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Innovative stirring technology in biogas plants for energy-optimal mixing with flexible feeding

Project


Project code: 22042018
Contract period: 01.10.2019 - 30.09.2022
Budget: 373,319 Euro
Purpose of research: Experimental development
Keywords: biogas

Stirring systems in biogas fermenters have the task of mixing the fermenter suspension effectively and ensuring a balanced concentration ratio of the components. Furthermore, empirically developed mixers are generally used in the approximately 9.400 plants, currently operating throughout Germany. This often results in an inefficient mixing process, whose potential has not been exploited yet. It is the overall objective of the project to increase the gas yield of biogas fermenters and to reduce their own energy requirement at the same time. The project focuses on existing plants and new biogas fermenters. In the development of a post-EEG strategy, operators of existing plants will rely on more flexible supplementary feeding. In this context, waste materials as well as industrial wastewater will be used increasingly in order to improve cost effectiveness and to reduce the requirement of agrarian land. To achieve this aim, three subgoals are defined: The development of a new generation of agitators with improved suspension behavior and high axial thrust, a substrate-dependent drive control in combination with an online process monitoring and a new design methodology that supports plant planners and operators in selecting the best mixing strategy. Based on the established airfoil theory in Newtonian fluids, new design principles for impeller design in shear-thinning fluids will be developed based on a strictly algorithmic approach. For a more efficient and variable stirring strategy, with regards to frequently changing substrates, an innovative stirring control will be developed. For this, the development and integration of a robust sensor systems is necessary.

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