Investigating the current management of digestate in the Czech Republic

Summary This paper focuses on increasing quantities of digestate which is a final product of anaerobic digestion in biogas stations used as alternative sources of energy or as fermenting facilities which can reduce the quantities of biodegradable wastes on landfills. Digestate is a stabilised material produced by anaerobic digestion in a biogas station in addition to the main product - biogas. Potential use of digestate is limited due to its rather specific physical properties. In particular, individual components in digestate are extremely difficult to separate and its chemical or microbiological composition is special. The quality of digestate is affected mostly by the type of biomass. This paper presents current approaches to digestate and digestate management. It also includes taking and analysing digestate samples, processing of the samples in laboratory centrifuges and assessing the properties of digestate and separation products, i.e. the sludge liquor and separatum.