Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Waste and Biomass Valorization https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-018-0210-4 SHORT COMMUNICATION Biogas Improvement by Adding Australian Zeolite During the Anaerobic Digestion of C:N Ratio Adjusted Swine Manure D. Thushari N. Wijesinghe 1  · Kithsiri B. Dassanayake 2  · Sven G. Sommer 3  · Peter Scales 2  · Deli Chen 1 Received: 21 August 2017 / Accepted: 23 January 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Maintenance of the ideal carbon: nitrogen (C:N) ratio with a minimum level of TAN is a key challenge for achieving maximum potential CH 4 production through the anaerobic digestion process of agricultural waste such as swine manure. Biogas production can be enhanced by adding zeolite into the anaerobic digestion medium. However, the efects of zeolite addition to C:N ratio adjusted feedstock, on the digester performance is unknown. The objectives of this study were to investigate the efect of Australian zeolite on anaerobic digestion of swine manure with a C:N ratio adjusted to 30 and to determine the optimal zeolite application rate to achieve the best performance. The Australian zeolite signiicantly enhanced CH 4 production and reduced the lag phase of anaerobic digestion in batch production. The optimal addition rate of zeolite was appeared to be around 40 g/L. The better digester performance was attributed by the reduction of dissolved ammonium from the digestate. This study indicates that Australian zeolite is an efective treatment to address problems associated with co-digestion of swine manure with diferent carbon sources. Graphical Abstract Keywords Ammonium · Biogas · C:N ratio · Methane · Zeolite Introduction Animal manure is a biomass used worldwide for biogas production [1]. Most often, animal manure is co-digested with organic biomass containing a high concentration of easily degradable organic matter [2]. Using biomass high in nitrogen (N) for biogas production will result in a high concentration of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN = ammonia * D. Thushari N. Wijesinghe dwijesinghe@student.unimelb.edu.au Extended author information available on the last page of the article