Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

Review paper

Enhancement of biogas production from solid substrates

using dierent techniquesa review
Yadvika a, Santosh

a,*

, T.R. Sreekrishnan b, Sangeeta Kohli c, Vineet Rana

Centre for Rural Development & Technology, I.I.T., Delhi 1100016, India
Department for Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, I.I.T., Delhi 1100016, India
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T., Delhi 1100016, India
Received 31 July 2003; received in revised form 18 August 2003
Available online 19 March 2004

Abstract
Biogas, a clean and renewable form of energy could very well substitute (especially in the rural sector) for conventional sources of
energy (fossil fuels, oil, etc.) which are causing ecologicalenvironmental problems and at the same time depleting at a faster rate.
Despite its numerous advantages, the potential of biogas technology could not be fully harnessed or tapped as certain constraints are
also associated with it. Most common among these are: the large hydraulic retention time of 3050 days, low gas production in
winter, etc. Therefore, eorts are needed to remove its various limitations so as to popularize this technology in the rural areas.
Researchers have tried dierent techniques to enhance gas production. This paper reviews the various techniques, which could be
used to enhance the gas production rate from solid substrates.
2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Biogas production rate; Additives; Anaerobic lters; HRT

1. Introduction
In todays energy demanding life style, need for
exploring and exploiting new sources of energy which
are renewable as well as eco-friendly is a must. In rural
areas of developing countries various cellulosic biomass
(cattle dung, agricultural residues, etc.) are available in
plenty which have a very good potential to cater to the
energy demand, especially in the domestic sector. In
India alone, there are an estimated over 250 million
cattle and if one third of the dung produced annually
from these is available for production of biogas, more
than 12 million biogas plants can be installed (Kashyap
et al., 2003). Biogas technology oers a very attractive
route to utilize certain categories of biomass for meeting
partial energy needs. In fact proper functioning of biogas system can provide multiple benets to the users and
the community resulting in resource conservation and
environmental protection.
Biogas is a product of anaerobic degradation of organic substrates, which is one of the oldest processes used
*

Corresponding author. Fax: +91-11-26591121.

E-mail address: santoshsatya_iitd@hotmail.com (Santosh).

0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.02.010

for the treatment of industrial wastes and stabilization of

sludges. Since it is carried out by a consortium of
microorganisms and depends on various factors like pH,
temperature, HRT, C/N ratio, etc., it is a relatively slow
process. Lack of process stability, low loading rates, slow
recovery after failure and specic requirements for waste
composition are some of the other limitations associated
with it (Van der Berg and Kennedy, 1983). Anaerobic
fermentation being a slow process, a large HRT of 3050
days is used in conventional biogas plants. This leads to a
large volume of the digester and hence high cost of the
system. The decrease in gas generation during winter
season has been reported which, poses a serious problem
in the practical application of this technology. Kalia and
Singh (1996) found that biogas production reduced from
around 1700 l/day in MayJuly to around 99l/d in JanuaryFebruary. All this has resulted in restricted popularization of biogas technology in rural areas. Thus there
is a need to improve the overall eciency of anaerobic
digestion process in the biogas plants. This could be done
by several methods such as optimizing the various
operational parameters, satisfying the nutritional
requirements of microbes (Lettinga et al., 1980; Wilkie
and Colleran, 1986), using dierent biological and

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

chemical additives and by manipulating the feed proportions (Sanders and Bloodgood, 1965; Nyns, 1986).
Recirculation of digested slurry (washed out microbes)
back into the reactor and modication in the design of
existing biogas plants are some of the other ways to
improve the gas production in biogas plants. Recently,
eorts have been made to either reduce the HRT or enhance biogas production for the same HRT by incorporating xed lm matrices in the reactors, which help to
retain microbes in the reactors. Recently ultrasonication of wastewater has been found to enhance the removal of COD by almost 10% (McDermott et al., 2001).
A review of Indian advances in biogas technology was
prepared by Singh and Maheshwari (1995). This paper
presented a comprehensive view of the various methods,
which could be used to enhance the gas production rate
from the solid substrates.

