RESEARCH ARTICLE


Use of Alkali-activated Aluminosilicatematerialto Enhancebiogas Production from Acidic Whey



K. Rugele1, 2, *, E. Skripsts1, L. Mezule1, P. Pitk3, D. Bajare4, T. Juhna1
1 Department of Water Engineering and Technology, Riga Technical University, Azenes street 16/20, Riga, LV-1016, Latvia
2 Institute of General Chemical Engineering, Riga Technical University, Azenes 14, Riga, LV-1048, Latvia
3 Department of Chemistry, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Harjumaa, 12618, Estonia
4 Institute of Materials and Structures, Chair of Building Materials and Products, Riga Technical University, Azenes street 16/20, Riga, LV-1048, Latvia


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Creative Commons License
© 2015 Rugele et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Water Engineering and Technology, Riga Technical University, Azenes street 16/20, Riga, LV-1048, Latvia,; Tel: +371 26536486; E-mail: kristine.rugele@rtu.lv


Abstract

The effect of the addition of novel alkali-activated material (AAM) granules to provide additional buffering capacity, pH stability and increased methane yields in batch scale anaerobic digestion was investigated.The experiments were carried out with 20%, 30% and 40% of acidic whey in 500 ml batch reactors by a single addition of AAM granules (diameter from 2 to 8 mm) at 37 ± 0.5x00B0;C during 30 days. Presence of the AAM in the batch reactors allowedto maintain optimal pH, thus increasingthe yield and rate of methane formation from acid whey.

Keywords: Acid whey, alkali-activated material, anaerobic digestion, biogas.