Energy balance of a two-phase anaerobic digestion process for energy crops

This article deals with the digestion of energy crops in a two-phase biogas process based on an anaerobic leach-bed reactor combined with an anaerobic filter. The biogas process is a microbiological conversion of biomass into methane and carbon dioxide. This process is carried out by different microorganisms and can be divided into four steps which normally take place in only one digester. To be able to digest difficult energy crops by mono-digestion and to meet the different needs of the several bacteria, which take part in the four-step process of the methane production, the process was divided into two phases: (i) an anaerobic batch leach-bed phase, where the leachate was produced and (ii) an anaerobic filter, where the organic fraction of the leachate was converted into biogas. Considering the results of the experiments, the two-phase digestion of energy crops exhibited stable digestion behavior. No biological imbalance of the process, e. g. due to a sudden change of substrate, was detected either in the leach bed or in the anaerobic filter. Variation in suitability for two-phase fermentation with an anaerobic batch leach-bed reactor was observed for various substrates. The different substrates varied in their influence on acid formation and concentration as well as an influence on the course of the pH value. Therefore, an effect on the distribution of energy to the phases could be observed.