2. Process and mechanism of biomethanation

The anaerobic biological conversion of organic matter occurs in three steps. The rst step involves the enzyme-mediated transformation of insoluble organic
material and higher molecular mass compounds such as
lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, fats, nucleic acids, etc.
into soluble organic materials, i.e. to compounds suitable for the use as source of energy and cell carbon such
as monosaccharides, amino acids and other simple organic compounds. This step is called the hydrolysis and
is carried out by strict anaerobes such as Bactericides,
Clostridia and facultative bacteria such as Streptococci,
etc. In the second step, acidogenesis, another group of
microorganisms ferments the break-down products to
acetic acid, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and other lower
weight simple volatile organic acids like propionic acid
and butyric acid which are in turn converted to acetic
acid. In the third step, these acetic acid, hydrogen and
carbon dioxide are converted into a mixture of methane
and carbon dioxide by the methanogenic bacteria (acetate utilizers like Methanosarcina spp. and Methanothrix
spp. and hydrogen and formate utilizing species like
Methanobacterium, Methanococcus, etc.).The three
stages of methane fermentation are shown in Fig. 1.

H2
COMPLEX
ORGANICS

CH4

ACETIC
ACID
HYDROLYSIS
AND
FERMENTATION

ACIDOGENESIS
AND DEHYDRO-GENATION

METHANE
FERMENTATION

Fig. 1. Dierent stages of methane fermentation.

3. Techniques for enhancing biogas production

Dierent methods used to enhance biogas production
can be classied into the following categories:
ii(i) Use of additives.
i(ii) Recycling of slurry and slurry ltrate.
(iii) Variation in operational parameters like temperature, hydraulic retention time (HRT) and particle
size of the substrate.
(iv) Use of xed lm/biolters.
3.1. Use of additives
Some attempts have been made in the past to increase
gas production by stimulating the microbial activity
using various biological and chemical additives under
dierent operating conditions. Biological additives include dierent plants, weeds (Gunaseelan, 1987), crop
residues, microbial cultures, etc., which are available
naturally in the surroundings. As such, generally these
are of less signicance in terms of their use in the habitat, however if used as additives in biogas plant could
improve its performance signicantly. The suitability of
an additive is expected to be strongly dependent on the
type of substrate.
3.1.1. Green biomass
Powdered leaves of some plants and legumes (like
Gulmohar, Leucacena leucocephala, Acacia auriculiformis, Dalbergia sisoo and Eucalyptus tereticonius) have
been found to stimulate biogas production between 18%
and 40% (SPOBD, China, 1979; Chowdhry et al., 1994).
Increase in biogas production due to certain additives
appears to be due to adsorption of the substrate on the
surface of the additives. This can lead to high-localized
substrate concentration and a more favourable environment for growth of microbes (Chandra and Gupta,
1997). The additives also help to maintain favourable
conditions for rapid gas production in the reactor, such
as pH, inhibition/promotion of acetogenesis and methanogenesis for the best yield, etc. Alkali treated (1%
NaOH for 7 days) plant residues (lantana, wheat straw,
apple leaf litter and peach leaf litter) when used as a
supplement to cattle dung resulted in almost twofold
increase in biogas and CH4 production (Dar and Tandon, 1987). Partially decomposed ageratum produced
43% and Euphorbia tirucalli L. produced 14% more gas
as compared to pure cattle dung (Kalia and Kanwar,
1989; Rajasekaran et al., 1989). Trujillo et al. (1993)
found that the addition of the tomato-plant wastes to
the rabbit wastes in proportion higher than 40% improved the methane production. Crop residues like
maize stalks, rice straw, cotton stalks, wheat straw and
water hyacinth each enriched with partially digested
cattle dung enhanced gas production in the range of 10

