Energy Recovery Study by the Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Dludge from Moroccan Industry

Abstract

Food chains in general and dairy industries in particular increase from one year to the other; which generates enormous waste, the management of these waste concerned producers. The aim of this study is the energy estimation of the dairy industry sludge. Anaerobic digestion of the dairy sludge (DS) is conducted in a CSTR digester (continuous stirred tank reactor) at mesophilic temperature conditions (37C°) with a retention time of 45 days. The results obtained show that this dairy sludge(DS) has an encouraging proportion of volatile solids around 88 %, the maximum methanogenic yield potential reached 434 (NmL / g VS added) and the biodegradability recorded was 96 % at these conditions. In this context, one tone of dairy sludge could generate approximately 57kwh/year of electric power through the anaerobic digestion process. This will reduce considerably the industries of electrical energy consumption.