biogas notes.ppt

8/14/2019 biogas notes.ppt

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Biogas is about 20 percent lighter than air and has an ignition temperaturein the range of 650 to 750 C It is an odourless and colourless gas thatburns with clear blue flame similar to that of LPG gas (Sathianathan, 1975).Its calorific value is 20 Mega Joules (MJ) per m3 and burns with 60 percentefficiency in a conventional biogas stove.

This is the mixture of gas produced by methano genic bacteria while acting uponbiodegradable materials in an anaerobic condition. Biogas is mainly composed of 50 to70 percent methane, 30 to 40 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) and low amount of othergases

Biogas


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Simple biogas plants. Floating-drum plant (A), fixed-dome plant(B), fixed-dome plant with separategas holder (C), balloon plant (D),channel-typedigester with plasticsheeting and sunshade (E).

The biodigester is a physicalstructure, commonly known as thebiogas plant. Since variouschemical and microbiologicalreactions take place in thebiodigester, it is also known asbio-reactor or anaerobic reactor.

The main function of this structureis to provide anaerobic conditionwithin it. As a chamber, it shouldbe air and water tight. It can bemade of various constructionmaterials and in different shapeand size.

Construction of this structure

forms a major part of theinvestment cost. Some of thecommonly used designs arediscussed below.


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Floating Drum Digester: Experiment on biogas technology in India

began in 1937. In 1956. Jashu Bhai J Pateldeveloped a design of floating drumbiogas plant popularly known as Gobar

Gas plant. In 1962, Patcl's design wasapproved by the Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission (KVIC) of Indiaand this design soon became popular inIndia and the world.

In this design, the digester chamber ismade of brick masonry in cement mortar.A mild steel drum is placed on top of thedigester to collect the biogas producedfrom the digester. Thus, there are twoseparate structures for gas productionand collection. With the introduction offixed dome Chinese model plant, thefloating drum plants became obsoletebecause of comparatively high

investment and maintenance cost alongwith other design weaknesses.


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Advantages:It is simple, easily understood operation - the volume of stored gas is

directly visible. The gas pressure is constant, determined by the weight of thegas holder. The construction is relatively easy, construction mistakes do not

lead to major problems in operation and gas yield.

Disadvantages:High material costs of the steel drum, the susceptibility of steel parts to

corrosion. Because of this, floating drum plants have a shorter life span thanfixed-dome plants and regular maintenance costs for the painting of the

drum.


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Composite unit of a masonry digester and a metallicdome.Maintenance of constant pressure by upward anddownward movement


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Fixed Dome Digester: Fixed dome Chinese model biogas plant (also called drumless digester) was built

in China as early as 1936. It consists of an underground brick masonrycompartment (fermentation chamber) with a dome on the top for gas storage. In

this design, the fermentation chamber and gas holder are combined as one unit.This design eliminates the use of costlier mild steel gas holder which issusceptible to corrosion. The life of fixed dome type plant is longer (from 20 to50 years) compared to KVIC plant. Based on the principles of fixed dome modelfrom China, Gobar Gas and Agricultural Equipment Development Company (GGC).The concrete dome is the main characteristic of GGC design


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Advantages:are the relatively low construction costs, the absence of moving parts

and rusting steel parts. If well constructed, fixed dome plants have a longlife span. The underground construction saves space and protects thedigester from temperature changes. The construction provides

opportunities for skilled local employment.

Disadvantages:are mainly the frequent problems with the gas-tightness of the

brickwork gasholder (a small crack in the upper brickwork can causeheavy losses of biogas). Fixed-dome plants are, therefore, recommendedonly where construction can be supervised by experienced biogastechnicians. The gas pressure fluctuates substantially depending on the

volume of the stored gas. Even though the underground constructionbuffers temperature extremes, digester temperatures are generally low.


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Deenbandhu Model: In an effort to further bring down the investment cost, Deenbandhu model was put forth in

1984 by the Action for Food Production (AFPRO), New Delhi. In India, this model proved 30percent cheaper than Janata Model (also developed in India) which is the first fixed dome

plant based on Chinese technology. It also proved to be about 45 percent cheaper than aKVIC plant of comparable size. Deenbandhu plants are made entirely of brick masonry workwith a spherical shaped gas holder at the top and a concave bottom. A typical design ofDeenbandhu plant is shown in Figure 1.3 (Singh. Myles and Dhussa, 1987). The Soudi AsianPartnership/Nepal (SAP/N), an INGO working in Nepal, has introduced Deenbandhu modelplants in Bardiya district of Nepal. About 100 plants were constructed by SAP/N in thevillages of Bardiya district in 1994. Preliminary studies carried out by BSP did not find anysignificant difference in the investment costs of GGC and the Deenbandhu design plants.