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

80% (El Shinnawi et al., 1989; Somayaji and Khanna,

1994). Babu et al. (1994) observed improvement in
biomethanation of mango processing wastes by several
folds by the addition of extracts of seeds of Nirmali,
common bean, black gram, guar and guargum at the
rate of 1500 ppm. Mixture of Pistia stratiotes and
cowdung (1:1) gave a biogas yield of 0.62 m3 /(m3 day)
(CH4 76.8%, HRT 15 days) (Zennaki et al., 1998).
Recently Sharma (2002) observed an increase of 4080%
in biogas production on addition of 1% onion storage
waste (OSW) to cattle dung in a 400-l oating drum
biogas reactor.
3.1.2. Microbial strains
Strains of some bacteria and fungi have also been
found to enhance gas production by stimulating the
activity of particular enzymes. Cellulolytic strains of
bacteria like actinomycetes and mixed consortia have
been found to improve biogas production in the range of
8.444% from cattle dung (Tirumale and Nand, 1994;
Attar et al., 1998). All the strains exhibited a range of
activity of all the enzymes involved in cellulose degradation, viz. C1 enzyme, exglucanase, endoglucanase, bglucosidase. It seemed that endoglucanase activity was
of central importance for the hydrolysis of cellulose.
Geeta et al. (1994) found that sugarcane bagasse pretreated with Phanerochaete chrysosporium for 3 weeks
under ambient temperature conditions produced higher
gas with cattle excreta. Dohanyos et al. (1997) examined
the use of cell lysate as a stimulating agent in anaerobic
degradation of municipal raw sludge, excess activated
sludge and their mixture. The eect of lysate is caused by
the still remaining activity of released enzymes and by
the stimulating properties of other compounds that are
present inside the cells. The improvement of CH4 yield
from thickened activated sludge ranged from 8.1% to
86.4% while in case of a mixture of thickened activated
sludge and primary sludge it was found to vary from 0%
to 24%.
3.1.3. Inorganic additives
Several inorganic additives that improve gas production have also been reported. Shimizu (1992) claimed
that higher concentration of bacteria could be retained
in the digester by the addition of metal cations since
cations increase the density of the bacteria, which are
capable of aggregating by themselves. Wong and
Cheung (1995) found that the plant with a higher content of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn) had a higher
CH4 yield than the control. The addition of iron salts at
various concentrations [FeSO4 (50 mM), FeCl3 (70 lM)]
have been found to enhance gas production rate
(Wodzinski et al., 1983; Patel et al., 1993; Rao and
Seenayya, 1994; Clark and Hillman, 1995). Nickel ions
(2.5 and 5 ppm) enhanced biogas up to 54% due to the
activity of Ni-dependent metallo-enzymes involved in

biogas production (Geeta et al., 1990). Addition of rock

phosphate (RP) proved superior to single super phosphate (SSP) while digesting rice straw in batch fermenters (Bardiya and Gaur, 1997). Malik et al. (1987)
obtained an increase of 811% by the addition of urea
and diammonium phosphate (DAP).
Certain adsorbents are also reported to improve gas
production for example Madamwar and Mithal (1986)
obtained a maximum enhancement of over 150% with
higher CH4 content (65% CH4 ) on addition of 10 g/l
commercial pectin. According to Kumar et al. (1987)
commercial charcoal Darco G-60 resulted in 17% and
34.7% increase in biogas in batch and semi continuous
fermenters, respectively. Also, the locally produced
wood charcoal (16% enhancement in biogas) was found
as good as the commercial charcoal in batch digesters.
Patel et al. (1992) found a trend of enhanced gas production with high CH4 content and lower euent BOD
and COD with increasing doses of dierent adsorbents
(gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, powdered activated
charcoal, pectin, kaolin, silica gel, aluminium powder,
bentonite and tale powder) on anaerobic digestion of
water-hyacinth-cattle dung. They observed (Patel and
Madamwar, 1994) a twofold increase in gas production
on addition of 4 g/l silica gel, with CH4 content of 72.8%
as compared to control (62%). Process stability increased with increasing levels of silica gel, indicating that
volatile acids were consumed at a faster rate in the
presence of an adsorbent.
Using Ca and Mg salts as energy supplements, CH4
production was enhanced and foaming was avoided
(Mathiesen, 1989). Dhawale (1996) found 2535%
enhancement in anaerobic digestion of manure by the
addition of Eosin blue dye at 0.1 lM concentration.
Gaddy (1994) found a new method for improving the
performance of anaerobic digestion of solid substrate. It
involved the addition of at least 1-chelating agent
(preferably 1100 lM, especially 10 lM) 1:2 diaminocyclohexane-N,N, tetraacetic acid, EDTA, citric acid or
nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA)) and at least one nutrient
(preferably 15000 lM (10 lM)) of iron, sulde, selenium or nickel, especially FeSO4 , FeCl2 , SeO2 or NiCl2 )
to a solid substrate for solubilizing solid nutrients to
enhance bacterial growth. Methane production can be
increased or smaller digesters can be used to achieve the
same methane production. Faster start up, greater stability and more rapid recovery from upsets were possible
by using this new method.
3.2. Gas enhancement through recycling of digested
slurry/slurry ltrate
The recirculation of digested slurry back into the
reactor has been shown to improve the gas production
marginally, since the microbes washed away are reintroduced back into the reactor, thereby providing an

