Enhancing Agricultural Biogas Desulfurization: Improving Cost-Efficiency and Robustness Through Micro-Aeration with Psychrophilic Anaerobic Liquid/Solid Media

This study endeavors to develop an economical and user-friendly biological sulfide oxidation system and explore its mechanism for generating biological elemental sulfur under micro-aerobic conditions using psychrophilic anaerobically digested media (liquid/solid inoculums obtained from agricultural...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rajinikanth Rajagopal, Bernard Goyette
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Agriculture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/12/2113
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study endeavors to develop an economical and user-friendly biological sulfide oxidation system and explore its mechanism for generating biological elemental sulfur under micro-aerobic conditions using psychrophilic anaerobically digested media (liquid/solid inoculums obtained from agricultural livestock wastes) for sulfide-free biogas production. With an initial hydrogen sulfide concentration of 5000 ppm, a biogas flow rate ranging from 0.9 to 1.8 L/h-L<sub>inoculum-mix</sub>, and an air injection rate of 0.6–1% (oxygen concentration in biogas), a remarkable biodesulfurization efficiency of 99–100% was attained using solid inoculum as the biodesulfurization medium. This efficiency was achieved without compromising the methane quality in the treated biogas. Compared to liquid inoculum, solid inoculum requires less than half the volume and no mixing equipment, such as bubble column reactors. The biodesulfurization reactor requires only 1 m<sup>3</sup>, which is approximately 1.5% of the volume of a wet anaerobic digester and 3% of a dry anaerobic digester, while processing cow manure (Total Solids: 20%) at 1.03 m<sup>3</sup> of manure per day. Moreover, it can be operated at (19–20 °C), leading to substantial reductions in cost and footprint.
ISSN:2077-0472