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Bag Digester: This design was developed in 1960s in Taiwan. It consists of a long

cylinder made of PVC or red mud plastic (Figure 1.4). The bag digester

was developed to solve the problems experienced with brick and metaldigesters. A PVC bag digester was also tested in Nepal by GGC at Butwalfrom April to June 1986. The study concluded that the plastic bagbiodigester could be successful only if PVC bag is easily available,pressure inside the digester is increased and welding facilities are easilyavailable (Biogas Newsletter, No. 23, 1986). Such conditions are difficultto meet in most of the rural areas in developing countries.


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The balloon plant consists of a digester bag

(e.g. PVC) in the upper part of which the gasis stored. The inlet and outlet are attacheddirectly to the plastic skin of the balloon. Thegas pressure is achieved through theelasticity of the balloon and by addedweights placed on the balloon.Advantages

arelow cost, ease of transportation, lowconstruction sophistication, high digestertemperatures, uncomplicated cleaning,emptying and maintenance.Disadvantages

can be the relatively short life span, highsusceptibility to damage, little creation oflocal employment and, therefore, limitedself-help potential. A variation of the balloonplant is the channel-type digester, which isusually covered with plasticsheeting and asunshade (FigureE). Balloon plants can berecommended wherever the balloon skin isnot likely to be damaged and where thetemperature is even and high.


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Plus Flow Digester: The plug flow digester is similar to the bag digester. Itconsists of a trench (trench length has to be considerablygreater than the width and depth) lined with, concrete oran impermeable membrane. The reactor is covered witheither a flexible cover gas holder anchored to the ground,

concrete orgalvanized iron (GI) top. The first documenteduse of this type of design was in South Africa in 1957.Figure 1.5 shows a sketch of such a reactor (Gunnersonand Stuckey, 1986). This design has not been constructedat the field level in Nepal.


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Anaerobic Filter: This type of digester was developed in the 1950's to use relatively dilute and

soluble waste water with low level of suspended solids. It is one of the earliest andsimplest type of design developed to reduce the reactor volume. It consists of acolumn filled with a packing medium. I a great variety of non-biodegradablematerials have been used as packing media for anaerobic filter reactors such asstones, plastic, coral, mussel shells, reeds, and bamboo rings. The methaneforming bacteria form a film on the large surface of the packing medium and arenot earned out of the digester with the effluent. For this reason, these reactors arealso known as "fixed film" or "retained film" digesters (Bioenergy Systems Report.1984). Figure 1.6 presents a sketch of the anaerobic filter (Gunnerson andStuckey. 1986). This design is best suited for treating industrial, chemical andbrewery wastes.


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Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket: This UASB design was developed in 1980 in the Netherlands. It is similar to the

anaerobic filter in that it involves a high concentration of immobilized bacteria inthe reactor. However, the UASB reactors contain no packing medium, instead, themethane forming bacteria are concentrated in the dense granules of sludge

blanket which covers the lower part of the reactor. The feed liquid enters from thebottom of the reactor and biogas is produced while liquid flows up through thesludge blanket (Figure 1.7). Many full-scale UASB plants are in operation in Europeusing waste water from sugar beet processing and other dilute wastes that containmainly soluble carbohydrates (Bioenergy Systems Report, 1984).


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Name of plant Developed at Capacity m3gas/day)Kaccha-puccaplant

Punjab agriculturaluniversity,Ludhiana

3

Capsule plant Himachal pradeshagriculturaluniversity.Palampur

2

Luknow type Janataplant

Plannig,reaserch and actiondivision (PRAD), Lucknow

1.7

Astra plant Indian institute of science,Bangaluru

4.25

TNAU plant College of agricultural

engineering, coimbtore

2.5

Kalinga plant Govt.implements factory,Bhubneshwar

3.0

Janata plant Govt.implements factory,Bhubneshwar

3.0

IARI plant Divn. Of Soil Sci & Agri. 3.0


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Name of plant Developed at Capacity m3 gas/day)Bharat plant Gujarat energy development

