Whitepaper
Compact AnMBR system for the Wisconsinbased dairy processor
Berghof Membranes, with its extensive experience in treating industrial effluent using PVDF tubular membranes, developed a compact AnMBR system for the Wisconsinbased dairy processor.
Wastewater Treatment Solutions for Biogas Plants
Decades of experience.
Biogas generation and digestate treatment
At Berghof Membranes, we specialize in digestate treatment solutions designed for biogas plants. Our advanced tubular uf membranes deliver efficient filtration, ensuring sustainable water reuse and compliance with environmental standards. Our expertise as leading tubular membrane manufacturers allows us to support digestate treatment in biogas plants, addressing challenges in processing digestate effectively.
A biogas plant is a waste-to-energy installation where different waste materials such as livestock manure, organic fraction of municipal waste, or residues from the agrifood industry are converted into biogas. This process involves biogas wastewater treatment to manage and purify the wastewater produced during biogas production. Biogas is an environmentally friendly source of energy in the form of heat, electricity, and even biofuels, making it a sustainable solution for waste management and energy production.
The use of biogas instead of the fossil fuels is drawing significant attention as a tool for tackling climate change and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from the inherent sustainability, biogas also entails significant advantages such as easy storage and use under demand or the off-grid, localized energy production for on-site use.
The biogas plants are based in the anaerobic digestion process, consisting on a set of biological processes in which microorganisms digest the waste material in air-tight tanks, producing the mentioned biogas. Moreover, the so-called digestate is produced: it consists on the organic material left over after the digestion. Digestate is rich in organic matter and nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Therefore, it can be valorized as a high-quality fertilizer.
The use of digestate as a source of fertilizers requires certain treatment. The most conventional approach is to use centrifugation for liquid-solid separation. In this way, a solid residue and a liquid fraction (centrate) are obtained. Traditionally, the centrate has been disposed directly into the land for soil conditioning. This entails some benefits, as long as the organic matter and nutrients contained in the digestate are brought back to the land in form of nutrients, but has been shown to present certain limitations that can hamper the future consolidation of the waste-to-energy approach as an alternative to the conventional sources of energy. In this scenario, more advanced technologies for digestate treatment are required day after day for managing the digestate in a more sustainable way, better than direct land disposal.
Challenges for digestate management
Legal restrictions
For land spreading, limited mass of nitrogen applied per hectare.
Seasonal restrictions
For landfarming to be done in periods of maximum crop growth.
Competition
For land for spreading in areas with high livestock density.
As a result, the implementation of our membrane technologies for digestate management appears as one of the best available technologies as long as it provides important benefits, not only for the environment but also for the biogas plant operators and farmers, such as biogas wastewater treatment. This process not only ensures the efficient purification and recycling of wastewater but also enhances the overall sustainability and operational efficiency of biogas plants, making it a key component in modern waste-to-energy systems.
- Meeting strict discharge limits;
- Cost savings for transportation, storage and spreading;
- Safety issues; no suspended solids and pathogens;
- New source of revenue from marketable concentrated and high-quality fertilizers;
- Production of high-quality treated water, complying with the requirements for discharge or reuse.
Benefits of tubular membrane solutions for digestate treatment
As previously introduced, the waste-to-energy process for biogas generation produces the digestate stream as a recoverable product that needs to be adequately managed. The digestate presents difficult to biodegrade organic matter, a significant presence of suspended solids, and high concentration of nitrogen. Berghof tubular UF is applied in two different configurations according to the treatment objectives, the project’s particularities and of course, focusing on achieving the most competitive CAPEX/OPEX in each case.
The external tubular MBR allows removing the difficult to biodegrade organic matter and nitrogen and produces high-quality water for discharge or reuse. On the other hand, direct tubular UF preserves and concentrates the nutrients for valorization producing high-value biofertilizers with minimal use of chemicals.
Therefore, our biogas membrane systems offer a range of benefits for biogas wastewater treatment, including enhanced durability and efficiency in processing biogas digestate. As a recognized name in the industry, we provide cutting-edge solutions as premier biogas membrane manufacturers, contributing to more sustainable wastewater treatment for biogas facilities.
Applications of tubular UF membrane technology for biogas plants
MBR | Digestate Treatment
Direct Filtration | Nutrient valorization
Please choose the application that applies to you.
Is your application not listed? Then please contact us.
Project References
Take a look at our case studies
Water softening | New Material Industry
Project Details
Capacity: 200 m3/d
Membrane: 8mm PVDF, CR
Location: Huguan County (China)
AnMBR & MBR | Dairy Industry
Project Details
Membrane: 8mm, PVDF, backwashable
Capacity: 1,900 m3/day
COD load: 9,000 to 18,000 kg/day
Location: Wisconsin
AnMBR | Creamery
Project Details
Membrane: 8mm, PVDF, backwashable
Capacity: 155 m3/day
BOD load: 1,587 kg/day
Location: Menomonie, Wisconsin
Manufactured in Germany
Tubular UF Membrane Modules
To prevent fouling and clogging, Berghof Membranes developed its line of robust tubular UF (ultrafiltration) membrane modules based on inside-out crossflow filtration.
Membrane Skid systems
Berghof Membranes developed B-SMART®, a customizable external membrane filtration system that can be designed with various features and functionalities.
Pilot systems & Lab testing
Bridging the gap between lab-scale testing and manufacturing. Our experts gives you the confidence to apply the technology for your specific wastewater challenges.
B-CARE® Service and Support
The B-CARE® program is an end-to-end comprehensive program developed to support our OEM partners from the piloting/engineering phase to operational system monitoring.
