Replication of experiments in anaerobic digestion: simpler, greater and easier than you had ever hoped

Hamelin, Jérôme; Plouchart, Diane; Guizard, Guillaume; Latrille, Eric; Milferstedt, Kim

Replication of experiments in anaerobic digestion: simpler, greater and easier than you had ever hoped

2017

Hamelin, Jérôme | Plouchart, Diane | Guizard, Guillaume | Latrille, Eric | Milferstedt, Kim

Reliability of results in science is done by replication of experiments, but it is often expensive and labour intensive. Indeed, operating anaerobic digesters in a continuous mode requires some experience and a lot of manpower. The number of anaerobic digesters that can be handled in parallel is therefore limited. In practice, experiments are often repeated several times, starting always with a fresh inoculum. One approach is to store and to restore the activity of the same inoculum, with no guarantee on the preservation of the functioning. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on any standardized strategy for the long-term preservation of complex ecosystems. Here, we present a multiplexed chemostat system that minimizes costs and manpower for operating several anaerobic digesters in parallel, and present a first application of the system. Up to thirty reactors may be operated by a single person. This system may unlock ecological studies as well as process optimization in the context of anaerobic digestion, where several conditions need to be tested in parallel. The vocation of this device is to make it available to the scientific community.

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