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Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284

The effect of temperature variation on biomethanation at high altitude

René Alvarez a,b, Gunnar Lidén b,*
a
IIDEPROQ, UMSA, Plaza del Obelisco 1175, La Paz, Bolivia
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Received 26 September 2006; received in revised form 11 December 2007; accepted 18 December 2007
Available online 8 February 2008

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to examine effects of daily temperature variations on the performance of anaerobic digestion. Forced
square-wave temperature variations (between 11 and 25, 15 and 28, and 19 and 32 °C) were imposed on a bench-scale digester using a
mixture of llama–cow–sheep manure in a semi-continuous process. The volumetric biogas production rate, methane yield, and the vol-
atile solid reductions were compared with the results obtained from anaerobic digestion (AD) at constant temperatures.
The forced cyclic variations of temperature caused large cyclic variations in the rate of gas production and the methane content. As
much as 94–97% of the daily biogas was obtained in the 12 h half-cycle at high temperature. The values for volumetric biogas production
rate and methane yield increased at higher temperatures. The average volumetric biogas production rate for cyclic operation between 11
and 25 °C was 0.22 L d 1 L 1 with a yield of 0.07 m3 CH4 kg 1 VS added (VSadd), whereas for operation between 15 and 29 °C the
volumetric biogas production rate increased by 25% (to 0.27 L d 1 L 1 with a yield of 0.08 m3 CH4 kg 1 VSadd). In the highest temper-
ature region a further increase of 7% in biogas production was found and the methane yield was 0.089 m3 CH4 kg 1 VSadd.
The employed digester showed an immediate response when the temperature was elevated, which indicates a well-maintained meta-
bolic capacity of the methanogenic bacteria during the period of low temperature. Overall, periodic temperature variations appear to give
less decrease in process performance than a priori anticipated.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Temperature; Periodic operation; Manure

1. Introduction Anaerobic digestion is a temperature dependent process,

Anaerobic digestion (AD) that utilises manure for bio-
gas production is one of the most promising uses of bio-
mass wastes because it provides a source of energy while
simultaneously resolving ecological and agrochemical
issues. The anaerobic fermentation of manure for biogas
production does not reduce its value as a fertilizer supple-
ment, as available nitrogen and other substances remain in
the treated sludge (Robertson et al., 1975). The use of AD
is widely demonstrated in Asia with several million small-
scale biogas plants in China and India (Khoiyangbam
et al., 2004; Nazir, 1991).
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 46 222 0862.
E-mail address: Gunnar.Liden@chemeng.lth.se (G. Lidén).
which is normally operated at defined and constant temper-
atures. Nevertheless, situations exist in which reactors are
subject to repeated sudden and abrupt changes of temper-
ature. On farms, bioreactors may be subjected to tempera-
ture fluctuations due to large variations in outdoor
temperature, especially in highland and northern climates
(Alvarez et al., 2006; Massé et al., 2003). The anaerobic
digestion process is normally classified into three different
temperature ranges, namely psychrophilic (<20 °C), meso-
philic (20–40 °C) and thermophilic (>40 °C) (El-Mashad
et al., 2004). The microorganisms involved in anaerobic
digestion are characterized by an optimal temperature as
well as by an upper limit that would cause immediate death
of the considered group of bacteria (Chen, 1983).
The anaerobic digestion of manure in conventional
treatment tends to have high process stability. However,

0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2007.12.055
 R. Alvarez, G. Lidén / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284 7279

