Lucas Martinez Arocena (Uruguay)

IHE Delft│Netherlands & UNIVALLE│Colombia

Anaerobic co-digestion of dairy farm waste with native cyanobacteria (Uruguay)

Eutrophication has become the major environmental issue in Uruguay. Cyanobacteria blooms have become more frequent and intense than ever before. Dairy farms have been identified as the main contributors to eutrophication in the south of Uruguay. My research aimed at evaluating the potential of co-digesting harvested native cyanobacteria with dairy farm waste. I conducted evaluations to determine the biogas production (energy) of different mixtures of dairy farm waste/cyanobacteria. The results of my study show that native cyanobacteria exhibited similar biogas production to the dairy farm waste. Therefore, anaerobic co-digestion of dairy farm waste with natural-occurring cyanobacteria can be proposed as an alternative for simultaneously alleviating the pollution from dairy farms while harvesting the cyanobacteria from polluted water courses.