Project to enhance biogas production
8 Oct 2013
VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland (VTT) is coordinating a European project that will focus on studying the anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic waste and developing its control.
The AD process can be adjusted to produce both biogas or fatty acids that are seen as even more valuable than biogas.
The volatile fatty acids that are produced can be converted into raw materials which can then be used to produce oil-replacing bio-based products such as bio-plastics.
During the anaerobic digestion process, which contains four main steps, the organic matter is degraded by bacteria to biogas in the absence of oxygen. Controlling the digestion process is one of the most important ways of making the biogas production process more efficient.
The OPTI-VFA project will focus on designing a prototype for process monitoring and system controlling of biogas development.
VTT has stated that any waste-methane produced via the AD project will be used as an energy source in an additional closed process.
The project is set to run for two-year at a cost of €1.15 million and will consist of nine partners from facilities across 4 European countries.
