Albion College Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium

 Title: From Waste to Biogas - Insights through Mathematical Modeling Speaker: Marion Weedermann Chair, Director of Joint Engineering Program with IIT Department of Mathematics Dominican University River Forest, IL Abstract: Anaerobic digestion is a biochemical process in which organic matter is broken down to biogas and various byproducts in an oxygen-free environment. When used in waste treatment facilities, the biogas is captured before it escapes into the atmosphere. It can then be used as renewable energy either by combusting the gas to produce electrical energy or by extracting the methane and using it as a natural gas fuel. In industrial applications anaerobic digestion appears to be difficult to control and reactors often experience break-down resulting in little or no biogas production. In this talk we describe a model for anaerobic digestion and illustrate how qualitative and numerical analysis give guidelines for how to control the system to (1) stabilize and (2) optimize biogas production. At the same time the model explains various possible pitfalls in industrial installations. Location: Palenske 227 Date: 2/6/2014 Time: 3:30 PM

@abstract{MCS:Colloquium:MarionWeedermann:2014:2:6,
author  = "{Marion Weedermann}",
title   = "{From Waste to Biogas - Insights through Mathematical Modeling}",
address = "{Albion College Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium}",
month   = "{6 February}",
year    = "{2014}"
}