Enhancing Energy Recovery from Anaerobic Digestion of Biomass Wastes in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Potential energy recovery from biomass wastes is crucial for both energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. In this paper, theoretical study was performed to evaluate energy potential from biomass wastes through anaerobic digestion process and its effect on mitigating Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, experimental work on anaerobic digestion using different types of wastes and chemical pretreatment was performed. The results showed that the electric energy potential can be recovered from anaerobic digestion of biomass wastes including household wastes, sewage wastes, animal wastes and agriculture crop residues is around 8355.21 GWh/year. The experimental results showed that the co-digestion of waste activated sludge with chemical pretreated straw (using NaOH as a chemical agent) improved biogas production to 6-fold compared to codigestion with untreated straw. Pretreatment temperature is the most effective parameter for maximizing biogas output and waste removal efficiency in anaerobic digestion. The findings of this study indicate the positive effect of applying anaerobic digestion process as an eco-friendly technique to recover energy from biomass waste and decrease environmental pollution.