sudden environmental changes, e.g. dramatic increases or ature. The average highs during the day range from 15 to
drops in temperature, may cause severe disturbance in all 20 °C and the average lows range from 15 to 3 °C with
parameters of the process, and the overall adaptation to an atmospheric pressure around 460–500 mm Hg. The
new stable operation requires a long period of time (Bousk- large variation in ambient temperature is likely to affect –
ova et al., 2005; Cha et al., 1997). The extent of the distur- to some extent – the operating temperature of low-cost sim-
bance has been related to the magnitude of the temperature ple anaerobic digestors. This effect of daily temperature
variation (El-Mashad et al., 2004). The effect of increasing fluctuations on the anaerobic digestion process has rarely
or decreasing temperatures followed by re-establishment of been investigated.
the initial temperature has been assessed in some previous The aim of the current work was to assess the effect of
studies. These studies show that a decrease in temperature daily temperature variations on the semi-continuous anaer-
typically causes lower chemical oxygen demand (COD) obic digestion of manures from the Bolivian Altiplano
removal efficiencies, lower biogas production, and the using an experimental model system with forced tempera-
accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA). Anaerobic ture variation. The daily temperature variations were sim-
digestors were in one previous study reported to recover ulated by a forced square-wave oscillation of the reactor
their efficiencies fully after the temperature had been read- temperature of an anaerobic digester, which used a mixture
justed (Ahn and Forster, 2002). In another study, different of llama, cow and sheep manure as feedstock. The perfor-
recovery methods were tested after the temperature in mance of the digester was analysed with respect to volu-
digesters operating at steady state had been lowered. Rais- metric biogas production rate, methane yield and volatile
ing the temperature in a single day gave only a transient solid reduction in the substrate.
effect and steady state was re-established within eight days.
However, a slow increase in temperature led to more dele- 2. Methods
terious effect on the digester stability (Peck et al., 1985).
Digesters working with imposed daily cyclic tempera- 2.1. Feedstock and preparation
ture fluctuation have been the subject of only a few studies
– with different purposes: Man-chang et al., 2006 simulated Llama, sheep and cow manure were collected from
the heating failure of a thermophilic anaerobic digester fed farms in the Bolivian Altiplano (19° S latitude, 68° W lon-
with municipal organic solid wastes by rapidly decreasing gitude). The manures were separately minced and pulver-
the temperature and then re-establishing the optimal tem- ized with a semi-industrial cutter (CUT-3, Metvisa,
perature. The effect of temperature fluctuations between Brazil). The samples were packed into 500 g polyethylene
10 and 20 °C on a psychrophilic anaerobic sequencing bags and stored at 10 °C in a freezer. The characteristics
batch reactor treating swine manure has also been evalu- of the various manures are given in Table 1.
ated. Results suggest that the performance of anaerobic Batches of equal volumes of the three manures (33.3%
sequencing batch reactors (ASBRs) will deteriorate signifi- (VS/VS) each) were prepared with llama manure (5.7%
cantly if the operating temperature is decreased from 20 to by weight), cow manure (13.4% by weight), and sheep man-
10 °C. However, the ASBRs will remain stable and it will ure (4.2% by weight). Each batch was diluted with tap
recover at 20 °C (Massé et al., 2003). In another study, water (76.6%) to obtain the desired solid content (6% of
the gas production dynamics was investigated using a lab- VS w/w). The slurry was homogenized in a domestic elec-
oratory scale digester fed daily with dairy manure that was tric blender (Hamilton Beach 908, Hamilton Beach Com-
operated at a constant temperature, as well as with a pro- mercial, USA) and fractionated (with a volume defined
grammed temperature fluctuation of 3.3 °C about a mean by the value of the desired hydraulic residence time,
of 35.8 °C. The data suggested that it would be possible HRT = 30 days). The samples were packed into polyethyl-
to manipulate gas production by heating and cooling the ene bags and stored in a freezer. The samples for each day
content of the digester. Thus it may be possible to reduce were withdrawn from the freezer and allowed to thaw
gas storage volume by matching the production to a vary- overnight.
ing energy demand (Chayovan et al., 1988).
In highlands, such as the Bolivian Altiplano, where the
livestock is composed mainly of llamas, cows and sheep Table 1
Characteristics of fresh undiluted manure used in experiments at 18, 25,
(currently more than 1.8, 0.6, and 6.2 million animals,
35 °C and temperature fluctuation
respectively), the use of the manure from these animals in
Analysis Llama Cow Sheep
