Application of Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 for describing an existing biogas power plant

•Pragmatic approach was developed to reduce the amount of determined parameters.•Common hydrolysis kinetic constants were determined for six substrates.•Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 was used to model biogas production.•Common hydrolysis kinetic constants indicated satisfactory fit for a new substance.•Applicability of the model for modelling existing biogas power plants is confirmed.

Pragmatic approach was adopted in order to reduce the amount of parameters necessary for determination, prior to simulation with Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). As a result common kinetic constants describing hydrolysis phase, applicable for a wide range of substrates, were determined and tested. Afterwards, this simulation methodology was tested against industrial scale biogas power plant, with 7 dam3 fermenter size, and feed with cattle manure and food waste. The result confirmed the applicability of ADM1 with modified kinetic constants in describing an existing biogas power plant.