@article{HoffstadtCheenakulaNikolauszetal.2023,
  author    = {Hoffstadt, Kevin and Cheenakula, Dheeraja and Nikolausz, Marcell and Krafft, Simone and Harms, Hauke and Kuperjans, Isabel},
  title     = {Design and construction of a new reactor for flexible biomethanation of hydrogen},
  series = {Fermentation},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Fermentation},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {2311-5637},
  doi       = {10.3390/fermentation9080774},
  pages     = {1 -- 16},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {The increasing share of renewable electricity in the grid drives the need for sufficient storage capacity. Especially for seasonal storage, power-to-gas can be a promising approach. Biologically produced methane from hydrogen produced from surplus electricity can be used to substitute natural gas in the existing infrastructure. Current reactor types are not or are poorly optimized for flexible methanation. Therefore, this work proposes a new reactor type with a plug flow reactor (PFR) design. Simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics ® showed promising properties for operation in laminar flow. An experiment was conducted to support the simulation results and to determine the gas fraction of the novel reactor, which was measured to be 29\%. Based on these simulations and experimental results, the reactor was constructed as a 14 m long, 50 mm diameter tube with a meandering orientation. Data processing was established, and a step experiment was performed. In addition, a kLa of 1 h-1 was determined. The results revealed that the experimental outcomes of the type of flow and gas fractions are in line with the theoretical simulation. The new design shows promising properties for flexible methanation and will be tested.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CheenakulaHoffstadtKrafftetal.2022,
  author    = {Cheenakula, Dheeraja and Hoffstadt, Kevin and Krafft, Simone and Reinecke, Diana and Klose, Holger and Kuperjans, Isabel and Gr{\"o}mping, Markus},
  title     = {Anaerobic digestion of algal-bacterial biomass of an Algal Turf Scrubber system},
  series = {Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {Berlin},
  issn      = {2190-6823},
  doi       = {10.1007/s13399-022-03236-z},
  pages     = {15 Seiten},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {This study investigated the anaerobic digestion of an algal-bacterial biofilm grown in artificial wastewater in an Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS). The ATS system was located in a greenhouse (50°54′19ʺN, 6°24′55ʺE, Germany) and was exposed to seasonal conditions during the experiment period. The methane (CH4) potential of untreated algal-bacterial biofilm (UAB) and thermally pretreated biofilm (PAB) using different microbial inocula was determined by anaerobic batch fermentation. Methane productivity of UAB differed significantly between microbial inocula of digested wastepaper, a mixture of manure and maize silage, anaerobic sewage sludge, and percolated green waste. UAB using sewage sludge as inoculum showed the highest methane productivity. The share of methane in biogas was dependent on inoculum. Using PAB, a strong positive impact on methane productivity was identified for the digested wastepaper (116.4\%) and a mixture of manure and maize silage (107.4\%) inocula. By contrast, the methane yield was significantly reduced for the digested anaerobic sewage sludge (50.6\%) and percolated green waste (43.5\%) inocula. To further evaluate the potential of algal-bacterial biofilm for biogas production in wastewater treatment and biogas plants in a circular bioeconomy, scale-up calculations were conducted. It was found that a 0.116 km2 ATS would be required in an average municipal wastewater treatment plant which can be viewed as problematic in terms of space consumption. However, a substantial amount of energy surplus (4.7-12.5 MWh a-1) can be gained through the addition of algal-bacterial biomass to the anaerobic digester of a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Wastewater treatment and subsequent energy production through algae show dominancy over conventional technologies.},
  language  = {en}
}