anaerobic digestion could satisfy the energy demands for
manure manure manure
cooking and lighting (especially in remote rural areas)
Total solids (% w.w) 49.5 (3.2) 19.8 (1.1) 77.6 (2.2)
and reduce the use of firewood and the deforestation that
Volatile solids (% of TS) 70.3 (2.2) 74.9 (1.6) 61.3 (5.6)
goes with it. However, the extreme environmental condi- Total nitrogen (% of TS) 1.7 (0.1) 1.6 (0.2) 1.1 (0.3)
tions constitute a limiting factor for the biomethanation Total organic carbon (% of TS) 29.5 (2.3) 26.5 (5.7) 18.9 (4.1)
process. The Bolivian Altiplano has an average elevation Total phosphorous (% of TS) 0.4 (0.1) 0.4 (0.1) 0.5 (0.1)
of nearly 4000 m, it is swept by strong, cold winds, and Total potassium (% of TS) 1.5 (0.2) 0.7 (0.3) 1.8 (0.5)
has an arid, chilly climate, with large differences in temper- Standard deviation from five samples in parentheses.
7280 R. Alvarez, G. Lidén / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284
2.2. Apparatus
A bench-scale bioreactor made of stainless steel with a
total capacity of 15 L and a liquid volume of 9.3 L was
used (Fig. 1). The digester had a built-in cooling and heat-
ing system for temperature control. The jacketed cylindri-
cal vessel was equipped with a flanged top, to which a
flange plate with a gas outlet port was fitted. This allowed
gas collection and measure of pressure. An impeller
(60 rpm) was used for stirring and the stirrer drive shafts
were inserted through a gas-tight bearing. The reactor
was fed from a lateral port through a 50 mm ID ball valve.
The effluent was drawn from the bottom of the reactor
through a 12.7 mm ball valve.
2.3. Experimental procedure
Two kinds of experiments were conducted; anaerobic
digestion at constant temperatures (35, 25 and 18 °C),
and anaerobic digestion during forced square-wave cycling
of temperature. The low and high temperatures in the latter
kind of experiments were 11 and 25, 15 and 29, and 19 and
32 °C, respectively.
2.3.1. AD experiments at constant temperatures
The effect of temperature on digestion of llama–cow–
sheep manure mixture was tested in the bench-scale reactor
with 9.3-L active volume described above. For the start-up
period (60 days at 35 °C), the initial medium was prepared
with 5% llama manure, 11% cow manure, 4% sheep man-
ure, 64% tap water and 16% active slurry from a semi-con-
tinuous digester working with llama–cow–sheep manure at
25 °C with HRT of 50 days (7.3% TS, 71% VS, and
pH = 7.6). Llama, cow and sheep manure (33.3% VS/VS
of each) with a VS content of 6 ± 0.1% w/w was fed daily
in an amount giving a HRT of 30 days.
After the start-up period the reactor temperature was
kept at the selected temperatures (60 days each of 35, 25
and 18 °C in this order) by water circulating in the water
12
11
10
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of bench-scale digester: 1. vessel, 2. feed inlet, 3. effluent valve, 4. motor, 5. agitation impeller, 6. pH probe, 7. Pt 100 electrode,
8. accumulation and measurement biogas system, 9. electro valves, 10. pumps, 11. thermostatic heater, 12. cooler, 13. pressostat.
jacket surrounding the reactor. The reactor was fed once
a day at 30 days HRT regime and 6 ± 0.1% w/w VS con-
tent. The content of the reactor was stirred for 15 min every
hour at 60 rpm.
The pH and the solid content of the slurry were analysed
every 10 days. Biogas was collected in a separate 30 L plas-
tic bottle and the volume was measured once a day by dis-
placement of acidified water (pH = 2) at zero gauge
pressure and ambient temperature. The volumes were
recalculated to standard temperature and pressure (0 °C,
760 mm Hg).
2.3.2. Cyclic square-wave temperature experiments
After finishing the experiment described above at 18 °C,
the bench-scale digester was subjected to a daily square-
wave fluctuation of temperature in order to study the effect
on the anaerobic digestion process. The reactor operated at
temperature intervals 11–25, 15–29, and 19–32 °C succes-
sively for 60 days at each interval. The square-wave tem-
perature fluctuation consisted of 12 h at high temperature
followed by 12 h at low temperature. The reactor was con-
trolled by a Pt sensor PLC-Software heater/cooler system
that changed the temperature of the slurry in the reactor
from low to high (or high to low) in less than 30 min.
The reactor was fed once a day at the beginning of the high
temperature half-cycle. The HRT was 30 days and the load-
ing rate was 2 kg VS m 3 d 1 with 6 (±0.1)% w/w. The feed-
stock was a mixture of llama–cow–sheep with 33.3% VS of
each. The content of the reactor was stirred at intervals of
5 min (on/off) all through the day at 60 rpm to improve the
heat transference and the control system. The pH, solid con-
tent, biogas volume and methane content were measured
according to the procedure described above.
2.4. Analytical methods
Methane and carbon dioxide concentrations in the biogas
were determined with a gas chromatograph (Shimadzu
Model GC14B, Japan) equipped with a thermal conductivity
13 8
9
6 1 2
7
5
9
4 3
 R. Alvarez, G. Lidén / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284 7281

