Industrial scale garage-type dry fermentation of municipal solid waste to biogas

•Characteristics of MSW from new town are different from urban and rural waste.•1st industrial utilization of garage-type dry fermentation for treating MSW to biogas in China.•The specific biogas yield of the feedstock was about 270m3CH4tVS−1.•The volumetric biogas production of the digesters and percolate tank was 0.72 and 2.22m3 (m3d)−1, respectively. The objectives of this study was to through monitoring the 1st industrial scale garage-type dry fermentation (GTDF) MSW biogas plant in Bin County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China, to investigate its anaerobic digestion (AD) performance and the stability of process. After a monitoring period of 180days, the results showed that the volumetric biogas production of the digesters and percolate tank was 0.72 and 2.22m3 (m3d)−1, respectively, and the specific biogas yield of the feedstock was about 270m3CH4tVS−1, which indicated that the GTDF is appropriate for the Chinese MSW. This paper also raised some problems aimed at improving the process stability and AD efficiency.