Anaerobic bio-digestion of concentrate obtained in the process of ultra filtration of effluents from tilapia processing unit

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of the process of biodigestion of the protein concentrate resulting from the ultrafiltration of the effluent from a slaughterhouse freezer of Nile tilapia. Bench digesters were used with excrements and water (control) in comparison with a mixture of cattle manure and effluent from the stages of filleting and bleeding of tilapias. The effluent obtained in the continuous process (bleeding + filleting) was the one with highest accumulated population from the 37th day, as well as greatest daily production. Gases composition did not differ between the protein concentrates, but the gas obtained with the use of the effluent from the filleting stage presented highest methane gas average (78.05%) in comparison with those obtained in the bleeding stage (69.95%) and in the continuous process (70.02%) or by the control method (68.59%).

Hydrogen production by biogas steam reforming: A technical, economic and ecological analysis

Fuel cells are electrochemical energy conversion devices that convert fuel and oxidant electrochemically into electrical energy, water and heat. Compared to traditional electricity generation technologies that use combustion processes to convert fuel into heat, and then into mechanical energy, fuel cells convert the hydrogen and oxygen chemical energy into electrical energy, without intermediate conversion processes, and with higher efficiency. In order to make the fuel cells an achievable and useful technology, it is firstly necessary to develop an economic and efficient way for hydrogen production. Molecular hydrogen is always found combined with other chemical compounds in nature, so it must be isolated. In this paper, the technical, economical and ecological aspects of hydrogen production by biogas steam reforming are presented. The economic feasibility calculation was performed to evaluate how interesting the process is by analyzing the investment, operation and maintenance costs of the biogas steam reformer and the hydrogen production cost achieved the value of 0.27 US$/kWh with a payback period of 8 years. An ecological efficiency of 94.95%, which is a good ecological value, was obtained. The results obtained by these analyses showed that this type of hydrogen production is an environmentally attractive route. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.