Fractional calculus as a generalized kinetic model for biochemical methane potential tests

Author (s): Da Silva, C., Peces, M., Jaques, A., Muñoz, J.J., Dosta, J., Astals, S.
Journal: Bioresource Technology

Date: 2024

Abstract:
This study presents a fractional calculus model as a generalized kinetic model for estimating the maximum methane yield and degradation kinetics in biomethane potential (BMP) assays, a key method in anaerobic digestion research and application. The fractional model outperformed common first-order kinetic models by yielding superior data fitting and properly managing substrate heterogeneity. The fractional model showed robust performance in mono-digestion, co-digestion and pre-treatment BMP experiments with or without presence of large tailing or sigmoidal patterns in the BMP curve. The main advantage of the fractional model over other models is its ability to capture the complexities of the methane production process without losing model accuracy. Assessment of the model’s mathematical simplification showed that fractional orders above 0.8 yield equivalent results, thereby enabling the transformation of the Mittag-Leffler sequence into a more computationally efficient exponential function.

Journal paper (from the publisher)  

Bibtex:

@ARTICLE{2024-BR-DPJMDA,
   author = "C. Da Silva and M. Peces and A. Jaques and J.J. Mu{\~n}oz and J. Dosta and S. Astals",
   title = "Fractional calculus as a generalized kinetic model for biochemical methane potential tests",
   journal = "Bioresource Technology",
   volume = "",
   number = "130412",
   pages = "",
   month = “”,
   year = "2024",
   note = "",
   DOI = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130412",
}