Anaerobic digestion of different agricultural wastes: A techno-economic assessment

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123836
• Publication Date: 2020-07-15T08:14:27Z
• Authors: Yangyang Li; Yiyu Han; Yiran Zhang; Wenhai Luo; Guoxue Li
• Keywords: Manure; 2. Zero hunger; Biofuels; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Anaerobiosis; 02 engineering and technology; Methane; Zea mays; 7. Clean energy; 6. Clean water; 12. Responsible consumption

In this work, techno-economic evaluation of anaerobic digestion (AD) system (8000 metric tons (MT)/year) with singular (dairy manure), binary (dairy manure and corn stalk), and ternary mixture (dairy manure, corn stalk, and tomato residues) under bio-methane and combined heat and power (CHP) pathways based on a plant service life of 20 years were carried out. Solid state-AD (SS-AD) of ternary mixture improved the efficiency of investment, benefited the digestate price, and was shown to be economic viability. The introduction of a CHP unit highly improved the economics of SS-AD. SS-AD of the binary mixture under CHP pathway was able to compensate the initial required investment, however was not financially attractive under bio-methane pathway. Besides, SS-AD of the ternary mixture under CHP pathway had higher net present value (NPV) ($0.60 million vs $0.40 million) and internal rate of return (IRR) (23% vs 20%) than that under bio-methane pathway.