VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland (VTT)
coordinates a new European project, which focuses on studying anaerobic
digestion (AD) of organic waste and developing its control. AD process can be
optimized to produce either biogas or volatile fatty acids that are even more
valuable products than biogas. The produced volatile fatty acids can be
converted further to raw materials with which it’s possible to produce
oil-replacing biobased products, such as bioplastics.
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. A prototype for process
monitoring and controlling system will be developed during the OPTI-VFA
project. This system enables more efficient control of both volatile fatty
acids and biogas production. It also improves the profitability, efficiency and
reliability of the process.