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The goal of the present study was to design a new stirred rises [1]. Over the past decade, a lot of researches on bio-
digester according to laboratory experiments. For this pur- mass energy especially biogas have resulted in development
pose, amount of methane produced from co-digestion of and establishment of industrial plants, powered via biogas
municipal waste, kitchen waste, and cow manure in differ- energy [1]. The researches focused on the development of
ent treatments was measured in laboratory conditions for anaerobic digestion by combining the wastes, optimizing the
378C. The substrate characteristics such as both total and vol- digester design and mixing process [2–6]. Some of researches
atile solids, pH, EC, amount of total carbon, nitrogen, phos- has been carried out on the biochemistry of anaerobic diges-
phorus, potassium, and sulfate which can manage the tion such as total solids (TS), total volatile solids (TVS), total
methane production were measured. The results showed that carbon (TC), nitrogen (TN), phosphorus (TP), sulfate (SO22 4 ),
the amounts of these characteristics were in suitable ranges potassium (TK), ratio TC/TN, pH, and temperature [2–4], and
for biogas production. The laboratory experiment results were good process monitoring can help control, optimize and
then used to design an anaerobic digester for single-family evaluate the biogas process very well.
homes based on energy efficiency and mixing cost. As a Although many residues of cultivation are used in the
result, the digester diameter, digester height, slurry height, anaerobic digestion processes (maize, vegetable waste. . .) in
baffle width, impeller diameter, blade width, blade length, co-digestion with animal manure to improve biogas yields
and volume of designed stirred digester were determined as [7,8]. Few examples exist about the co-digestion of cow
57, 90, 60, 4.75, 25, 4, 10 cm, and 229 L, respectively. Fur- manure, municipal waste and kitchen waste [9–11], while in
thermore, pitched blade turbine with six blades at 458 for countries these biomass are very popular. Therefore, effect
speed of 300 rpm not only required a low power but also of co-digestion of these substrates on biogas production is
produced a high torque. Therefore, while the designed biogas analyzed in this research in order to establish the best blend.
plant consumes low energy, it has high mixing cost. Not only a change in substrate combination but also
Nowadays, the researchers in bio-system engineering focus change in building digester can cause various problems in
on the designing biogas plant according to the direct relation anaerobic digestion, particularly with different mixing. While
among the power, torque, and energy. The novelty of the arti- there are little scientific literatures available to optimize a
cle is not only an evaluation of main substrate characteris- digester with different impellers according to different
tics on methane production, but also design a new digester mechanical parameters, especially power consumption [12].
with high methane content at suitable pressure based on the Most information about mixing systems in anaerobic
best relation among the equipment dimensions of digester digestion is obtained from lab-scale experiments with model
determined using shape factors. Furthermore study of impel- substrates, which give some information about large-scale
ler types and rotation speeds for providing high torque in low processes. Scientific publications on large-scale biogas plants
power and reducing energy consumption indirectly, and relevant substrates are rare because the systems are very
uses rule of thumb for power consumption to determine the complex. Therefore, the aims of the present work are: to set
best impeller type and rotation speed. VC 2016 American Insti- up different treatments based on mixture proportions in lab-
tute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 104–110, 2017 scale digesters; investigate the influence of substrate charac-
Keywords: anaerobic digestion, impeller, methane produc- teristics on biogas/methane production; design of the semi-
tion, rule of thumb industrial biogas plant aligned by the results of the lab-scale
digesters; select suitable impeller type and rotation speed
INTRODUCTION based on energy optimization and mixing cost.
