The Effect of Temperature on Continuously Expanding Anaerobic Digestion (I)

A Comparison of Characteristics from Batch Operation

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of temperature on the methane yield and production rate in 1L batch digesters. Two trials were conducted using both substrates of pre-digested dairy manure slurry from a high loading continuously fed digester and raw dairy manure slurry. Digester temperature were 42.5, 35, 20, 15, 10 and 5°C.
The results showed that the methane yield was drastically lower for temperatures below 20°C. The methane production rate increased as the digester temperature was increased and an exponential relationship was obtained.