Technology to Enhance Biogas Production of Fat-rich Sludge from Dairy Industry Developed

Indian Scientists have developed a novel high-performance bioreactor system integrated with sustainable pre-treatment process for enabling anaerobic digestion of complex fat-rich sludge from dairy industry. It has been further integrated with membrane bioreactor based-wastewater treatment to enable zero liquid discharge in the dairy industry.

This technology has been developed by Dr. Sandeep N. Mudliar at CSIR-CFTRI Mysore with support from the Waste Management Technology program of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, with in-kind support from M/s Sun Enviro Technologies Pvt. Ltd. for the pilot-scale trials at a model dairy plant. They had developed a bench-scale system, which has been tested on pilot scale and will be filing for a patent soon.

It can also be applied for anaerobic digestion of complex solid waste containing Fats and oils and can be coupled with wastewater treatment to enable Zero Liquid discharge. Further, the technology can be used for solid and liquid waste management in food and allied industries. The sustainable pre-treatment technique is applicable to all types of complex solid wastes to enhance biogas production as well as robustness of anaerobic digestion process.

Dairy and food industries are the likely industries which can take up the technology. The technology will also be applicable for any biodegradable solid waste sludge and food waste from any food industry as well as food industry wastewaters.