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Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Biogas production from chicken manure and food solid waste has grabbed the attention of engineers and managers globally because of the substantial advantages in achieving environmental protection, generation of energy and Green House Gas emission reductions. However, there are a number of problems involved in scaling up experimental Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants to field level plants. One of the major problems associated with AD is mixing, which is a key component in segregating synthesized gas and biomass from digester liquid, enhancing homogeneity and in ensuring adequate contact between bacteria and substrate in the Anaerobic Digestion. Besides this, temperature plays a vital role in enhancing the action of microbial species in order to initiate and continue the digestion process. Sometimes it requires increasing temperature from mesophilic to thermophilic condition for obtaining a higher concentration of methane in raw biogas. But, as the digester is an opaque system, it is difficult to design and maintain correct temperature range in the reactor. Such situations are well suited to the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis, where models can be utilized to realize the rheological behaviour of the sludge at the suitable temperature range (including lower and higher temperature) in terms of vector field pattern of the slurry. To achieve such an intent, Reynold’s Averaged Nevier-Stokes equation and k-ε turbulence model was used in CFD simulation. The goal of this paper is to understand the rheological pattern of variation of the velocity of the slurry particles with temperature. Besides, this study reveals the initial and stable temperature condition in enhancing biogas production, which can be applied in the near future in both laboratory scales and industrial scales of biogas production in order to curtail energy crisis in the modern civilization.

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