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Recovery of whey as biogas
Our research team studies and designs a new equipment for energetical recovery of whey as biogas, during an anaerobic fermentation process. The project was developed in order to apply some new concepts and metanogenic fermentation systems, suitable for projecting new equipments, exhibiting optimal energetical yields and investment costs, capable of generating unconventional, renewable energy.
Whey is a residual product of the milk industry and represents an optimal raw material for biogas generation, during metanogenic anaerobic fermentation.
The anaerobic digestion is a complex biological process developed in the absence of oxygen, that transforms the organic substance into biogas (or biological gas), composed especially from methane and carbonic anhydride. The methane percentage varies from 50% to 80%, depending on the type of digested organic substance and on the conditions of the process.
The advantages of the anaerobic treatment can be indicated by comparing this process with the aerobic one. In the aerobic treatment, the waste is mixed with large quantities of microorganisms and air. Microorganisms use the organic waste for food and use the oxygen to burn a part of the food to carbon dioxide and water for energy.Since these organisms obtain much energy from this oxidation, their growth is rapid and a large portion of the organic waste is converted into new cells.