TY - JOUR

T1 - Biogas potential of organic waste onboard cruise ships

T2 - a yet untapped energy source

AU - Schumüller, Kai

AU - Weichgrebe, Dirk

AU - Koester, Stephan

N1 - Funding Information: This sub-project is undertaken by the Institute for Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management (ISAH), Leibniz University Hanover. We would like to thank our project partner Carnival Maritime for extensive provision/support regarding data on cruise ships and for access to their vessels, and the funding body and the Projektträger Jülich for the opportunity to carry out the work described here.

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - To tap the organic waste generated onboard cruise ships is a very promising approach to reduce their adverse impact on the maritime environment. Biogas produced by means of onboard anaerobic digestion offers a complementary energy source for ships’ operation. This report comprises a detailed presentation of the results gained from comprehensive investigations on the gas yield from onboard substrates such as food waste, sewage sludge and screening solids. Each person onboard generates a total average of about 9 kg of organic waste per day. The performed analyses of substrates and anaerobic digestion tests revealed an accumulated methane yield of around 159 L per person per day. The anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste (50:50 VS) emerged as particularly effective and led to an increased biogas yield by 24%, compared to the mono-fermentation. In the best case, onboard biogas production can provide an energetic output of 82 W/P, on average covering 3.3 to 4.1% of the total energy demand of a cruise ship.

AB - To tap the organic waste generated onboard cruise ships is a very promising approach to reduce their adverse impact on the maritime environment. Biogas produced by means of onboard anaerobic digestion offers a complementary energy source for ships’ operation. This report comprises a detailed presentation of the results gained from comprehensive investigations on the gas yield from onboard substrates such as food waste, sewage sludge and screening solids. Each person onboard generates a total average of about 9 kg of organic waste per day. The performed analyses of substrates and anaerobic digestion tests revealed an accumulated methane yield of around 159 L per person per day. The anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste (50:50 VS) emerged as particularly effective and led to an increased biogas yield by 24%, compared to the mono-fermentation. In the best case, onboard biogas production can provide an energetic output of 82 W/P, on average covering 3.3 to 4.1% of the total energy demand of a cruise ship.

KW - Anaerobic digestion

KW - Biogas

KW - Cruise ship

KW - Food waste

KW - Sewage sludge

KW - Thermal energy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099642014&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s13399-020-01249-0

DO - 10.1007/s13399-020-01249-0

M3 - Article

VL - 12

SP - 5647

EP - 5662

JO - BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY

JF - BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY

SN - 2190-6815

IS - 12

ER -