Iran has abundant renewable energy resources, including
solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy, and biogas
MATERIAL AND METHODS
resources. By developing such energy sources developing
The biogas productions from preparing a slurry compris-
country can reduce their dependence on oil and natural gas,
creating energy portfolios that are less vulnerable to price ing a combination of cow manure, municipal waste, and
kitchen waste diluted with tap water in the lab-scale
digesters were analyzed in this research. Municipal waste
C 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
V was obtained from Water and Wastewater Authority in
104 January 2017 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy (Vol.36, No.1) DOI 10.1002/ep
secondary stage of purification with moisture content of were made according to the substrate density to depend the
94%. Its concentration was 1.024 g/mL measured according blends on substrate TS. In the previous researches the blends
to the literature [8]. Cow manure was obtained from the depended on the volumetric fraction of each substrate which
research farm of Shahrekord University, Iran with moisture is not very precise [8,9]. The trials were carried out under
content of 65%. It was diluted with tap water until its con- mesophilic conditions (37 6 18C) within a water bath for a
centration reach near the municipal waste concentration [11]. period of 40 days, and methane (CH4) production were
Kitchen waste was cut into particulates by cutter and grinded measured.
into small fine particles by a home type coffee grinder. Its The performance of biogas plants can be controlled by the
moisture content was 52%. It was diluted with tap water until variation in substrate characteristics. Any drastic change in these
its concentration reach near the municipal waste concentra- parameters can adversely affect the biogas production [13].
tion, too. The diluted substrates were first made anaerobic in Therefore, the physical and chemical properties of prepared
the three particular vessels (1.8 L) shown in Figure 1 using substrates before and after of digestion were also analyzed.
N2 99%. To this goal, N2 was injected to the vessels up to 5
min and the substrates was lasted 5 days. Then the prepared Substrate Characteristics
substrates were co-digested in air tight glass reactors of vol- The TS, TVS, pH, and EC were analyzed in accordance with
ume 250 mL by butyl rubber stoppers in the different sub- Standard Methods for the examination of water and wastewater
strate blends shown in Table 1 (7 treatments). Each (CEN/TS 14774; CEN/TS 14775 and CEN/TS 15148). TC, TN, TP,
combination was repeated three times. The substrate blends and TK were measured using titration method [14], Keldar appa-
ratus, Spectrophotometer, Flame photometer, respectively.
SO22
4 was determined using weighting. The CH4 content was
determined according to ppm and % Vol by a multifunction gas
detector brand GMI Ltd. model GT43 used in temperature limit
220–508C and 0–95% relative humidity.
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy (Vol.36, No.1) DOI 10.1002/ep January 2017 105
equation, changes in Ns and Dim have a major impact on vibrational frequency is called natural frequency. A mixer
required Pw to operate the impeller. The NP can be decided shaft must also deal with the forces of rotation. These speeds
depending on the slurry viscosity (l) indicated by the modi- (vibration and rational) are called “critical” because they are
fied Reynolds number (NRe). The NRe is defined as Eq. (2) the speeds at which the two frequencies reinforce one
[17]. another. This condition has the potential to set up destructive
force. The relationship of shaft length and impeller weight to
Ns Dim 2 q critical speed (Ncr) is given by the following equation [15].
NRe 5 (2)
l
2 vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Dsh u
uh E
Ncr 5146:4 t ih i (4)
where q is density of slurry. Figure 3 is a typical power cor- Lsh Lsh 1bs pDsh 2 q 4:31We
relation curve for mixed liquid batches [15]. Both of the axes Lsh 4 Lsh
are defined in logarithmic scale. The x-axis is the NRe calcu-
lated by Eq. (3). The y-axis is the experimentally determined where Dsh, Lsh, bs, We, and E are shaft diameter, shaft length,
NP. The plot indicates that at various stages of flow regimes; bearing spacing, equivalent weight of impellers, and modu-
laminar, transitional, and turbulent, the NP varies with the lus of elasticity, respectively.