agency,Vadodara

Between 1-10

Ganesh plant Gobar gas reaserch anddevelopment centre,Rampur

Various models giving2-140

Pragati plant 2-6

Deenabandhuplant

Action for food production(AFFPRO),Lucknow

2.0

Low cost PEplant

AMM Murugappa chettiarreaserch centre, Chennai

2.0

Sultanpur plant m/sVikas engineeringcorporation,sultanpur

Kamadhenuplant

Mr.Madasur ramchand


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3. General Information :TNAU sakthi model plant is made of brick, cement, sand and jelly. The only skillrequired is arch (dome) construction which can be done by masonry work. The

new model not only eliminates the centering, false roof and false pillar for thedome construction but also separates outlet tank. Hence the cost of constructionof this digester is lesser than other types of biogas plants.4. Cost of the unit : Rs. 7000 (2 m3plant)5. Cost of operation : Rs. 4/- per day6. Salient features : 15 to 20 per cent cost saving when compared to deenbhandubiogas model.

1. Function : Cooking, lighting andengine running

2. Specification :

i. Components : Digester, inlet pipesand effluent collector

ii. Feed material : Cow dung, pigmanure, poultry droppings etc.

iii. Shape of the plant : Spherical


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1. Function : Household

cooking, lighting and runningengines2. Specification :

i. Components : Digester,and inlet and outlet tanks

ii. Feed material : Cow dung,

pig manure, poultrydroppings etc.

iii. Shape of the plant :Cylindrical

3. General Information : This is a semi-continuous flow plant for producingbiogas from cattle waste in domestic level. This is a fixed dome model. Mainfeature of janata design is that the digester and gas holder are part of acomposite unit made of bricks and cement masonry. It requires centering formaking the dome shaped roof and skilled and trained mason is a must for theconstruction. Based on the requirement and availability of feed material thesize of the plant may be fixed suitably.

4. Cost of the unit : Rs. 10000 (2 m3plant)Rs. 12000 (3 m3plant)

5. Cost of operation : Rs. 5/day6. Salient features : 20 30% costs saving than KVIC floating drum type plant


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Combination of Deenbandhu

and KVIC designs

Lower part of the digester issemi spherical with conicalbottom

Floating drum acts as a gas

storage


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Features

Completely Spherical in shape

Reinforced dome with layers of Ferro-cement and tile bricks

Slurry Inlet box to avoid short circuits

Stirrer to have a homogenous mixture ofslurry.

60% gas storage


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Toilet linked biogasplants for conversion ofnight soil into biogas

Popular in rural areas

of some western districtsServes the purpose ofsanitation andconversion of night soil

into manure


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Economic: An ideal plant should be as low-cost as possible (in terms ofthe production cost per unit volume of biogas0 both to the user as well as tothe society. At present, with subsidy, the cost of a plant to the society ishigher than to an individual user.

Utilization of Local Materials: Use of easily available local materialsshould be emphasized in the construction of a biogas plant.

Durability: Construction of a biogas plant requires certain degree ofspecialized skill which may not be easily available. A plant of short life couldalso be cost effective but such a plant may not reconstructed once its usefullife ends. Especially in situation where people are yet to be motivated for theadoption of this technology and the necessary skill and materials are notreadily available, it is necessary to construct plants that are more durablealthough this may require a higher initial investment.

Suitable for the Type of Inputs: The design should be compatible withthe type of inputs that would be used. If plant materials such as rice straw,maize straw or similar agricultural wastes are to be used then the batch

feeding design or discontinuous system should be used instead of a designfor continuous or semicontinuous feeding.

Frequency of Using inputs and Outputs: Selection of a particulardesign and size of its various components also depend on how frequently theuser can feed the system and utilize the gas.


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Any biodegradabel organic material can be used as inputs for processing inside thebiodigester. However, for economic and technical reasons, some materials are morepreferred as inputs than others. If the inputs are costly or have to be purchased, thenthe economic benefits of outputs such as gas and slurry will become low. Also, if easilyavailable biodegradable wastes are used as inputs, then that benefits could be of two

folds: (a) economic value of biogas and its slurry; and (b) environmental cost avoided indealing with the biodegradable waste in some other ways such as disposal in landfillOne of the main attractions of biogas technology is its ability to generate biogas out oforganic wastes that are abundant and freely available. addition to the animal andhuman wastes, plant materials can also be used to produce biogas and biomanure. Forexample, one kg of pre-treated crop waste and water hyacinth have the potential ofproducing 0.037 and 0.045 m3of biogas, respectively. Since different organic materialshave different bio-chemical characteristics, their potential for gas production alsovaries. Two or more of such materials can be used together provided that some basic

requirements for gas production or for normal growth of methanogens are met. Somecharacteristics of these inputs which have significant impact on the level of gasproduction are described below.


