Importance of anaerobic digestion as an energy generating device has been increased as fuel shortage becomes serious. Several modification methods on the conventional digesters including Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) addition and two-phase digestion were studied to enhance the gas production.
This study investigated the effects of PAC on anaerobic digestion of chicken manure in terms of gas production and sludge stabilization. As a first experiment, an optimum PAC dose for efficient gas production was determined in a batch test. In semi-continuous experiments, an optimum Sludge Retention Time (SRT) at that PAC concentration and an overall substrate utilization rate coefficient were investigated. A portion of gas increased by PAC addition was estimated using a substrate utilization rate coefficient of microorganisms attached on PAC. This test was performed in batch experiments using acetic acid as a substrate.
The digesters for all experiments were kept $35^+-1$℃ in a heated water bath. Mixing was performed manually once a day and the produced gas was collected for daily reading.
The following conclusions were made for this study.
1. Optimum PAC concentration was 5% total solids, where gas production rate was increased by 20 percents.
2. Optimum SRT was 7.5 days.
3. Substrate utilization rate coefficient of microorganisms attached on PAC was about twice as much as that of suspended ones.
