Projects – Biotronic-Energy

Example 1: First field industrial-scale iBB application, Iraci Borgia Farm, Perugia, Italy (2015)

Host plant design: Two identical side-by-side primary anaerobic digesters, (Digester 1 and Digester 2), loaded with a total of 62.5 tons/day of biomass divided evenly between the two, followed by a secondary or post-digester (Digester 3), for a total plant volume of 6,000 cubic meters; the biogas produced powered a one megawatt electric power generator.
A single iBB unit was attached to Digester 1 for an industrial-scale field test beginning in March 2015. This allowed a direct comparison of biogas production by iBB-boosted Digester 1 and unboosted Digester 2, as well as a comparison of the performance of the entire digester system before and after the iBB began operation.
Before the iBB test at Digester 1, biogas production from the identical Digesters 1 and 2 was equal; in the first eight weeks of iBB operation at Digester 1, Digester 1’s biogas production exceeded Digester 2’s by over 30%.
In the first three years of the test (2015-2017), the average methane content of the combined biogas from the host plant’s three digesters (only one of them “boosted”) increased over the year prior to iBB installation (2014) by 5% in the first year, 8.1% in the second, and 8.5% in the third.

Remaining un-captured biochemical methane potential (BMP) in the host plant’s (Digesters 1, 2, and 3) overall final digestate declined from the year preceding iBB operation by 12% in the first year, 25% in the second, and 27% in the third — representing a substantial increase in the completeness of the overall fermentation process in the total host plant.

In 2016-17, the Center for Biomass Research at the University of Perugia, Italy (“CBR”) [http://www.crbnet.it/Index.htm] independently evaluated the iBB process at lab scale, with confirmatory analysis of the performance of the iBB at the Iraci Borgia plant (“CBR Study”).
The CBR Study report calculated an iBB-produced increase in methane production per unit of volatile solids of approximately 12.5% overall at the Iraci Borgia plant, although the iBB directly boosted only one of the plant’s three digesters.
The CBR Study report, in the original Italian and in English translation, is available on request.

Example 2: Industrial-scale iBB application, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China (November, 2016).

An iBB System with two incubator tanks (one cubic meter working volume each) was installed for a pilot test on one of nineteen 5,000 cubic meter internal circulation anaerobic digesters for treatment of wastewater from a cassava-to-alcohol distillery.
At the end of 1 year of iBB operations:

Methane content of the iBB-boosted digester’s biogas had increased by about 8.0% compared to the methane content in the commingled biogas from all nineteen of the distillery’s digesters;
The biogas production rate per unit of feed of the iBB test digester had increased by about 17.3% compared to the average for all nineteen of the digesters;
The combined effect was an increase about 27% in total methane production per unit of feed in the iBB-boosted digester compared to the average for all nineteen of the digesters.
A technical paper describing the test is available on request. Abstract available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479721024464?via%3Dihub

Example 3: Industrial-scale iBB application, Hubei Jian Feng pig farm, Huangshi, Hubei, China, (August, 2015).

Research demonstration project, funded by the South-Central University of Nationalities (now South Central Minzu University), Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Host plant design: An iBB unit with an incubator tank of one cubic meter working volume was installed at a 1,400 cubic meter single-phase horizontal plug flow anaerobic digester processing the separated wastewater from the manure of approximately 10,000 pigs daily.
In the first two months of iBB operation:

Digester biogas production increased by ~20% above the initial value of 1632 cubic meters/day.

Biogas production increased by more than 40% over the initial value.
Biogas methane content increased from ~62% to an average of ~78% (a relative increase of nearly 26%) and remained practically constant at ~78%.
The increased methane production enabled installation of a boiler used for heating the digester, a restaurant kitchen, and personnel housing facilities.

Example 4: Industrial-scale iBB application, Ravenna, Italy (July, 2017).

Host plant design: An iBB with a working volume of one cubic meter was installed at a one megawatt power generation plant served by biogas from two digesters: a primary digester plus a post-digester (total plant digester volume = 7,000 cubic meters). The iBB was connected to the primary digester in July 2017.
A pre-iBB connection date of 6/14/2017 and a post-iBB connection date of 11/3/2017 were used for total plant performance comparison before and after the iBB connection.

Biogas methane percentage increased by about 6.5% (from 48% to 51.1%)
Biological efficiency of digestion increased, as indicated by an 18% reduction in BOD/COD (from 30% to 24.6%)
Residual methane production potential of the total plant digestate discharge decreased by 36%, indicating more complete digestion of the biomass feedstock and associated increase in biogas production.