Reducing pathogens and greenhouse gas emissions from swine manure using anaerobic digestion

This project investigated process performance of a plugflow reactor (PFR) configuration co-digesting swine manure and biomass pellets. Although organic matter reduction efficiency decreased with an increase in organic loading rate (OLR) and total solids (TS), process stability was evident throughout the range of OLR investigated. The PFR was able to stably operate and produce biogas at TS concentrations far outside the range of conventional continuously stirred reactor designs, making it a promising approach for future deployment on Ontario pork farms seeking to operate an anaerobic digestion system solely on agricultural residues.