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Fat, Oil, and Grease (FOG) substrates are like rocket fuel for your digester, but effective anaerobic digester treatment is needed to manage overloads and keep operations stable. Excess FOG can quickly cause foaming issues, which is why the biocatalysts in Ana-Zyme G® allow you to keep the gas production high and the operations running. Anaerobic digestion requires a stable pH and balanced micronutrients. ANAGEN-Biogas® and SELECT-pH® provide both.
ANAGEN-Degrease® – Biocatalyst for anaerobic breakdown of FOG
ANAGEN-Degrease® is formulated to provide immediate reduction of fat, oil, and grease in anaerobic digesters and lagoons to avoid issues with grease caps and foaming. The biocatalysts in ANAGEN-Degrease® rapidly speed the breakdown of complex fat molecules into simple short-chain fatty acids which then break down to acetic acid – a compound used in methanogenesis.
The goal of this product is to limit volatile acid accumulation, while also increasing biogas generation, and improving volatile solids destruction.
ANAGEN-Degrease® can degrade a range of fatty acids such as linolenic, oleic, stearic, and palmitic as well as fish oils, triglycerides, dairy, and egg fat. The production of short-chain fatty acids is very important as part of the acidogenesis–methanogenesis process.
The diagram below illustrates how ANAGEN-Degrease® facilitates the β-oxidation of saturated fats like Lauric Acid into simpler intermediates. Through this stepwise conversion, fats become a preferred energy source in anaerobic systems.
High Levels of Grease In Anaerobic Digesters
FOG must undergo several steps to be converted into acetate, the ideal food substrate for methanogens: disintegration, hydrolysis, and β-oxidation.
Limitations in the rates of any of these steps can lead to uneven degradation of FOG, which results in variable volatile acid loading on methanogens. Variable loading of volatile acids can easily overwhelm methanogens leading to accumulation of volatile acids, eventually resulting in a drop in digester pH. These impacts are exacerbated in systems with high FOG loading.
Overloaded digesters with high FOG content benefit significantly from targeted FOG breakdown treatments, ensuring smooth anaerobic operation and reducing foaming.
However, FOG can be made into an excellent food substrate for anaerobic digestion, due to their high COD content, as well as their high potential to generate large quantities of acetate or acetic acid. It just needs a little processing to get there.
ANAGEN-Degrease® and Anaerobic Grease
ANAGEN-Degrease® acts as a catalyst to naturally occurring bacteria to aid in the breakdown of FOG, which prevents the overloading of methanogens and frees up this new food source. ANAGEN-Degrease® does this by targeting triglycerides and long-chain fatty acids to convert them evenly into short-chain fatty acids. This stabilization of fatty acid degradation allows methanogens to better acclimate to fatty acid loading. They are then able quickly uptake these fatty acids, reducing the chances of volatile fatty acid accumulation. In addition, ANAGEN-Degrease® prevents the accumulation of undegraded fats in a system, which enhances volatile solids destruction, particularly in systems with limited mixing such as lagoons.
Effective volatile solids reduction not only boosts gas production but also supports sludge minimisation strategies in anaerobic digestion.
These products are designed for reliable anaerobic digester treatment in dairy, meat, and food processing industries.”
Anaerobic digesters/lagoons for:
ANAGEN-Protein® is a biocatalyst specifically formulated to quickly and thoroughly degrade complex proteins commonly found in the anaerobic waste of meatpacking, rendering, food processing, or farming facilities.
Proteinaceous materials are among the most difficult substrates for anaerobic digesters to break down, due to their high nitrogen concentration. They often hinder anaerobic digester performance by passing through the process before they can be completely degraded. ANAGEN-Protein® bridges the gap between the considerable potential of anaerobic digesters and difficult proteins by breaking them down in a way that methanogens cannot. The rapid hydrolysis of these complex proteins into soluble amino acids creates food and an environment more favourable for methanogenic bacteria.
Applications
Anaerobic digesters/lagoons for:
– Dairy processing
– Meat processing
Benefits
– Improves anaerobic enzyme production
– Improves volatile solids destruction
– Improves methane production
– Releases amino acids from complex proteins
The Difficulty of Degrading Proteins Anaerobically
Anaerobic bacteria tend to be poorly specialized for the degradation of protein. Carbohydrates usually make better feed substrates than protein due to their high cBOD content and the low nitrogen requirements of anaerobic bacteria. Fat, oil, and grease—while usually undesirable in a digester—also have a high cBOD content. This means that anaerobic hydrolysis favours the degradation of fats and complex sugars, over the degradation of proteins. However, when broken down, protein provides valuable amino acids which improve the production of naturally occurring anaerobic enzymes. When free amino acids are absent, anaerobic bacteria need to produce them using simple carbon substrates and ammonia, a process that takes additional metabolic steps and wastes carbon, making the process inefficient.
ANAGEN-Protein® improves anaerobic efficiency by outsourcing that extra metabolic step in the degradation of proteins so the anaerobic bacteria can focus their resources on breaking down carbon substrates and producing methane. This leads to improved methane generation, lowers effluent COD, and improved volatile solids destruction.
ANAGEN-Booster® provides the building blocks to anaerobic life. This product provides methane-forming bacteria with a COD and micronutrient source specific for their growth and stabilization, allowing them to increase their methane production. Use ANAGEN-Booster® in the following situations:
#1. When methane formers cannot keep up with variable high loadings or persistent low loadings.