detector (TCD) and a Carboxen-1010 plot Capillary until the weight change was less than 4%. Volatile solids
column 30 m  0.53 mm ID (Supelco, USA). The injector, were determined by ignition of the residue produced in
detector and oven temperatures were 130, 200, and 100 °C, TS analysis to constant weight in a muffle furnace at a tem-
respectively. Helium served as the carrier gas at a pressure perature of 550 °C. TOC was determined by high tempera-
of 300 kPa. ture combustion method (Method 5310 B). TKN was
Total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), pH, total organic measured using the semi-micro-Kjeldahl method (Method
carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), potassium 4500-Norg C), Potassium and Phosphorus were measured
and phosphorus were determined according to standard by spectrophotometry (Method 3500-K and 4500-P,
methods (Clesceri et al., 2000). The total solids (TS) con- respectively).
tent was determined after heating (105 °C for 1 h), cooling,
desiccating, and weighing procedures that were repeated 3. Results

3.1. Anaerobic digestion at constant temperature

Biogas production (L L-1 d-1)

0.70
a
0.60
The fermentation of a mixture of llama–cow–sheep
0.50
manure was found to be quite stable with respect to daily
0.40 biogas production, methane content and volatile solid in
0.30 effluent. Once stabilized, the daily variation in digester per-
0.20 formance (Fig. 2) at 35, 25, and 18 °C was less than 5%
0.10 with respect to the variables above.
0.00
As to be expected, the volumetric biogas production rate
decreased as the temperature was lowered. The reduction
80 from 35 to 25 °C resulted in a reduction of 30% in volumetric
b
Methane content (%)

biogas production rate, whereas the 7 °C reduction from 25

60
to 18 °C caused a reduction of 51% (Table 2). Clearly, the
40
anaerobic digestion is a process that is strongly dependent
on temperature. On the other hand, the methane content in
20 the biogas increased at low temperature. The methane con-
tent in the biogas increased from 49.9% to 61.1% between
0 35 and 18 °C, which partly counteracted the decrease in vol-
umetric gas production rate. The volumetric methane pro-
VS in effluent % (VS/w.w)

8
c duction rate was reduced from 2094 (at 35 °C) to
6 1676 ml CH4 d 1 (at 25 °C) representing a reduction of
20%. A further reduction of 47% (from 1676 to
4 894 ml CH4 d 1) was seen when the temperature was
reduced from 25 to 18 °C. The methane yield followed the
2
same pattern.
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 3.2. Anaerobic digestion with a forced cyclic temperature
Time (d) variation
Fig. 2. Daily biogas production (a), methane content (b) and VS in
effluent (c) at different temperatures: 18 °C (), 25 °C (h) and 35 °C (N) A square-wave temperature variation was imposed on
from anaerobic digestion of llama–cow–sheep manure mixtures. the bench-scale digester in order to experimentally investi-

Table 2
Measured and calculated parameters from bench-scale reactor digesting mixture of llama–cow–sheep manure with square-wave temperature fluctuation
and different constant temperatures
Temperature OLR Digester Reduction Methane Volumetric biogas production rate Methane yield
range (°C) (kg VS m3 d 1) HRT (d) of VS (%) content (%) (L d 1
L 1) Daily biogas Biogas at Biogas at (m3 kg 1 VSadd)
(ml d 1) low T (%) high T (%)
11–25 2.0 30 13.8 (2.9) 56 (2) 0.2 2226 (155) 3 97 0.069 (0.005)
15–29 2.0 30 14.7 (1.2) 55 (2) 0.3 2738 (98) 3 97 0.084 (0.003)
19–32 2.0 30 19.0 (1.5) 56 (3) 0.3 2890 (32) 6 94 0.089 (0.005)
18 2.0 30 19.1 (2.8) 61(1) 0.2 1464 (94) 0.048 (0.003)
25 2.0 30 25.7 (3.3) 56 (2) 0.3 2977 (124) 0.092 (0.002)
35 2.1 30 29.4 (1.0) 49 (1) 0.5 4198 (139) 0.109 (0.005)
Standard deviation from 10 consecutive days in parentheses.
7282 R. Alvarez, G. Lidén / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284

gate the effect of a daily changing temperature on the 70 40

anaerobic digestion process. The reactor was operated a

Methane content (%)

