Semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of sugar beet byproduct and pig manure: Effect of the organic loading rate (OLR) on process performance

Anaerobic co-digestion of dried pellet of exhausted sugar beet cossettes (ESBC-DP) with pig manure (PM) was investigated in a semi-continuous stirred tank reactor (SSTR) under mesophilic conditions. Seven hydraulic retention times (HRT) from 20 to 5 days were tested with the aim to evaluate the methane productivities and volatile solids (VS) removal. The corresponding organic loading rates (OLR) ranged from 4.2 to 12.8 gVS/Lreactor d. The findings revealed that highest system efficiency was achieved at an OLR of 11.2 gVS/Lreactor d (6 days-HRT) with a methane production rate (MPR) and volatile solids (VS) reduction of 2.91 LCH4/Lreactor d and 57.5%, respectively. The HRT of 5 days was found critical for the studied process, which leads to volatile fatty acids (VFA) accumulation and sharp drop in pH. However, the increase of HRT permits the recovery of system.