Small Bioreactors for Management of Biodegradable Waste

This volume discusses how small bioreactors can produce useful biogas and compost from biodegradable waste. The authors identify which biodegradable wastes are optimal for small bioreactors, and how these choices can be used to increase bioreactor productivity. Additionally, readers will learn about how the amount and composition of biogas is estimated, the concentration of biodegradable waste that needs to be supplied to a bioreactor, the development of small bioreactors including the ratio of cost to the obtained benefits, and the nature of biodegradable wastes generated by both small farms and large food industry enterprises. 

The beginning chapters explain what biodegradable waste is, show how to predict how much waste an enterprise will produce, and elaborate the characteristics of the biogas which is generated from biodegradable waste in small bioreactors. Then the book discusses the types of small bioreactors and how to select the optimal bioreactor for a given case. Bioreactor performance is analyzed on both an economical and production efficiency basis, with experimental results provided on the quantity and quality of the biogas produced. The final chapters address how small bioreactors can be incorporated into small biogas plants, and the potential use of small bioreactors in countries with high demand for alternative energy using the case of Lithuania. The audience for this work includes specialists in biodegradable waste management and utilization enterprises, designers, and academics, researchers and students engaged in environmental engineering.

Prof. Dr. Habil Pranas Baltrėnas is the Chief Researcher of the Research Institute of Environmental Protection at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU). He was the founder and formerly the Director of the Research Institute of Environmental Protection, as well as the founder and Head of the Department of Environmental Protection from 1993 to 2013. Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the VGTU Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, and is a member of several more environmental engineering and environmental protection boards and associations. He is the author and co-author of 660 publications, including 18 monographs, 3 textbooks, 26 analytical and review methodical works, as well as 345 research papers, including 60 papers published abroad and 100 certificates and patents.

Prof. Dr. Edita Baltrėnaitė is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Protection at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) in Lithuania. She is also the Executive Editor of the Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, a member of the VGTU doctoral committee for Environmental Engineering. Since 2007, Edita has been a scientific secretary of the international Journal of Environmental Engineering and Ecological Science, a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal published by Romanian Academy of Science, Annals – Series on Chemistry Sciences, a member of EISN-Institute and NJF. On 27 January 2017, Prof. Dr Edita Baltrėnaitė was appointed to the Agricultural and Biological Science Editorial Advisory Group at Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Her research interests include the application of biogeochemical processes to environmental protection technologies, the evaluation of transportation of potentially toxic elements in the ecosphere, and the application of lignocellulosic products in environmental protection engineering. She is the author of 92 papers, the author of the monograph; 1 textbook, 3 book chapters.