MODELACIÓN DE PROCESOS DE CO-DIGESTIÓN ANAEROBIA

Abstract

Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD), the simultaneous anaerobic digestion of two or more substrates, improves the economic viability of AD plants increasing the methane production. The growth of this technology led to the development of new models capable of reproducing the process. In this work, a critical review of anaerobic co-digestion models has been carried out. The majority of the models are modifications of ADM1 focusing on disintegration and hydrolysis processes; the inclusion of new fermentable substrates such as phenol, glycerol or lactate; precipitation processes or sulphate reducing bacteria. In addition, other models such as GISCOD or BNRM2 have been studied.

Based on this review, a model capable of reproducing AcoD process was developed. This new model is characterized by 25 biological processes, including among other two disintegration processes, for two different substrate, and sulphate reducing processes; and 5 gas-transfer processes. To evaluate its capacity, a transitory simulation was carried out using bibliographic data.