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The relationship between the amount of carbon and nitrogen present inorganic materials is expressed in terms of the Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N)ratio. A C/N ratio ranging from 20 to 30 is considered optimum foranaerobic digestion

. If the C/N ratio is very high, the nitrogen will be consumed rapidly bymethanogens for meeting their protein requirements and will no longerreact on the left over carbon content of the material. As a result, gasproduction will be low.

On the other hand, if the C/N ratio is very low, nitrogen will be liberatedand accumulated in the form of ammonia (NH4), NH4 will increase the pHvalue of the content in the digester. A pH higher than 8.5 will startshowing toxic effect on methanogen population.

Animal waste, particularly cattle dung, has an average C/N ratio of about24. The plant materials such as straw and sawdust contain a higherpercentage of carbon. The human excreta has a C/N ratio as low as

8.Materials with high C/N ratio could be mixed with those of low C/Nratio to bring the average ratio of the composite input to a desirable level.In China, as a means to balance C/N ratio, it is customary' to load neestraw at the bottom of the digester upon which latrine waste isdischarged.


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Dilution and Consistency of Inputs: Before feeding the digester, the excreta, especially fresh cattle dung, has to be

mixed with water at the ratio of 1:1 on a unit volume basis (i.e. same volume ofwater for a given volume of dung) However, if the dung is in dry form, the quantityof water has to be increased accordingly to arrive at the desired consistency of the

inputs (e.g. ratio could vary from 1:1.25 to even 1:2). The dilution should be madeto maintain the total solids from 7 to 10 percent.

If the dung is too diluted, the solid particles will settle down into the digester andif it is too thick, the particles impede the flow of gas formed at the lower part ofdigester.

In both cases, gas production will be less than optimum. A survey made by BSPreveals that the farmers often over dilute the slum'. For thorough mixing of thecow dung and water (slurry), GGC has devised a Slurry Mixture Machine that can

be fitted in the inlet of a digester. The specifications of the Slurry Mixture Machinewhich presently costs Rs 625 is given in Figure 1.8. It is also necessary to removeinert materials such as stones from the inlet before feeding the slurry into thedigester Otherwise, the effective volume of the digester will decrease.

Volatile Solids : The weight of organic solids burned off when heated to about538" C is defined as volatile solids. The biogas production potential of differentorganic materials, given in Table 1.2, can also be calculated on the basis of theirvolatile solid content. The higher the volatile solid content in a unit volume offresh dung, the higher the gas production For example, a kg of volatile solids incow dung would yield about 0.25 m3 biogas (Sathianathan. 1975).


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The three-stage anaerobic fermentation of biomassfrom: Production and Utilization of Biogas in Rural Areas of Industrialized andDeveloping Countries, Schriftenreihe der gtz, No. 97, p. 54; after: Mrkl, H.: MikrobielleMethangewinnung; in: Fortschritte der Verfahrenstechnik, Vol. 18, p. 509, Dsseldorf,

Digestion refers to various reactions and interactions that take placeamong the methanogens. Nonmethanogens and substrates fed intothe digester as inputs. This is a complex physio-chemical andbiological process involving different factors and stages of change.This process of digestion

(methanization) is summarized below in its simple form.


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Hydrolysis: The waste materials of plant and animal origins consist

mainly of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and inorganic

materials. Large molecular complex substances aresolubilized into simpler ones with the help of extracellularenzyme released by the bacteria. This stage is also known aspolymer breakdown stage. For example, the celluloseconsisting of polymerized glucose is broken down to dimeric,and then to monomeric sugar molecules (glucose) bycellulolytic bacteria.

Acidification: The monomer such as glucose which is produced in Stage 1 is

fermented under anaerobic condition into various acids with

the help of enzymes produced by the acid forming bacteria.At this stage, the acid-forming bacteria break downmolecules of six atoms of carbon (glucose) into molecules ofless atoms of carbon (acids) which are in a more reducedstate than glucose. The principal acids produced in thisprocess are acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and

ethanol.


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Methanization: The principle acids produced in Stage 2 are processed by methanogenic

bacteria to produce methane. The reactions that takes place in theprocess of methane production is called Methanization and is expressedby the following equations (Karki and Dixit. 1984).

CH3COOH .. CH4 + CO2Acetic acid Methane Carbon dioxide

2CH3CH2OH + CO2 CH4 + 2CH3COOHEthanol Carbon dioxide Methane Acetic acidCO2 + 4H2 CH4 + 2H2O

Carbon dioxide Hydrogen Methane WaterThe above equations show that many products, by-products and

intermediate products are produced in the process of digestion of inputsin an anaerobic condition before the final product (methane) isproduced. Obviously, there are many facilitating and inhibiting factorsthat play their role in the process. Some of these factors are discussedbelow.


