I’m trying to determine if my anaerobic digester is leaking sludge back into other portions of the treatment wastewater system. Monitoring the level over a period of days with no sludge into or out of the digester I see a decrease in digester contents of about 2 to 3 percent over several days. Again, this is based on monitoring the liquid level in the digester. From a mass balance perspective I’m losing about 1,500 lbs per day in a system that holds ~300,000 lbs. Some conversion to methane and carbon dioxide accounts for some loss but I cannot imagine it’s anywhere close to what I am seeing. The question is, besides a leak, is there any things that come into play that would result in a decrease in liquid level other than very minor due to the formation of gasses?
Thanks
Thanks