Airtight Storage Tank and Improved Method for Anaerobic Treatment of Slurry or Whey

A process for anaerobic treatment of manure or whey in biogas plants (24), for manure (36) generated on livestock farms or whey produced in dairies, wherein said method comprises:

• a. a preliminary phase (2) of collection, transfer, control, treatment, and storage of manure (36) or whey, which includes the following stages performed by a farmer user or automatically:
• Searching or locating by the farmer using an electronic device, the location (3) of at least one initial collection point of manure (36) or whey, where an airtight and mobile storage tank (33) is temporarily located;
• Obtaining an appointment (4) or confirmation of a pre-scheduled appointment via an electronic device to perform a discharge of manure (36) or whey at the first collection point located in the previous stage;
• Transport (5) of a volume of manure (36) or whey, performed by the farmer, to the first collection point at the place and time set in the appointment from the previous stage;
• Registration and identification (6) of the farmer user, using a telematic system, at the first collection point;
• a connection of the transport means of the manure (36) or whey to the first collection point and discharge of a determined first portion (7) of the volume of manure (36) or whey into the storage tank (33) under anaerobic conditions, during a first time interval;
• automated sampling and analysis (8) of the chemical, physical, and/or biological characteristics of the first portion of the discharged manure volume, such that when these values do not meet (8.2) quality limits the discharge (13) is denied and when they are included (8.1) within predetermined quality ranges, the following process stages are carried out;
• preservation of the sample of manure (36) or whey from each discharge for collection by the operator and subsequent reference and analysis in a specialized laboratory;
• a discharge (9) of the remaining portion of the volume of manure (36) or whey transported to the first collection point under anaerobic conditions, and;
• automated communication (11) of the storage tank (33) with a central server, notifying the quantitative and qualitative data of the discharge in real-time;
• b. a transport phase (1) under controlled anaerobic conditions of the manure (36) or whey, following the preliminary phase (2), which in turn includes the following stages executed by an operator:
• anaerobic discharge of the content of the storage tank (33) into a tanker vehicle (14) moved to it, when the filling volume of the tank reaches a predetermined value or when a predetermined maximum time interval of less than 48 h has elapsed since the first discharge in it;
• transfer (15) of the volume of manure (36) or whey removed with the tanker vehicle (14) to a predetermined location.