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There are many species of methanogens and their characteristicsvary. The different methane forming bacteria have many physiologicalproperties in common, but they are heterogeneous in cellularmorphology. Some are rods, some cocci, while others occur in clustersof cocci known as sarcine. The family of methanogens

(Methanobacteriacea) is divided into following four generaon the basisof cytological differences (Alexander, 1961).

A. Rod-shaped Bacteria (a) Non-sporulating, Methanobacterium (b) Sporulating. MethanobacillusB. Spherical

(a) Sarcinae, Methanosarcina (b) Not in sarcinal groups, MethanococcusA considerable level of scientific knowledgeand skill is required to isolate methanogenicbacteria in pure culture and maintain them in alaboratory. Methanogenic bacteria develop

slowly and are sensitive to a sudden changein physical and chemical conditions.For example, a sudden fall in the slurry temperatureby even T C may significantly affect their growth

and gas production rate (Lagrange, 1979).

Various types of methanogenic bacteria.Thespherically shaped bacteria are ofthemethanosarcina genus; the long, tubularones are methanothrix bacteria, and the short,curved rodsare bacteria that catabolize furfuraland sulfates.The total length of the broken barat top left,which serves as a size reference,corresponds to1 micron.


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pH value : The optimum biogas production is achieved when the pH value of input

mixture in the digester is between 6 and 7. The pH in a biogas digesteris also a function of the retention time. In the initial period offermentation, as large amounts of organic acids are produced by acidforming bacteria, the pH inside the digester can decrease to below 5.This inhibits or even stops the digestion or fermentation process.

Methanogenic bacteria are very sensitive to pH and do not thrive belowa value of 6.5. Later, as the digestion process continues, concentrationof NH4 increases due to digestion of nitrogen which can increase the pHvalue to above 8. When the methane production level is stabilized, thepH range remains buffered between 7.2 to 8.2.

Temperature: The methanogens are inactive in extreme high and low temperatures.

The optimum temperature is 35 C. When the ambient temperature goesdown to 10" C, gas production virtually stops. Satisfactory gasproduction takes place in the mesophilic range, between 25 to 30 C.

Proper nsulation of digester helps to increase gas production in the coldseason. When the ambient temperature is 30 C or less, the average

temperature withinthe dome remains about 4 C above the ambienttemperature (Lund, Andersen and Tony-Smith, 1996).


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Loading Rate: Loading rate is the amount of raw materials fed per unit volume of

digester capacity per day. In Nepalese conditions, about 6 kg ofdung per m3 volume of digester is recommended incase of a cow

dung plant (BSP, 1992). If the plant is overfed, acids will accumulate and methane

production will be inhibited. Similarly, if the plant is underfed, thegas production will also be low.Retention Time:

Retention time (also known as detention time) is the average periodthat a given quantity of input remains in the digester to be actedupon by the methanogens. hi a cow dung plant, the retention time iscalculated by dividing the total volume of the digester by the volumeof inputs added daily. Considering the climatic conditions of Nepal,a retention time of 50 to 60 days seems desirable.

Thus, a digester should have a volume of 50 to 60 times the slurryadded daily. But for a night soil biogas digester, a longer retentiontime (70-80 days) is needed so that the pathogens present in humanfaeces are destroyed. The retention time is also dependent on thetemperature and upto 35 C, the higher the temperature, the lowerthe retention time (Lagrange, 1979).


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Toxicity: Mineral ions, heavy metals and the detergents are some of thetoxic materials that inhibit thenormal growth of pathogens in thedigester. Small quantity of mineral ions (e.g. sodium, potassium,calcium, magnesium, ammonium and sulphur) also stimulates thegrowth of bacteria, while very heavy concentration of these ions will have

toxic effect. For example, presence of NH4 from 50 to 200 mg/1stimulates the growth of microbes, whereas its concentration above1,500 mg/1 produces toxicity. Similarly, heavy metals such as copper,nickel, chromium, zinc, lead, etc. in small quantities are essential for thegrowth of bacteria but their higher concentration has toxic effects.Likewise, detergents including soap, antibiotics, organic solvents, etc.inhibit the activities of methane producing bacteria and addition of thesesubstances in the digester should be avoided. Although there is a long

list of the substances that produce toxicity on bacterial growth, theinhibiting levels of some of the major ones are given in Table 1.4.


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