Britt Nilsson, Kemira

1. OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE –
ADDITIVES AND PLANT STABILITY
#UKADBiogas @adbioresources
CHAIR:
DR HUGH BULSON, ORA
PANEL:
BRITT NILSSON, KEMIRA KEMI AB
JØRGEN FINK, XERGI
DR THOMAS FRITZ, SCHAUMANN BIOENERGY
DR STEPHEN TEMPLE, JF TEMPLE & SON

2. Kemira Biogas Program
Kick-dose of trace elements – a first
aid at digester instability
Britt Nilsson Sr Application Specialist
Kemira Kemi AB, Sweden
britt.nilsson@kemira.com

3. Kemira Biogas Program
1-2 JulyBiogas Program | UK AD & Biogas 2015 | Britt Nilsson 3
Substrate pre-treatment
Odor control
Foam control
Biogas Boosting
Digester optimization
• Kick-dose of BDP
• Continuous dosing of BDP
Digestate treatment
Dewatering & reject
treatment
Scale control
Foam control
Nitrogen treatment
Stripping
Scale control
Foam control

4. Kemira BDP product concept
• BDP products are a concept to improve
digestion performance based on the
combination of iron, acid and trace elements
• The technology is patented by Tekniska Verken
in Linköping, Sweden and licensed to Kemira
1-2 July 4Biogas Program | UK AD & Biogas 2015 | Britt Nilsson

5. Case study: Digester recovery
Mesophilic
Substrate Crops, maize, sugar beet, animal feed residuals
Substrate load 60 000 ton/ year
Biogas production 7 000 000 Nm3/year
Energy production 45 GWh
Energy utilization Vehicle fuel
Challenge Urgent instability & digester collapse due to lack of nitrogen
5
160 ton /day Bio-fertilizerFeeding
tank
Digester
Biogas to gas upgrading unit
for vehicle fuel production
Target: Recover the digester process
1-2 July
Post digester
Biogas Program | UK AD & Biogas 2015 | Britt Nilsson

6. Case study: Digester recovery
Solution
• Immediate actions when instability occurred: stop
feeding, addition of alkali and urea
– alkalinity went up but VFA still very high >19000 mg/l
– propionic acid >4000 mg/l
• Addition of one kick-dose BDP start-up
– Within a week VFA went down from 19 000 to 4 000 mg/l
– After 2 weeks VFA was down at 400 mg/l
Effects of Kemira treatment:
+ Addition of essential trace elements enables production of
enzyme and co-enzyme needed for degradation of
intermediate fatty acids
+ The digester performance was recovered within 2 weeks
6
Kick-dose of BDP start-up gives immediate
effect in digesters with urgent instability
1-2 July
BDP kick-dose
Biogas Program | UK AD & Biogas 2015 | Britt Nilsson

7. Take away
1-2 JulyBiogas Program | UK AD & Biogas 2015 | Britt Nilsson 7
BDP kick dose to household waste, maize silage and
manure based systems give the following effects:
• One time kick-dose of BDP recover overloaded digesters
• Stabilizes digester performance
• Recover biogas production
• Substrate loading can be restarted within a shorter time

9. OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE –
ADDITIVES AND PLANT STABILITY
#UKADBiogas @adbioresources
CHAIR:
DR HUGH BULSON, ORA
PANEL:
BRITT NILSSON, KEMIRA KEMI AB
JØRGEN FINK, XERGI
DR THOMAS FRITZ, SCHAUMANN BIOENERGY
DR STEPHEN TEMPLE, JF TEMPLE & SON