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

additional microbial population. The recycling of the

digested slurry along with ltrate has also been tried out
to conserve water and to enhance biogas production
(Malik and Dahiya, 1990; Santosh et al., 1999). Kanwar
and Guleri (1994) reported that about 6065% more
biogas production can be obtained by simply recycling
the digested slurry in 1 m3 plug ow type pilot plants.
They suggested that recycling of digested slurry along
with fresh dung might help in overcoming the problem
of underfed biogas plants as well as in maintaining
higher gas production in winter season. They encountered no other problems like precipitation of substrate,
increase in acidity/alkalinity and ammonia toxicity.
Brummeler et al. (1992) suggested that leachate recycling
resulted in faster digestion rate while anaerobically
digesting solid organic waste in a biocell (pilot scale, 35
C). Scaling did not aect the rate of process, provided
leachate recycling was done at a rate of 0.3 m3 /(m3 day).
An increase of up to 18.8% in gas production (CH4
80%) was observed by Malik and Tauro (1995) when
predigested slurry was used along with 10% euent
slurry recycling in a 1 m3 daily fed oating drum biogas
digester (pilot plant, HRT 30 day). A 10-fold and
threefold increase in the degradation rate of mannitol
and lactic acid was observed by Jarvis et al. (1995) when
liquid recirculation (LR) was initiated in a silage-fedtwo-phase biogas plant. The number of hydrogenotrophic methanogens increased 10-fold while there was
an increase of ninefold in their activity. Liquefaction of
cellulose and hemicellulose was low from the start of
recirculation (3% and 20% reduction respectively) and
was not aected by Santosh et al. (1999) carried out
experiments on a plant of 1 cu.m capacity and found
that recycling of 50% slurry ltrate along with 10% digested slurry can lead to about 50% water conservation
and 10% increase in gas production.
3.3. Variation in operational parameters
The performance of biogas plant can be controlled by
studying and monitoring the variation in parameters like
pH, temperature, loading rate, agitation, etc. Any
drastic change in these can adversely aect the biogas
production. So these parameters should be varied within
a desirable range to operate the biogas plant eciently.
3.3.1. Temperature
3.3.1.1. Eect of temperature on biogas production.
Temperature inside the digester has a major eect on
the biogas production process. There are dierent temperature ranges during which anaerobic fermentation
can be carried out: psychrophilic (<30 C), mesophilic
(3040 C) and thermophilic (5060 C). However,
anaerobes are most active in the mesophilic and thermophilic temperature range (Mital, 1996; Umetsu et al.,
1992; Maurya et al., 1994; Takizawa et al., 1994; Desai

and Madamwar, 1994; Zennaki et al., 1996). The length

of fermentation period is dependent on temperature.
Angelidaki and Ahring (1994) observed that when the
NH3 load was high, reducing temperature below 55 C
resulted in an increase of biogas yield and better process
stability, as shown by the reduced VFA concentration.
Garba (1996) observed that methanogens were very
sensitive to sudden thermal changes, therefore, any
drastic change in temperature should be avoided.
Nozhevnikova et al. (1999) proposed a two step anaerobic treatment of cattle dung i.e. (i) acidogenic fermentation at high temperature (5582 C), and (ii)
separation of solid and liquid fractions and treating the
liquid manure under low temperature conditions (520
C). Long term adaptation of active psychrophilic
microbial communities was found to be essential for
ecient treatment of cattle dung at low temperature
(Nozhevnikova et al., 1999; Meher et al., 1994). Recently a review paper on biomethanation under psychrophilic conditions has been published (Kashyap
et al., 2003).

3.3.1.2. Installation technique for getting optimum temperature conditions. Most of the remedies mentioned in
the literature to enhance biogas production are aimed at
increasing the digester temperature to mesophilic range
(i.e. optimum temperature). It is noted that systematic
studies on biomethanation by psychrophilic microora
are lacking (Kashyap et al., 2003). Some precautions
taken during the installation of biogas plants and
coating them with insulating materials also helps in
keeping the temperature in the digester within the desired range (Molnar and Bartha, 1989). In order to increase gas yield, it is preferred to construct biogas plants
sun-facing and in a manner as to protect them from cold
winds. Biogas plants should be covered with locally
available crop residues for minimizing heat losses from
the plants. A simple technique of charcoal coating of
ground around the digester had been found to improve
gas production in KVIC biogas plant by 715% (Anand
and Singh, 1993). Installation of PVC greenhouse type
structure over a biogas plant allowed solar heating of
the substrate from 18 to about 37 C. It was possible to
obtain substantial increase in gas yield on a typical
winter day by covering the gas holder with a transparent
polyethylene sheet during sunshine hours and using a
movable insulating material during the o-sunshine
hours (Bansal, 1988; Tiwari et al., 1988). Desai (1988)
found that if the temperature of digester content could
be maintained at 40 C then it was possible to reduce the
HRT by over 40%. They found solar ponds to be helpful
in preventing heat losses during night and in maintaining digester temperature at desired level. Solar assisted
biogas plants achieve higher gas yield particularly during winter months (Tiwari and Chandra, 1986). Hot

