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Design of a pre-treatment integrated anaerobic digestion treatment facility for decarbonising whiskey industry: A circular economy perspective

This paper outlines the sustainable management of the whiskey distillery by-products, known as draff and pot ale, through anaerobic digestion (AD). The substrates were pre-treated using 0.6M NaOH and high shear homogenizer for 24 h. Substrate pre-treatment helped improve the digestabilility of ligno...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dalton, Cormac, Okolie, Jude A., Davis, Paul, Gunes, Burcu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9157210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35663744
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09522
Descripción
Sumario:This paper outlines the sustainable management of the whiskey distillery by-products, known as draff and pot ale, through anaerobic digestion (AD). The substrates were pre-treated using 0.6M NaOH and high shear homogenizer for 24 h. Substrate pre-treatment helped improve the digestabilility of lignocellulosic materials towards AD. In addition, the complex cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contents are disintegrated. A continuous stirred tank reactor with a volume of 1766 m(3) and organic loading rate of 4.04 kg COD/m(3)/day operating under mesophilic conditions for 30 days was designed to facilitate the complete digestion of the substrates. Compared with the conventional digesters, the proposed novel pre-treatment method achieved a 20% increase in methane yield. The energy recovery potential using a combined heat and power unit can cover 24 and 42.5% of the thermal and electrical demand of the distillery, respectively. The capital cost of the proposed facility was estimated as €3.6 million with a payback period of 9.60 years. In comparison, there is a payback period of 15.13 years without the pre-treatment. Additionally, this model decreases the distillery's carbon footprint by 33%. Although the proposed design applies to the distillery in Ireland, results could be used to design distillery plants in other countries.