperature of 55 {ring operator} C, combined with a sparging rate of 125 mL/min, and a hydraulic retention time of 2 days resulted in the highest hydrogen formation. The maximal production experimentally obtained was 16.5 mL H2/g VS. A model was calculated from the data with a squared correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.97 and a predictive power of 0.64 (Q2). © 2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.