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

water used in the slurry preparation also helps to improve the gas production.
3.3.2. pH
pH is an important parameter aecting the growth of
microbes during anaerobic fermentation. pH of the digester should be kept within a desired range of 6.87.2
by feeding it at an optimum loading rate. The amount of
carbon dioxide and volatile fatty acids produced during
the anaerobic process aects the pH of the digester
contents. For an anaerobic fermentation to proceed
normally, concentration of volatile fatty acids, acetic
acid in particular should be below 2000 mg/l. Jain and
Mattiasson (1998) found that above pH 5.0, the eciency of CH4 production was more than 75%. The twophase anaerobic reactor using cheese whey and dairy
manure as substrate operated as a single-phase reactor
when the pH was not controlled while when pH of whey
was controlled in the methanogenic stage, it operated as
a two-stage two-phase reactor (Ghaly, 1996). The major
problem related to drastic reduction in pH due to rapid
acidication of onion storage waste (OSW) was overcome by Sharma (2002) by mixing cattle dung with
OSW in a suitable ratio so that medium is well buered
to take care of acid accumulation.
3.3.3. Pretreatment
Feedstocks sometimes require pretreatment to increase the methane yield in the anaerobic digestion
process. Pretreatment breaks down the complex organic
structure into simpler molecules which, are then more
susceptible to microbial degradation. Pretreatment
could be done in any of the following ways:
ii(i)
i(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
i(v)

Pretreating the feedstock with alkali or acid.

Predigestion of fresh substrate.
Thermochemical pretreatment.
Ultrasonic pretreatment.
Ensilage of feed.

Dar and Tandon (1987) observed an improvement of

3142% in microbial digestibility and an almost twofold
increase in biogas when alkali treated (1% NaOH for 7
days) plant residues were used as a supplement to cattle
dung. Predigestion of fresh cattle slurry in a batch system for 12 days at 3035 C increased acetate production and the use of this slurry as a feed material for
anaerobic digesters increased biogas production by 17
19% and CH4 content from 6875% to 7586% (Singh
et al., 1983). Patel et al. (1993) found that thermochemical pretreatment of water hyacinth improved
biomethanation and the best results were obtained when
water hyacinth was treated at pH 11.0 and at 121 C.
Ultrasonic pretreatment of waste activated sludge for 30
min resulted in a 64% increase in methane production
(Wang et al., 1999). Ensilage of mango peel for 6 months

helped in the pretreatment of polymeric constituents and

conversion of major components of carbohydrates into
volatile fatty acids. It produced 58% more gas as compared to control (Madhukara et al., 1993).
3.3.4. Particle size
Though particle size is not that important a parameter as temperature or pH of the digester contents, it still
has some inuence on gas production. The size of the
feedstock should not be too large otherwise it would
result in the clogging of the digester and also it would be
dicult for microbes to carry out its digestion. Smaller
particles on the other hand would provide large surface
area for adsorbing the substrate that would result in
increased microbial activity and hence increased gas
production. Sharma et al. (1988) found that out of ve
particle sizes (0.088, 0.40, 1.0, 6.0 and 30.0 mm), maximum quantity of biogas was produced from raw materials of 0.088 and 0.40 mm particle size. Large particles
could be used for succulent materials such as leaves.
However, for other materials such as straws, large particles could decrease the gas production. The results
suggested that a physical pretreatment such as grinding
could signicantly reduce the volume of digester required, without decreasing biogas production (Gollakota and Meher, 1988; Moorhead and Nordstedt, 1993).
3.3.5. C:N ratio
It is necessary to maintain proper composition of the
feedstock for ecient plant operation so that the C:N
ratio in feed remains within desired range. It is generally
found that during anaerobic digestion microorganisms
utilize carbon 2530 times faster than nitrogen. Thus to
meet this requirement, microbes need a 2030:1 ratio of
C to N with the largest percentage of the carbon being
readily degradable (Bardiya and Gaur, 1997; Malik
et al., 1987). Waste material that is low in C can be
combined with materials high in N to attain desired C:N
ratio of 30:1 (Barnett, 1978; Fry and Merill, 1973;
Gotass, 1956; Singh, 1974). Some studies also suggested
that C:N ratio varies with temperature. According to
study conducted by Idnani and Laura (1971) biogas
production from 0.5 kg of cow dung was almost doubled
from 17.2 to 31.5 l by addition of 200 ml of urine. Use of
urine soaked waste materials is particularly advantageous during winter months when gas production is
otherwise low.
3.3.6. Agitation
Stirring of digester contents needs to be done to ensure intimate contact between microorganisms and
substrate which ultimately results in improved digestion
process. Agitation of digester contents can be carried
out in a number of ways. For instance daily feeding of
slurry instead of periodical gives the desired mixing effect. Stirring can also be carried out by installing certain

