A need for a standardization in anaerobic digestion experiments? Let's get some insight from meta-analysis and multivariate analysis

Abstract An important variability in the experimental results in anaerobic digestion lab test has been reported. This study presents a meta-analysis coupled with multivariate analysis aiming to assess the impact of this experimental variability in batch and continuous operation at mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge. An analysis of variance showed that there was no significant difference between mesophilic and thermophilic conditions in both continuous and batch conditions. Concerning the operation mode, the values of methane yield were significantly higher in batch experiment than in continuous reactors. According to the PCA, for both cases, the methane yield is positive correlated to the temperature rises. Interestingly, in the batch experiments, the higher the volatile solids in the substrate was, the lowest was the methane production, which is correlated to experimental flaws when setting up those tests. In continuous mode, unlike the batch test, the methane yield is strongly (positively) correlated to the organic content of the substrate. Experimental standardization, above all, in batch conditions are urgently necessary or move to continuous experiments for reporting results. The modeling can also be a source of disturbance in batch test.