Biogas production from slaughterhouse waste: Effect of blood content and fat saponification

•Seasonal fluctuations in animal byproducts characteristics affect biogas production.•Fat content and ammonia loads of animal byproducts affects biogas performance.•Saponification of rich fat fractions improves lag phase.•Blood exclusion improves specific methane yield.•Slaughterhouse facilities could be 100% energy self sufficient. The effect of fat saponification and the inclusion or exclusion of blood in slaughterhouse mixtures were assessed in terms of anaerobic digestion performance. Mixtures of animal by-products (ABP) were collected for 1 year, whereby following the daily activity and waste generation at a slaughterhouse facility, seasonal fluctuations were found. The blood content of ABP mixtures was variable, affecting both the methane yield and the production rate (287.8–320.5 NLCH4 kgCOD−1 and 80.3–94.7 and NLCH4 kgCOD−1 d−1, respectively). The saponification of fatty ABP materials was studied to assess the methane production rate, singularly or combined, with and without the addition of blood. Data showed that saponification significantly reduced the lag phase, from 2.2 to 1.5 days in winter mixtures and from 1.5 to 0.9 days in summer mixtures (all with blood), and from 0.3 to 0.1 days in summer mixtures without blood. Finally, the percentage of energy demand at the slaughterhouse potentially covered by net biogas energy was estimated, finding that the facility could be 100% energy self-sufficient in winter, whereas this would be reduced to 85% in the summer due to different methane yields of ABP mixtures based on season.