Measures to prevent foam formation in the anaerobic digestion of sugar beet in biogas plants

Abstract

The occurrence of persistent foaming is observed in many anaerobic digesters that have sugar beet as their feedstock. The formation of foam entails a significant risk of damage to biogas plants, as gas pipes can become blocked. For this reason, foaming tests have been conducted to investigate which measures lead to reductions in foam development. It was found that generally available fertilizers such as urea, ammonium nitrate and calcium cyanamide have a foam-reducing effect. However, batch fermentation tests showed inhibition of biogas production at higher concentrations of these substances, which means that they should be used with care. Calcium cyanamide was found to be very unsuitable, as this substance inhibited biogas production even at low concentrations and caused the fermentation process to come to a complete stop at higher concentrations.