Optimal replacement of biomass for maximizing gas production

Biomass conversion processes have the potential for satisfying approximately 25% of the national demand for methane gas. At the current time very littel analytical work has been done to optimally design and operate the production facilities associated with these processes. This study was motivated by the high cost of these proposed systems. The biomass in storage decays (exponentially) with time while the batch methane production rate decreases (exponentially) over time. The basic problem is to determine the optimal residence times for batches in the anaerobic degester to maximize total production over a fixed planning horizon. The analysis characteries the form of the optimal policy and presents efficient algorithm for obtaining this solution.