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

mixing devices like scraper, piston, etc. in the plant. It is

possible to achieve mixing eect by incorporating a
nozzle for ushing slurry as provided in the German
design of SchmidtEggersgluss type biogas plant. Gas
recirculation has also been found to enhance mixing
and thus gas production (Mohanrao, 1974; Aubart and
Farinet, 1983; Van and Faber, 1996). Baier and
Schmidheiny (1997) used mechanical disintegration (wet
milling) to physically disrupt cellular material and observed that net biogas production was enhanced.
3.3.7. Seeding of biogas plant
It is often necessary to introduce enriched seeding
bacteria into the digester for starting up the anaerobic
fermentation process. Generally digested sludge from a
running biogas plant or a municipal digester, material
from well-rotted manure pit, or cow dung slurry is used
as seed. If during the operation volatile fatty acids are
accumulated due to overloading, this can be corrected
by reseeding and temporarily suspending the feeding of
digester or by adding lime in requisite quantities.
Addition of inoculum tends to improve both the gas
yield and methane content in biogas. It is possible to
increase gas yield and reduce retention period by addition of inoculum (Dangaggo et al., 1996; Kanwar and
Guleri, 1995; Kotsyurbenko et al., 1993).
3.3.8. Organic loading rate (OLR)
Gas production rate is highly dependent on loading
rate. Methane yield was found to increase with reduction in loading rate (Vartak et al., 1997a). In an another
study carried out in Pennsylvania on a 100 m3 biogas
plant operating on manure, when OLR was varied from
346 kg VS/day to 1030 kg VS/day, gas yield increased
from 67 to 202 m3 /day. There is an optimum feed rate
for a particular size of plant, which will produce maximum gas and beyond which further increase in the
quantity of substrate will not proportionately produce
more gas. According to Mohanrao (1974), a daily
loading rate of 16 kg VS/m3 of digester capacity produced 0.04 0.074 m3 of gas/kg of dung fed. A lab-scale
digester operating at dierent OLRs produced a maximum yield of 0.36 m3 /kg VS at an OLR of 2.91 kg VS/
m3 /day (Sundrarajan et al., 1997). Based on pilot plant
studies (1 m3 capacity), maximum gas yield was observed for a loading rate of 24 kg dung/m3 digester/day
although percent reduction of VS was only 2/3rd of that
with low loading rate (Mohanrao, 1974).
3.3.9. Hydraulic retention time (HRT)
HRT is the average time spent by the input slurry
inside the digester before it comes out. In tropical
countries like India, HRT varies from 3050 days while
in countries with colder climate it may go up to 100
days. Shorter retention time is likely to face the risk of
washout of active bacterial population while longer

retention time requires a large volume of the digester

and hence more capital cost. Hence there is a need to
reduce HRT for domestic biogas plants based on solid
substrates. It is possible to carry out methanogenic
fermentation at low HRTs without stressing the
fermentation process at mesophilic and thermophilic
temperature ranges (Zennaki et al., 1996; Singh et al.,
1995; Garba, 1996). On the other hand Sanchez et al.
(1992) found improvement in organic matter removal on
increasing HRT while anaerobically treating cattle
dung. Desai and Madamwar (1994) observed maximum
gas production of 2.2 l/l/day (CH4 62%) at an HRT of
10 days having a loading rate of 6 gTS/l while treating a
mixture of cattle dung, poultry waste and cheese whey in
the ratio of 2:1:3. Baserja (1984) observed that at a TS
concentration of 7%, the duration of digestion could be
reduced to 10 days without compromising the stability
of the process, but the optimum period was 1620 days.
3.3.10. Solid concentration
The amount of fermentable material of feed in a unit
volume of slurry is dened as solid concentration.
Ordinarily 79% solids concentration is best-suited
(Zennaki et al., 1996). The biogas yield increased,
reaching 0.46 m3 /(m3 day) at 37 C and 0.68 m3 /(m3 day)
at 55 C respectively. Baserja (1984) reported that the
process was unstable below a total solids level of 7%
(of manure) while a level of 10% caused an overloading
of the fermenter.
3.4. Biolters/xed lm reactors
Fixed lm reactors have been used since long for the
treatment of wastewater where they have helped to reduce the HRT from 3040 days to a few hours (Kloss,
1991). These reactors come under the category of advanced reactors like UASB, uidized bed, upow
anaerobic lters, etc. They help in enhancing the performance of wastewater treatment systems by providing
an increased surface area for attached growth of the
microbes in the form of a xed lm on an inert medium
leading to increased population of microbes in the
reactor and their retention in the digester even after the
digested slurry ows out (Van der Berg and Kennedy,
1983). Fixed lm technique has been used commonly for
substrates of very low solids content where lters of very
large surface area are used. However, but the studies are
scanty with substrates of high solids content like cowdung slurry. Many criteria need to be considered for
selection of suitable materials for long life of the xed
lm matrix (Young and Song, 1984). The material
should be non-biodegradable. The structure of the xed
lm matrix should also be mechanically stable. Materials should be easily available in the local market at a
reasonable cost. Dierent materials like nylon sponges,

