Anaerobic digestion of semi-solid organic waste: biogas production and itspurification

The main objective of the present experimental investigation was to evaluat e the effects of using different bacteria inoculums at identical technical settings on the anaerobic digestion process for the treatment of semisolid organic waste available from the orthofruit market. As a possible means to improve the biogas production, as well as reduce their pollution potential, the idea of using recycled digested sludge from the reactor, along with th e orthofruit waste, while operating the reactor at maximum retention period has been applied. Purification of the biogas produced was done by means of CO2 adsorption, resulting in a higher CH4/CO2 ratio and, thus, improving i ts use as fuel for power generation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rig hts reserved.