Journal of Bioprocessing & Biotechniques

Timeline of Gas Production under Anaerobic Conditions

Abstract

Bernadette E Teleky and Mugur C Bălan

For the study of biogas production by anaerobic digestion of lignocellulose substrate, it was designed an experiment in which the quantity of gas released by the anaerobic hydrogen producing bacteria was measured. The experiment aimed to highlight the differences occurred in the quantity and composition of the gas provided in 5 consecutive experiments conducted in similar conditions. The experimental data were processed and it was analysed the timeline evolution of the gas production rate of which kinetic was numerically modelled by several three-parameter logistic functions. Even being a preliminary study, it is innovative because it combines experiment with simulation and it proved two mathematical models, based on Gompertz and logistic functions. It was found that the anaerobic digestion process with hydrogen production has a sigmoid dependence on time.