NRe [17]. It can be seen from the plot, which as the NRe is
increased from early stages of turbulence (NRe > 10,000) to RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
increasingly larger NRe, the NP becomes constant [15,18]. The
NP constants in turbulence stage for the various impeller Substrate Characteristics
types according to impeller shape factors listed in [15]. The density of prepared substrates, municipal waste, cow
The higher torque (not necessarily higher Pw) equal with manure, and kitchen waste before the digestion were 1.068,
the higher mixer cost. In flow-controlled mixing processes, 1.093, and 0.996 g/mL, respectively. Corresponding values
torque equal with mixer flow 3 a constant, which is in turn
after 40 days of digestion were 1.005, 1.003, and 1.002 g/mL,
equal to process result [19]. The torque required for any mix-
respectively. It was shown that the density of municipal
ing process will affect the size and type of mixer drive and
waste and cow manure decreased after digestion while the
also have a direct impact on mixer shaft design.
density of kitchen waste increased. The reason for increasing
inhabitation of the density of kitchen waste is not fully
Pw 3 73025
Torque5 (3) known, but it is suggested that it may be due to the fact of
Ns solution the solid particles in water during the digestion.
Some of the physical and chemical parameters of the pre-
The mixer shaft vibrates when subjected to outside forces. It
pared substrates have been reported in Table 2. The results
has a predetermined vibrational frequency (harmonic),
showed that TS and TVS of kitchen waste were lower than
which remains constant as long as the composition of the
the other substrates. These findings agreed with other
shaft and the shaft-impeller relationship is not altered. This
researches [20] in which having the kitchen waste lower TS
and TVS contents, possibly because the kitchen waste stream
contains food with higher moisture contents such as fruits. It
was shown that amount of TS of municipal waste, cow
manure, and kitchen waste decreased 46, 57, and 46% after
digestion, while amount of TVS of these substrates decreased
82, 92, and 85%, respectively. The results are near to those
reported in other researches [20,21]. They have reported that
among 58–99% of the TVS of a slurry were degraded to CH4
and carbon dioxide.
As it is reported in Table 2, amounts of the TK and
SO22
4 in the prepared substrates were little and have not been
a negative effect on biogas production [22]. The amounts of
TP, TN, pH in the substrates were in a suitable range for bio-
Figure 3. The impeller power number changes with Reyn- gas production reported in researches [9,13,14]. Furthermore,
olds number [15]. amounts of TC, TN, TC/TN, TS, and TVS of the prepared
substrates were useful for high biogas production [9].
106 January 2017 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy (Vol.36, No.1) DOI 10.1002/ep
be 0.75 m3 equal to 33.48 mol in an hour (one mol of a gas
at STP occupies 22.4 L). The pressure of produced biogas in
the dead volume of digester (the remaining volume of
digester) based on Avogadro’s law is determined to be 16.85
bar, which is enough high for consumption.
The diameter, height, and wall thickness of selected cylin-
drical digester tank (220 L volume) were 57, 90, and 1 cm,
respectively. By using the digester tank size and the relations
exist among the dimensions of digester equipment, the
dimensions of large-scale digester details were determined as
described in Table 3. The dimensions were selected accord-
Figure 4. CH4 yield by anaerobic co-digestion of prepared ing to standard sizes choose from markets.
substrates in different treatments. Given that the material selected for the impeller is Alumi-
num, its E is equal to 70 Gpa and its density is 2.7 g/cm3.
Furthermore, Lsh, Dsh, bs, and We is suggested to 50, 2,
12.5 cm and 2 kg, respectively. By substitution these values
CH4 Production from Co-Digestion in Eq. (4), the Ncr was approximately equal to 46000 rpm,
Figure 4 shows the CH4 content in the biogas obtained which was much larger than rotation speeds of impellers
using a digestion period of 40 days at the different mixture using in the anaerobic digesters. Therefore, the shaft and
ratios. The mean amounts of CH4 content for treatments 1–7 impellers with the nearly same dimensions work safe.
