Key Words: Anaerobic co-digestion; complex mixtures; two-stage anaerobic co-digestion; Extremum Seeking Control; combination of AD with photovoltaic energy.
Abstract. Anaerobic digestion is a biotechnological method by which various organic wastes can be used as feedstock for biogas production. Anaerobic co-digestion can be considered as the simultaneous anaerobic digestion of a mixture of two or more waste types as substrate and co-substrate. Over the past two decades, our multidisciplinary team has performed many experiments on anaerobic co-digestion of various organic wastes. Different ratios of organic waste mixtures, in binary and ternary mixtures, have been investigated in order to maximize the resulting methane. Experimental studies confirm that biogas yields and process stability can be significantly increased when using two or three-component mixtures depending on the feedstock types and the ratio between them. Another option for increasing energy yields is the two-stage process, in which hydrogen and methane are produced simultaneously. A very good opportunity in this direction theoretically provides also the so-called extremum seeking control, on which our team has achieved significant results. Our research group is currently working on a project exploring the possibilities of combining solar energy with photovoltaic energy for improvement of energy balance of model facilities representing livestock farms.
