Dark Fermentation at Fraunhofer Magdeburg

Dark Fermentation at Fraunhofer Magdeburg Supplied by Umwelt- und Ingenieurtechnik GmbH Dresden

By UIT

Founded in 1990, our company, Umwelt- und Ingenieurtechnik GmbH Dresden (UIT), supplies standardized biogas pilot plants and bioreactor plants, as well as modular and flexible pilot plants that are suitable for application-oriented research and development.

Our plants are designed to offer customized solutions for specific requirements and enable the simulation and investigation of complex biogas processes. Thanks to their design, we have been supplying them worldwide for decades.

New to the range are our dark fermentation plants. Dark fermentation is a promising process in sustainable energy production and waste management. The main aim is to produce hydrogen as a renewable and clean energy carrier, e.g. for use in fuel cells.

Compared to other biotechnological processes currently used, dark fermentation requires a lower quantity of energy consumption as no external light source (as in photolysis or photosynthesis) is required.

Organic substrates such as sugar, starch or other organic compounds from various agricultural waste, industrial waste or municipal biomass are broken down by microorganisms under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen).

This mainly produces hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other by-products such as organic acids. Here is a simplified example:

Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) + 2H2O → 4 H₂ + 2 CO₂ + organic acids

Since the exact end products depend crucially on the microorganisms involved, the substrates and the reaction conditions such as the pH value and temperature, these parameters must be precisely controlled and adjusted to optimize the process and thus maximize the hydrogen yield.

If this is not done, part of the substrate is converted into byproducts that can be treated in further biotechnological processes and used for biogas production, for example. Below you can see an application from the Fraunhofer Institute for

Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Magdeburg (Germany). FRAUNHOFER Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. with its institutes is the largest organization for applied research in Europe. UIT delivered this pilot dark fermentation plant.

This BTP2-control plant is suited to determine the kinetics and evaluate the sustainability of various biological, biochemical, and chemical reactions and for developing a reactor concept for testing project-related and cross-project material conversion processes.

This mobile modular and extendable system consists of:

• Biogas Test Plant BTP2-control with 20 L bioreactor;
• Heating and stirrer;
• Bioreactor measurement technology;
• pH control system;
• Gas quantity;
• Gas quality measurement;
• Compressor with gas storage system;
• Gas warning system;
• Data acquisition, control and visualization are implemented via UIT application SENSOcontrol.

For more information, please visit our website at https://www.uit-gmbh.de/en/

For more information, read our Asia Biogas Magazine.