(Table 1) were 4363.25, 875.13, 169.13, 3424.38, 2911.88, The dimensions of digester were then used to calculate
2714.38, and 193.5 ppm, respectively. As it is shown the CH4 the shape factors S1–S9 (Table 3) fully explained in literatures
content from municipal waste was the highest among the [15,17,25,26]. The shape factors in association with impeller
treatments (treatment 1) and after that the 1:1:1 combination types can be used to determine the NP, when it is constant.
of the three substrates (treatment 4) was more. The CH4 con- For the NRe > 10,000, the NP becomes constant. As it is
tent was low in the first seven days of digestion, and thereaf- shown in Eq. (2), the q and l of biogas slurry should be
ter rapidly increased over 85% within 22 days. The results determined to calculate the NRe.
show that the highest CH4 yields for all treatments were The q of biogas slurry was determined by averaging of
observed for 30–35 days of digestion which was agreed with three substrate densities (Eq. (6)) and l was determined in
previous researches [23]. 378C according to literature [15] equal to 0:719 31023 Nm2S .
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy (Vol.36, No.1) DOI 10.1002/ep January 2017 107
Table 3. Designed dimensions for large-scale digester.
Table 4. Power number of different impellers according to shape factors and Reynolds number [15].
Impeller NP
Marine propeller with four blades without pitch/angle 0.35
Curved full blade turbine with six blades without pitch/angle 2.7
Flat blade turbine with four blades without pitch/angle 6
Pitched blade turbine with six blades and 458 1.5
Flat paddle with two blades without pitch/angle 1.8
Table 5. Power required with safety factor of 1.5 and torque output for researched impellers and rotation speeds.
The bold and underlined values mentioned the cases providing high torque in low power.
were 3.623 and 3.361 pertained to marine propeller with parameters is a superior, cheaper, and faster method than
four blades without pitch/angle at rotation speed of 500 rpm examine a large-scale digester. Therefore, this approach is an
and pitched blade turbine with six blades 458 at rotation appropriate method which not only can reduce the cost of
speed of 300 rpm, respectively. Corresponding values of experiments and missed measurements but also can help the
power required were 0.221 and 0.205 hp, and their torque researchers to improve the digesters and optimize the
were 32.308 and 49.847 Nm. It is shown that the low power energy.
requirement and high torque output pertained to 458 pitched
blade turbine with six blades at rotation speed of 300 rpm. CONCLUSIONS
As a result the large-scale stirred digester was designed by Based on the finding in this research, it can be concluded
the dimensions of Dt, Ht, B, baffle distance from bottom of that the lab-scale experimental results were efficient to design
digester, a, b, V , number of baffles, and baffle angles equal an anaerobic industrial digester for production of biogas. The
to 57, 90, 4.75, 15.24, 25, 35 cm, 229 L, 4, and 908, respec- lab-scale results in this research showed that anaerobic diges-
tively. Furthermore, the best impeller type and rotation tion influenced by both substrate characteristics and substrate
speed were 458 pitched blade turbine with six blades (4 3 blends. As the amounts of TC, TN, TC/TN, TK, TP, SO22 4 , pH,
10 cm) and 300 rpm, respectively. TS, and TVS of the substrates were in a suitable range and the
It can be concluded that using merged the laboratory prepared municipal waste and 1:1:1 combination of these sub-
experimental results on small digesters, gas laws, and rela- strates could produce high CH4. By using the lab-scale experi-
tions among the dimensions of digester equipment could mental results, gas laws, and relationship between digester
design a new large digester for production the CH4 by opti- size and CH4 production, the dimensions of Ht, Dt, Z, B, Wb,
mizing the energy efficiency. Indeed, coupled these Lb, and V of large-scale designed digester were determined as
108 January 2017 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy (Vol.36, No.1) DOI 10.1002/ep
90, 57, 60, 4.75, 4, 10 cm, and 229 L, respectively. The volume 8. Chynoweth, D.P., Owens, J.M., & Legrand, R. (2001).
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NP Power number of impeller duction from anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with
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Pw Power 15. Pietranski, J.F. (2012). Mechanical agitator power require-
S Shape factor ments for liquid batches. PDHonline Course K103 (2
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V Digester volume
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Wb Blade width
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