Evaluation of Leachate Replacement Effect on Solid State Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure and Sawdust Bedding Mixtures

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of leachate replacement frequency on solid state anaerobic digestion (SSAD) of dairy manure using 22 L volume lab-scale digesters at mesophilic temperature ($37^{\circ}C$) in batch mode. Three different leachate replacement strategies (no replacement, once every three days, and once every nine days) were applied and three digesters per each treatment were operated for 45 days. Results showed that leachate replacement test unit every nine days resulted in 1.6 times more methane production ($53.8N{\cdot}mL\;g^{-1}{\cdot}VS$) from SSAD compared to test unit every three days ($34.0N{\cdot}mL\;g^{-1}{\cdot}VS$). No leachate replacement strategy applied group showed slightly higher methane production ($56.3N{\cdot}mL\;g^{-1}{\cdot}VS$) than every nine days replaced one. When added the methane production potential of replaced leachate itself to the methane produced from digester, leachate replacement every nine days resulted in quite similar methane production ($56.5N{\cdot}mL\;g^{-1}{\cdot}VS$) to no leachate replacement group. Even though methane production potential of replaced leachate itself added to the methane produced from digester, every three days replacement showed only $34N{\cdot}mL$ methane production per gram of volatile solids. These results suggest that farmers do not need to replace leachate during SSAD of dairy manure and sawdust mixture in order to maximize methane production. If there are any concerns with accumulation of inhibiting substances in the digester, the 9-day cycle leachate replacement is appropriate.