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Micro-AD? First definitions of the sepcifications published!

Micro-AD? First Definitions Of The Sepcifications Published!

As a preliminary work for the definition of DECISIVE micro-anaerobic digestion process, IRSTEA published a first report presenting the first definitions of the specifications for micro-AD.

The report proposes an overview of exsiting micro-AD schemes, lists the main technical, regulatory and waste related constraints of the DECISIVE process in order to propose a first design of the micro-AD unit. The report also details a scheme of energy production and describes economic features of the existing micro-AD solutions.

Based on the listed constraints, namely the fact food waste is the main substrate to be treated and the lack of space in urban areas due to heavy land pressures, it is proposed to use a solid state anaerobic digestion process and to avoid the use of pre-treatment (storage, sorting, shredding) as much as possible. This means that important efforts will be required to ensure the quality of the collected food waste. The consortium will therefore have to work out specific solutions to address this issue.

When it comes to digestate, two main challenges have been identified:

  • The need to foreseen a hygenisation step in order to comply with the animal by-product regulation;
  • The need to resort to a separation step to obtain a solid phase that can be transported and/or treated in a solid-state fermentation unit at acceptable cost. This also means that local outlets for the liquid fraction would have to be found before setting the plant.

Finally, the treatment capacity of the DECISIVE process is proposed to range between 50 t/yr and 200 t/yr, the larger units could fit for larger bio-waste producers or larger areas.

A laboratory prototype will be developed and implemented by IRSTEA based on these specifications in order to test and optimise the micro-AD process.

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