Room: Yangtze 1
Date: Thursday, 21 May 2026
Time: 16:15 - 17:15 CEST
Session code 4CO.12
Biogas - Synergies and optimisation
Syntrophic Microorganisms as Biomarkers for Controlling Waste Fermentation Plants
Short Introductive summary
Biogas technology is well established but challenges remain in process monitoring and control. Established parameters are the VFA/TAC ratio or concentrations of VFA. These indicate an advanced micorbial process disturbance and are only of limited use for predictive plant control. Also, these indicators rely on costly sensors and the link between parameters and microbial community changes is not always clear. This research investigates if the syntrophic ASG biomarker can serve as biomarkers for process disturbances in plants mainly operated with residual and waste materials and to validate the biomarker as a simple, cost-effective tool for process monitoring and control and thus improve process stability and efficiency in waste fermentation plants. Initial results show, that the ASG biomarker can be observed in all samples recieved from lab-scale trials and from full-scale plants. In addition, during lab-scale tests the biomarker responded up to ten days earlier than conventional parameters during process disturbance and recovery. These first findings indicate that the syntrophic ASG biomarker is able to provide a fast and reliable tool for biogas process monitoring and control.
Presenter
Svenja Nathalie WEBER
German Biomass Research Centre, GERMANY
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
N. Engler, German Biomass Research Centre, Leipzig, GERMANY
U. Krause, AMODIA Bioservice, Braunschweig, GERMANY
S. Peters, AMODIA Bioservice, Braunschweig, GERMANY
S. Dröge, Prüf- und Forschungsinstitut Pirmasens, GERMANY
J. Sema, Prüf- und Forschungsinstitut Pirmasens, GERMANY
Session reference: 4CO.12.2