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US 2013/0260433 A1Published application
High rate anaerobic digester system and method
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorRuihong Zhang
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Abstract
An anaerobic digester system for producing a biogas from organic material is disclosed. The system includes a hydrolysis reactor comprising therein acidogenic and hydrolytic bacterial culture for which the organic material is a hydrolysis substrate, a biogasification reactor comprising therein acetogenic and methanogenic bacterial culture, and a biostabilization reactor comprising therein a methanogenic bacterial culture. The operating conditions of the biostabilization reactor are tailored to increase the digestion rate and energy conversion efficiency of the system. A method of using the system is also disclosed.
Claims41
An anaerobic digester system for producing a biogas from organic material, said system comprising:
- a hydrolysis reactor comprising therein hydrolytic bacterial culture for which the organic material is a hydrolysis substrate, the hydrolysis reactor further comprising:
- a hydrolysis inlet port for receiving the organic material;
- a first hydrolysis outlet port for discharging hydrolysis effluent from the hydrolysis reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the hydrolysis reactor;
- a biogasification reactor comprising therein acetogenic and methanogenic bacterial culture, the biogasification reactor further comprising:
- a biogasification reactor inlet port for receiving the hydrolysis effluent from the hydrolysis reactor outlet port;
- a biogasification reactor outlet port for discharging biogasification effluent from the biogasification reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the biogasification reactor;
- and
- a biostabilization reactor comprising therein a methanogenic bacterial culture, the biostabilization reactor further comprising:
- a first biostabilization reactor inlet port for receiving the biogasification effluent from the biogasification reactor outlet port;
- a biostabilization reactor outlet port for discharging biostabilization effluent from the biostabilization reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the biostabilization reactor.
13 more elements
An anaerobic digester system for producing a biogas from organic material, said system comprising:
- a hydrolysis reactor comprising therein a bacterial culture for producing a biogas from organic material comprising biodegradable solids, the hydrolysis reactor further comprising:
- a hydrolysis inlet port for receiving the organic material;
- a hydrolysis outlet port for discharging hydrolysis effluent from the hydrolysis reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the hydrolysis reactor;
- a biogasification reactor comprising therein bacterial culture for producing biogas from organic material comprising biodegradable solids, the biogasification reactor further comprising:
- a biogasification reactor inlet port for receiving the hydrolysis effluent from the hydrolysis reactor outlet port;
- a biogasification reactor outlet port for discharging biogasification effluent from the biogasification reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the biogasification reactor;
- and
- a biostabilization reactor comprising therein a bacterial culture for producing biogas from organic material essentially free of biodegradable solids, the biostabilization reactor further comprising:
- a biostabilization reactor inlet port for receiving the biogasification effluent from the biogasification reactor outlet port;
- a biostabilization reactor outlet port for discharging biostabilization effluent from the biostabilization reactor;
- and
- a gas vent for discharging the biogas from the biostabilization reactor.
13 more elements
A method for producing a biogas comprising:
- delivering the organic material to the hydrolysis reactor of the system of any of the above claims as a feedstock;
- incubating a hydrolysis mixture comprising the hydrolysis effluent and the acidogenic and hydrolytic bacterial culture under anaerobic conditions to produce hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and the hydrolysis effluent;
- transferring at least a portion of the hydrolysis effluent to the biogasification reactor;
- incubating a biogasification mixture comprising the hydrolysis effluent and the acetogenic and methanogenic bacterial culture under anaerobic conditions to produce methane, carbon dioxide, and the biogasification effluent;
- transferring at least a portion of the biogasification effluent to the biostabilization reactor;
- and
- incubating a biostabilization mixture comprising the biogasification effluent and the biostabilization methanogenic bacterial culture under anaerobic conditions to produce methane and the biostabilization effluent.
4 more elements
A biostabilization reactor system for producing a biogas from a partially-digested organic material, said reactor system comprising:
- a vessel including an inlet for mixing the partially-digested organic material with a biostabilization bacterial culture for biogasification of the organic material;
- a gas vent for discharging biogas resulting from the biogasification;
- and
- an outlet port for discharging liquid effluent resulting from the biogasification from the vessel;
- wherein the partially-digested organic material has been submitted to methanogenesis with a mixture of acetogenic and methanogenic bacterial culture upstream from the vessel and the biostabilization bacterial culture is a methanogenic bacterial culture.
2 more elements
A method for producing a biogas which is a member selected from methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and combinations thereof, said method comprising:
- delivering a feedstock, a portion of which comprises ground solid organic material, to a hydrolysis reactor, the hydrolysis reactor comprising hydrolytic and acetogenic bacterial culture for which the solid organic material is a hydrolysis substrate;
- incubating a hydrolysis mixture comprising the feedstock and the hydrolytic and acetogenic bacterial culture for a period of time and under sufficient anaerobic conditions to produce hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and a hydrolysis effluent;
- transferring a first portion of the hydrolysis effluent to a biogasification reactor comprising therein acetogenic and methanogenic biogasification bacterial culture;
- incubating a biogasification mixture comprising a second portion of said hydrolysis effluent and the biogasification bacterial culture for a period of time and under sufficient anaerobic conditions to produce methane, carbon dioxide, and a biogasification effluent;
- transferring at least a portion of the biogasification effluent to a biostabilization reactor comprising therein a biostabilization bacterial culture;
- and
- incubating a biostabilization mixture comprising the biogasification effluent and the biostabilization bacterial culture for a period of time and under sufficient anaerobic conditions to produce methane and carbon dioxide.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.