Title:
Anaerobic Co-digestion of Biomass Cultivated on Degraded Lands with Fruit Waste for Biogas and Organic Fertilizer Production: A Circular Economy Case Study
Author(s):
Halmaciu, I.-A., Ionel, I, Dunca, E.-C., Radu, S.-M., Varga, L.A., Wächter, A.R.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
This study evaluates the anaerobic digestion potential of raspberry and a sea buckthorn waste collected from local producers in the Petro.ani area, Romania, and reframes the experiment as a rigorous screening study for wet seasonal residues. Laboratory characterization showed that raspberry contained about 15.20% total solids (TS) and 12.20% volatile solids (VS), whereas sea buckthorn contained about 11.40% TS and 10.38% VS, confirming that both substrates are highly moist but still rich in biodegradable organic matter. Mixture preparation was carried out with digestate inoculum according to VDI 4630 principles, and the target TS in the digester was increased from 4% to 8% in order to avoid excessive dilution and improve volumetric discrimination between substrates. Under mesophilic operation at 35 °C and a useful reactor volume of 1.8 L, the reported cumulative biogas production reached 12.39-13.04 L for raspberry and 33.29-34.91 L for the reported sea buckthorn reactors; the corresponding specific production was 6.20-6.52 and 16.64-17.46 (L/(L x day)), respectively. Thus, sea buckthorn displayed a markedly stronger volumetric response under the tested regime. However, the fluctuating daily curves also indicate that these rapidly fermentable fruit residues should be interpreted as analytically promising but operationally sensitive substrates. The paper therefore supports their valorisation primarily in controlled co-digestion or staged-digestion configurations and clearly limits its conclusions to the screening level supported by volumetric biogas.
Keywords:
agricultural residues, anaerobic digestion, biogas, circular economy
Topic:
Biomass Conversion for Bioenergy
Subtopic:
Anaerobic digestion for biogas and biomethane production
Event:
34th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
4CV.1.5
Pages:
663 - 670
ISBN:
978-88-89407-27-1
Paper DOI:
10.5071/34thEUBCE2026-4CV.1.5
Price:
FREE