#2. When operators are having trouble building methanogen populations.
#3. During new digester start up.
#4. To improve methane production.
#5. To stabilize digester pH by improving digester microbiota.
This product shines in plants with variable loading or consistently low loading.
When methanogens become stressed they lose the ability to produce methane, which leads to a buildup of volatile acids. That build-up reduces the pH which causes the digester to be acidic (sour) and leads to poor digester performance. Generally, a digester is considered sour if the pH in the digester is too low to allow for significant amounts of methane production. Generally, this occurs below pH 6. If a digester is already sour, the pH should be adjusted before any other treatment is attempted. Sour digesters have a buildup of methanogen substrate which means the food supplement may actually make the problem worse. After a neutral pH has been reestablished, the food supplement can be used to improve pH stability.
Anaerobic digesters contain a variety of facultative bacteria, strictly anaerobic bacteria, and archaea (such as methanogens) which allow a digester to break down volatile solids. Volatile solids are converted to soluble compounds by hydrolysis and then to short-chain fatty acids by the acid-generating bacteria. Once short-chain volatile acids are present in an anaerobic system, the methane generators use the acids to produce biogas (primarily methane and carbon dioxide). The archaea responsible for methane production are much more susceptible to adverse conditions than acid-generating bacteria (acetogens) and this is why anaerobic food supplement is so helpful. Anaerobic food supplement supplies methanogens with the COD and micronutrients they need so their populations can build during periods of low nutrient loading.
Companion Products
ANAGEN-Biogas® supplies methanogen-producing bacteria with the most important trace elements to help them convert food sources into gas, creating a more stable and productive anaerobic digester.
ANAGEN-Degrease® handles the volatile fat, oil, and grease that enter anaerobic digesters and can cause foaming and upsets. Anaerobic digesters that use ANAGEN-Degrease® are less likely to go sour than digesters that don’t.
ANAGEN-Biogas® contains a blend of 10 bioavailable micronutrients that are specifically designed to improve anaerobic digestor performance and improve methane production. The spectrum of micronutrients in ANAGEN-Biogas® provides the soluble trace elements needed to optimize gas production.
The balance of its soluble trace elements is the result of almost a decade of research and field applications and can offer a superior bioavailability. The result is improved volatile solids conversion, a healthier population of methanogenic archaea, and a better quality of biogas production. This product is backed by complete technical and laboratory services for all customers.
For an in-depth analysis on your digestor’s trace elements, talk to your technical rep for information on our soluble micronutrient analysis.
Safe and effective results in:
Complete mix anaerobic digestors
Covered lagoons
CSTRs
UASBs
ANAGEN-Biogas® Applications
– Anaerobic Digesters
ANAGEN-Biogas® Advantages & Benefits
– Provides Essential Trace Elements for Methanogenic Bacteria
-Improves Methane Production
– Better Digestion, Less Disposal
– Prevents Digesters From Going Sour
– Restores Stability
– Stops Foaming
– Works Well For Food and Brewery Industries
Methanogens Require Trace Elements
Methane production is both important for biogas and digester health. When methanogens don’t receive adequate food, the result is an overabundance of acid in the digester and a sharp drop in methane production.
Trace elements like cobalt, nickel, and iron are essential components to the output of methanogenic bacteria. These bacteria need a steady supply of trace elements to form the biocatalysts necessary for methane production. Aquafix has developed a form of these crucial metals that is 100% bioavailable, which means the metals have been formulated to be completely absorbed by the bacterial cells. Putting in simple or commodity-based forms of these metals will not have any effect, as they are not taken up or used by the biology
Most anaerobic digesters are mesophilic. This is because mesophilic temperature conditions are easier to maintain than thermophilic. Mesophilic digesters require a consistent temperature between 32-35°C (90-95°F) as opposed to 50-60°C for thermophilic conditions (Gerardi 127). Falling outside this range of conditions can cause methane production to slow down which leads to a volatile acid buildup. Generally, the high end of the temperature range is preferable because it allows for faster biocatalyst function, sludge reduction, and methane production. An important consideration is to not allow any rapid change in temperature to occur. Mesophilic digesters should never change temperature to more than 2-3°C per day (Gerardi 91). In fact, some sources recommended only allowing a change of .5°C per day. It is important that if the temperature of a digester drops, its temperature is not recovered too quickly. This can very easily lead to an upset digester.
Thermophilic digesters are typically operated between 50-60°. This higher operating temperature leads to a variety of advantages and disadvantages to the more commonly operated mesophilic digesters. The main reason thermophilic digesters are not more commonly used is due to the significantly higher energy input required to maintain a temperature above 50° C, but there are many other factors that could encourage or discourage the use of thermophilic digestion. The most important thing to know is that everything happens faster with thermophilic digesters, which includes upsets.
PROS
CONS
Because of these pros and cons, thermophilic digesters tend to be less suited for domestic wastewater treatment but can be very effective for COD reduction in consistent industrial waste. Thermophilic digesters require even more stable temperature and loading conditions than mesophilic digesters. Class A bio-solids production also could create a financial incentive that could compensate for high energy input. The increase in methane production can also reduce electrical costs of operating a thermophilic digester somewhat. In plants with inconsistent loading, benefits of thermophilic systems can be outweighed by an increased likelihood of upsets.
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