Temperature (oC)
between 11 and 25, 15 and 29, and 19 and 32 °C succes- 65 30
sively for 60 days at each interval. The variation imposed
was a square-wave, in which the temperature was main- 60 20
tained at the high level for 12 h followed by 12 h during
which the temperature was kept low. For each temperature 55 10
interval the digester required an adaptation period of
between 20 and 40 days to reach the pseudo-steady-state 50 0
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48
(i.e. when the measured response during one cycle looks
Time (h)
the same as the subsequent ones). A longer adaptation per-
iod was required for the cycling experiments conducted at 65
lower temperatures. b

Methane content (%)

The biogas production was measured every second hour, 60
which provided some dynamic information on the response
to changes in volumetric biogas production rate and meth- 55
ane content (Figs. 3a and 4a). Figs. 3b and 4b show gas
production and methane content in a digester working iso- 50
thermically at 25 °C. Although there is a response from the
daily feeding also in the isothermal case, the differences 45
between the gas production curves demonstrate the strong 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48
influence that the temperature exerts on the process. Time (h)
Time-averaged steady-state results are summarized in Fig. 4. Methane content in biogas (bar symbols) and temperature (s)
Table 2. The values of methane content, productivity and during forced periodic variation of temperature (a) and at a fixed
yield were based on an average of measurements over a operating temperature of 25 °C (b).
10-day period after two retention times. In this study, the
measured pH-value was 7.2 ± 0.5 throughout. On a day-
averaged basis, the methane content in the gas was between high temperature, which corresponded to 97% of the total
55 and 56%. When the digester was working with forced production. When the temperature was reduced to 11 °C
oscillations between 11 and 25 °C, most of the daily biogas (about 20–30 min cooling time) a drastic reduction in bio-
production (2226 ml d 1) was obtained during the 12 h of gas generation was observed, and in the following 12 hours
only 3% of the daily biogas production was obtained. A
similar pattern was observed in the digester working at
1000 40
a temperatures between 15 and 29 °C. The digester working
Biogas production (ml)

between 19 and 32 °C showed somewhat higher activity

Temperature (oC)

750 30
at the low temperature, and 6% of the daily biogas produc-
tion was obtained at 19 °C (173 ml d 1), and the remaining
500 20
94% was produced at 32 °C (2717 ml d 1). In all the forced
250
cycling experiments it was clear that the volumes of gas
10
obtained in the periods of low temperature (12 h) were very
0
low. Interestingly, the productivity during the low temper-
0
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 ature (19 °C) period in the forced cycling experiment work-
Time (h) ing between 19 and 32 °C was very much lower than the
productivity for the experiment running at a constant tem-
1000
b perature of 18 °C (cf Table 2).
Biogas production (ml)

