Technologies to improve process performance and methane yields during high-solids anaerobic digestion of sugar mill wastes

Supervisors

A/Prof. Prasad Kaparaju  (Griffith University)

Rajinder Singh (Singh Farming)

The project

Biogas can be produced from anaerobic digestion (AD) of agricultural wastes such as sugarcane bagasse, mill mud and chicken manure. High solids AD uses less water than conventional wet AD, allowing a reduction in reactor size and operating costs. However, this presents challenges such as longer retention times and lower mass transfer, thus requiring further improvement for industrial application. This PhD project will investigate optimising the solids content, reactor configuration and process to improve process stability and methane yields for high-solids co-digestion of sugarcane bagasse and mill mud with chicken manure.

The successful applicant will work closely with the research partner on the PhD project and will undergo a 2 day commercialisation training.