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

PVC, clay pipes, etc. had been used as support medium

for xed lm reactors (Wilkie et al., 1984).
Fixed lm reactor packed with sponge nylon as support performed well in terms of specic biogas production rate as compared to conventional reactors. The
results showed good digester productivity as well as
satisfactory sludge stabilization in xed lm digester
(Solicio and Del, 1987; Meier et al., 1993). Vartak et al.
(1997b) found the performance of polyester medium
with its high porosity and surface to volume ratio to be
best both at 37 and 10 C. It also yielded the maximum
reduction in volatile solids (VS) and COD at 37 C.
Weiland and Peters (1992) obtained 75% and 25%
reduction in HRT and reactor volume respectively
using plastic support for anaerobic digestion of
screened cattle excrement as compared to conventional
system. It had high accumulation of biomass during the
2-year study and could be operated in a broad range of
loadings with a constant COD removal eciency and
high process reliability. Raju and Ramaligaiah (1997)
observed a high biogas yield of 0.70 m3 /kg VS added in
PVCP packed reactors (20-day HRT) and COD
reduction was three times more as compared to conventional reactor. Henry (1985) achieved high OLRs
and a considerable reduction in the HRT utilizing
random oriented plastic supports. This single stage
reactor with recycle had many advantages like easy
operation, homogeneous distribution within the reactor, maximum agitation, low risk of clogging or
foaming and ease of control of biological activity by
monitoring sludge activity. Sanchez et al. (1995) used
PVC plastic pipes and ceramic raschig rings and found
that anaerobic xed bed reactor could work at a high
OLR without clogging. The eciency of more than
60% in VS reduction and 55% in COD reduction were
obtained at HRTs as low as 6 days.
Raju and Ramaligaiah (1997) used burnt coconut
shells and obtained a high biogas yield of 0.72 m3 /kg VS
added (20 day HRT) while Ganesh Kumar et al. (1996)
achieved an increase of about 40% in gas production by
the addition of broken burnt bricks as carriers for
immobilizing microbes. They suggested that larger
lumps of bricks might be used to avoid clogging in
practice. Sorlini et al. (1990) obtained highest biogas
production (144.0 l/kg VS fed) in the digester with wood
chips while production was almost nil in the digester
with expanded clay. The number of anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria was considerably lower in the bottom
sediment of the wood chip digester than in that of the
expanded clay digester, whereas the number of methanogens was signicantly higher. On the other hand
Lomas et al. (1999) found lab and bench scale digesters
packed with straight vertical channels of potters clay to
present large biodegradation eciency and allowed
large organic loads compared with continuously stirred
tank reactor.

Sanchez et al. (1994) obtained a predominant presence of lamentous methanogenic forms closely resembling Methanosaeta (Methanothrix) located on the
outer layer and in the bacterial framework of the biolm, when they used six dierent support materials
(polyurethane, bentonite, diabase, diatomaceous earth,
sepiolite and PVC) for digestion of domestic sludge. The
enhancement of CH4 production was rapid and occurred within 24 h of sludge incubation.
Meier et al. (1993) found that energy substrates
stimulated the attachment of P. aeruginosa and Citrobacter amalonaticus signicantly as compared to the
xation behaviour in basal medium without substrates.
This mechanism may be important for retaining methanogenic biomass in anaerobic biolms and thus could
help to reduce the start-up period of biolm digesters
and to enhance methanogenesis.
Recently, preliminary work on this concept at pilot
scale (400 l, HRT 30 day) has been carried out by
Rana et al. (2002) at IIT, Delhi using stone chips and
iron mesh biolters. For the entire year, the biogas
production from the reactor with iron mesh was consistently higher (17%) than that from the conventional
reactor. However, certain diculties such as clogging of
the reactor and decay of iron mesh after one year were
encountered during the study.

