Numerical Study of Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion Enhancement Using Parabolic Solar Collector Integrated With Paraffin Wax Based Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

Energy Is One Of The Main Inputs For The Economic Growth Of Any Country. It Is A Well-Known Fact That The Growth Of A Given Nation Has A Direct Relationship With The Quantity Of Energy Utilization. The Renewable Energy Sector Is One Of The Main Sources Of Energy That Can Give A Crucial Role In The Development Of A Nation. Biogas Is A Promising Technology Is Produced From The Anaerobic Digestion Of Organic Waste Raw Material. Temperature Is The Main Factor That Can Affect The Production And Performance Of An Anaerobic Digestion System. The Amount Of Produced Biogas Is Increased With Digester Temperature. In Order To Achieve And Maintain A Constant Process Temperature And To Compensate For Possible Heat Losses, Digesters Are Heated By External Heating Sources. Solar Energy May Well Be Integrated Within The Process Then A High Gas Production Rate Can Be Accomplished. However, The Main Drawback Of This Resource Is The Intermittency And Unpredictability Of Solar Energy, So Thermal Storage Is A Key Issue To Be Addressed To Allow The Intermittence Of Solar Energy.The Objective Of This Study Was To Investigate The Numerical Performance Of Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion Enhancement Utilizing A Parabolic Solar Collector Integrated With Paraffin Wax-Based Thermal Energy Storage (Tes) That Is Designed To Digest Cow Dung At Bale Robe Weather Conditions. The System Is Composed Of An Anaerobic Digester, Parabolic Trough Solar Collector, Latent Heat Thermal Storage, And A Thermal Model Developed For Those Main Components. The Thermophilic Anaerobic Digester Produced The Daily Cooking And Lighting Energy Demanded By My Family And Nearby Householder (50). The Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Is Used As An External Source Of Energy To Provide The Heat Energy Required To Maintain The Digester Temperature At The Desired Level. Tes Used As A Storage Unit To Store Solar Energy That Was Later Used By Digestion During The Absence Of Solar Radiation. An Anaerobic Digester Design To Produce 30.5m3 Biogas Per Day. Water Used As Heat Transfer Fluid And Paraffin Wax N-Hentriacontane Used As Phase Change Material. Transient One Dimensional Heat Transfer Model Developed Each Component Of System And Python And Matlab Script Also Written To Solve Iteratively Using Finite Difference Scheme. The Numerical Simulation Results Showed That 4.9 M3 Spherical Capsule Paraffin Wax Phase Change Material And 5 Units Of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Is Fulfilled The Energy Required By The Digester.