Industrial scale garage-type dry fermentation of municipal solid waste to biogas

• Characteristics of MSW from new town are different from urban and rural waste.
• 1st industrial utilization of garage-type dry fermentation for treating MSW to biogas in China.
• The specific biogas yield of the feedstock was about 270 m3 CH4 t VS−1.
• The volumetric biogas production of the digesters and percolate tank was 0.72 and 2.22 m3 (m3 d)−1, respectively.

The objectives of this study was to through monitoring the 1st industrial scale garage-type dry fermentation (GTDF) MSW biogas plant in Bin County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China, to investigate its anaerobic digestion (AD) performance and the stability of process. After a monitoring period of 180 days, the results showed that the volumetric biogas production of the digesters and percolate tank was 0.72 and 2.22 m3 (m3 d)−1, respectively, and the specific biogas yield of the feedstock was about 270 m3 CH4 t VS−1, which indicated that the GTDF is appropriate for the Chinese MSW. This paper also raised some problems aimed at improving the process stability and AD efficiency.