4. Innovations in digester designs

Limited eorts have been made to improve the designs of reactors to enhance gas production. A high
performance biogas plant was designed and studied by
Aili et al. (1991) for treating chicken manure. The coarse
particles and feathers of the raw chicken manure were
removed in the pretreatment tank. Clear supernatant
was pumped into heating tank and when its temperature
reached to 3840 C, the warm liquid was drained into
No. 1 Anaerobic fermenter, then overowed into No. 2
Anaerobic fermenter (modied UASB) for fermentation
to yield biogas. System started quickly under mesophilic
temperature. Gas production rate was 3.273.87 m3 /
m3 day with a maximum value of 4.041 m3 /m3 day.
Methane content was also good. In another study carried out by Wanjun (1992) to overcome the weak points
of cylindrical biogas digesters like dicult discharging,
low gas production rate, etc., a new biogas digester was
designed which doubled the gas yield rate. The gas yield
had a gradual increase every year and it was about 35
times of the cylindrical biogas digester. Based on eld
measurement, a 6 m3 biogas digester of this design could
produce 1692.6 m3 biogas per year, with a volumetric
gas production rate of 0.98 m3 /m3 day and gas yield rate
amounted to 0.49 m3 /m3 kg TS. Recently Tumchenok
(1996) tested a new bioreactor for anaerobic digestion
of animal or poultry waste as substrate. The digester

Yadvika et al. / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 110

resulted in increased methane percentage in biogas.

Kumar (1997) developed a new cost eective family type
biogas plant (Konark Model) with high eciency by
changing its shape to spiral. Gas storage volume was
increased by 50% compared to 33% that of Deenbandhu
and Utkal Model most widely used for their cost eectiveness. Here construction cost was reduced by 1015%
(with respect to Deenbandhu) if constructed with brick
masonry and by 3035 % if constructed using ferrocement technology. It was structurally sound due to its
spiral shape and covers least surface area. Its gas storage
capacity had been increased and short-circuiting had
been prevented by providing a bae wall with holes
inside the digester in between inlet pipe and outlet bottom tank.

availability and mechanical strength in long run. It

would help to reduce HRT considerably resulting in cost
reduction of biogas plant, without compromising on
quantity and quality of biogas. Surprisingly in this
promising research area, using high solids content substrate like cow dung slurry most of the studies have been
carried out at laboratory level only, whereas these
techniques have been successfully tried in the treatment
of wastewater under eld conditions. An extensive study
on this aspect is warranted.

Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) and CSIR for providing
nancial support for carrying out this work.

5. Conclusions and future R&D areas

A critical analysis of literature reveals that there is a
strong possibility to enhance the biogas production
under eld conditions. Use of certain inorganic, organic
additives seems to be promising for enhancing biogas
production. Among dierent types of biomass (plant
and crop residues) used as additives, some have been
found to enhance the gas production manifolds. However their utility is limited due to the seasonal availability in dierent regions. Also, clogging of the reactor
in the long run is another problem observed under eld
conditions. Practical aspect of using pure microbial
culture as additives should be looked into, in view of
certain problems especially human health and ecodynamics. Further techno-economics of using additives
on daily basis needs to be worked out by further
extensive experimentation at eld level.
Recirculation of euent slurry on daily basis and
stirring of the digesters contents by using simple techniques for enhancing biogas production seems to be
quite viable under rural conditions.
Keeping various parameters within the desired range
also improves gas production but the practical diculty
lies in maintaining and monitoring these regularly. It is a
crucial point which needs due consideration since a
slight change in pH or temperature could otherwise result in reduction of gas production. Similarly formation
of volatile fatty acids beyond a particular range hinders
the methane production. Loading rate and solid concentration should be properly balanced and continuously maintained.
As for the xed lm technique, it has certain merits
over the above mentioned methods. Once the material to
be used as carrier has been installed in the reactor, the
reactor can be operated under normal conditions without any daily addition or monitoring. Dierent materials (stone chips, iron mesh, clay, wood chips, etc.) had
been tried for xed lm reactors depending on their local

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