Volumetric biogas production rate and methane yield

750
both increased with temperature. The average volumetric
biogas production rate at 11–25 °C was 0.22 L d 1 L 1
500
(with a yield of 0.07 m3 CH4 kg 1 VSadd). Increasing the
temperature range to a low temperature of 15 °C and a
250
high temperature of 29 °C raised the volumetric biogas
production rate by 25%, to 0.27 L d 1 L 1
0 3 1
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 (0.08 m CH4 kg VSadd). However, increasing the tem-
Time (h) perature further to a low and a high temperature of 19
and 32 °C, respectively, gave only a further increased bio-
Fig. 3. Gas production (bar symbols) and temperature (s) during forced
periodic variation of temperature (a) and at a fixed operating temperature gas production of 7% (to 0.29 L d 1 L 1 and
of 25 °C (b). 0.09 m3 CH4 kg 1 VSadd).
 R. Alvarez, G. Lidén / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 7278–7284
4. Discussion
The results obtained in the present study show that
anaerobic digestion of manures from, e.g. llamas, cows
and sheep in a semi-continuous process subject to a
square-wave daily temperature fluctuation may operate in
a stable fashion, although with productivity changing over
the 24 h cycle. Both the pH (7.2) in the effluent and the
methane content of the biogas (55–56%) were stable, which
is a sign of a well balanced biomethanation process
(Mountfort and Asher, 1978) with expectable biogas vol-
umes (Alvarez et al., 2006).
The square-wave temperature fluctuation that was
imposed on the digester resulted in an interesting behav-
iour. In effect, the daily biogas volumes obtained when
the digester was working at 11–25 °C and at 15–29 °C
were obtained during the 12 h of high temperature (25
and 29 °C, respectively), as the production during the
12 h of low temperature (11 and 15 °C) merely amounts
to 3% of the total daily yield. Despite the almost non-
existent performance at low temperature, the sudden
raise in temperature resulted in a period with unexpect-
edly high anaerobic digestion activity. The biogas vol-
umes produced in this period were more than expected
of a digester working for 12 h at a similar constant
temperature.
The digester working at the 11–25 °C temperature
fluctuation had a volumetric biogas production rate of
0.24 L d 1 L 1 and a methane yield of 0.07 m3 CH4 kg 1
VSadd, this means that its volumetric biogas production
rate was 30% higher and its methane yield 40% higher
than that of the digester working at the average temper-
ature 18 °C in an isothermic process (Table 2). These
results suggest that there are positive effects when digest-
ers are subjected to periodic cyclic fluctuations in tem-
perature. A digester working at 19–32 °C on the other
hand had a volumetric biogas production rate of
0.3 L d 1 L 1 and a methane yield of 0.09 m3 CH4 kg 1
VSadd, numbers which are more similar to what was
obtained when the digester was working at a constant
25 °C. Increased gas production associated with temper-
ature fluctuations has been previously noticed by Chayo-
van et al. (1988).
For a digester working at a constant temperature
(Fig. 3b), a daily cyclic fluctuation in the rate of gas pro-
duction was observed as a result of the feeding. During
the first hours after feeding, there was a clear increase in
biogas production, which was followed by a decline. A
small variation in methane concentration in the gas was
observed as well (0.5–2.5% above the daily average). How-
ever, the measurement of this variation was masked by
dilution in the gas space volume in the digester and by
the collecting bottle. The variations due to the daily feeding
to the reactors are most likely a result from metabolic vari-
ations, as has previously been reported by Mountfort and
Asher (1978), and others (Hawkes and Young, 1980;
Chayovan et al., 1988).
7283
The imposed square daily cyclic temperature fluctuation
gave a strong magnification of the cyclic variations
described above (Figs. 3a and 4a) with an immediate
response to sudden increases of temperature and to added
substrate. At low temperature, on the other hand, the bio-
gas production almost ceased. The suppression of acido-
genic activity due to rapid temperature drops (to below
20 °C) has been previously reported by Cha et al. (1997).
In that study, the number of bacteria was slowly reduced,
but the acidogens became temporarily inactive during the
period of low temperature.
The anaerobic fermentation process appears capable of
an immediate response to sudden increases in temperature
and to added substrate, which suggests that the metabolic
capacity of the methanogenic bacteria is well maintained.
It appears that some components of the llama–cow–sheep
manure are rapidly converted to biogas (e.g. carbohy-
drates), whereas the bulk of the materials is broken down
more slowly (Hawkes and Young, 1980).
5. Conclusion
A mixture of manures of llama, cow and sheep was
shown to be a suitable feedstock for biogas production
on the Bolivian Altiplano. A methane content in the biogas
of 55% and a volumetric biogas production rate between
0.2 and 0.3 L d 1 L 1 were obtained at a HRT of 30 days
for the conditions investigated. Daily square-wave cyclic
fluctuations of temperature, designed to mimic fluctuations
of ambient temperatures on the Bolivian Altiplano, caused
large cyclic variations in the rate of gas production. The
digester required an adaptation period between 20 and
40 days to reach the pseudo-steady-state with a longer per-
iod required for the lower temperature region. Interest-
ingly, the biomethanation process responded immediately
to the sudden increase in temperature. This suggests that
activity of the methanogenic bacteria are well preserved
during the period at low temperature.
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