Browsing by Author "Uludaǧ-Demirer, S."

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Forecasting the Methane Yield of a Commercial-Scale Anaerobic Digestor Based on the Biomethane Potential of Feedstocks
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2025) Türker Bayrak, Ö.T.; Uludaǧ-Demirer, S.; Xu, M.; Liao, W.
With rising energy demand and the need for sustainable waste treatment, anaerobic digestion (AD) has emerged as a key technology for converting organic residues into renewable energy. However, predicting methane yield in full-scale facilities remains challenging due to the complexity of AD processes, the variability of feedstocks, and the impracticality of frequent biochemical methane potential (BMP) testing. In this study, we developed a simple, data-driven approach to forecast methane production in a commercial-scale digester co-digesting manure and food waste. The model employs weekly cumulative BMP of feedstock mixtures, calculated from literature values, as the explanatory variable. The model achieved an R2 of 0.70 and a forecast mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 7.4, indicating its potential for full-scale AD prediction. Importantly, the analysis revealed a long-run equilibrium between BMP and methane yield, with deviations corrected within roughly one month—closely matching the system’s hydraulic retention time. These findings demonstrate that literature-based BMP values can be used to reliably predict methane yield in operating AD systems, offering a low-cost and scalable tool to support decision-making in waste management and biogas plant operations. © 2025 by the authors.
Citation - Scopus: 1
Identification of Eco-Efficiency Opportunities in a Small Enterprise Producing Vegetable Oil in Eskisehir, Turkey
(Inderscience Publishers, 2007) Tepe, N.; Uludaǧ-Demirer, S.
In this study, the current processes and technologies in a small enterprise, Demircanlar Oil Industry1 (Eskisehir, Turkey), were audited and improved from the eco-efficiency point of view. The eco-efficient management of the vegetable oil production processes has been performed on the units of physical processes, extraction and purification. The results obtained indicated that the loss in raw material can be reduced simply by increasing me height of the sieves used to separate foreign materials (leaves, sand, stones, etc.) from sunflower seeds. Results also indicated that production costs and negative environmental impacts can be decreased by minimising the loss of hexane during the extraction process, and the product quality can be improved and product loss can be prevented by adjusting the amounts of bleaching clay and TriSyl® in me bleaching process. Although the reduction in environmental impacts of the factory could not be valuated, the study showed that the factory can be managed more eco-efficiently without undergoing major process changes with an immediate benefit of approximately 12,000 USD. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.