Pressure Effects on Proliferation of Methane-Producing Bacterias in Mesophylic Anaerobic Fermentation

Theoretical studies have assumed that the hydrostatic pressure in anaerobic digesters is likely to have a negatively influence on the effectiveness of the biochemical processes in the bioreactors and consequently on the biogas production. These assumptions made the authors approach this interesting topic and carry on experimental studies aimed to reveal the methanogens response on the hydrostatic pressure in order to allow designers adopt the most effective technical solutions in designing and construction of the biogas reactors. This paper has as a main scope to investigate the influence of the hydrostatic pressure on the microorganisms producing biogas. For this scope, experimental researches for anaerobic digestion of organic slurry have been carried out in stainless steel pressure vessels which were set for four different conditioning pressures. A comparative study of the methanogens loading for the initial sample and for the samples conditioned under various work pressure has been recorded and analyzed.