BMP testingMunicipal and green waste, paper and textilessingle study (5 samples)

Mixed paper waste (corrugated board + tissue) — BMP: 5 studies, weighted mean 301 m³ CH₄/t VS

Mixed waste paper made up of corrugated cardboard and toilet paper is a waste valuable for its cellulose, which digests well, although more slowly than sugars.

CH₄ ≈ 52 % (estimate)

Published 16 October 2022Updated 29 October 20263 min readFeedstockData Editorial Team

Illustration: FeedstockData (AI, Google Gemini)

Weighted mean: 301m³ CH₄/t VS
Range: 281–318m³ CH₄/t VS
Records: 5single study (5 samples)
Publications: 1source
Temperatures: 37 °Cof the test

Methane in biogas

≈51–54% CH₄

Medium methane content · ≈ 5.2 kWh/m³ of biogas

estimate from the substrate type The collected studies contain no measurement. The interval follows from the approximate composition (carbohydrate-dominated (no protein or fat characteristics)) and the yields of compound groups according to FNR.

How we calculate it and what the zones mean

Rating for biogas plants

not rated — editorial rating for biogas plants

Not rated: no dry matter or volatile solids in the data. We calculate the rating when the dry matter and volatile solids of the material are known.

Editorial rating per the methodology

Add to the co-digestion calculator CSV data

BMP curves from 5 studies

Weighted mean Individual records

Dashed lines are a model curve (first-order kinetics, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e^−kt)); the end point comes from the publication. All curves are model curves.

Cumulative methane production over the test [m³ CH₄/t VS]. The thick line is the weighted mean of all records (301); dots mark the end values given in the publications. Point at the chart to read values; click a legend item to hide or show a record.

Records and sources

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Source	BMP m³ CH₄/t VS	Temperature	Sample	Curve
Song et al. (2021) · 1 DOI	281	37 °C · mesophilic	Paper waste (corrugated board + tissue paper), untreated control SI-UN	end point (model curve)
Song et al. (2021) · 2 DOI	286	37 °C · mesophilic	Paper waste (corrugated board + tissue paper), untreated control SM-UN	end point (model curve)
Song et al. (2021) · 3 DOI	311	37 °C · mesophilic	Paper waste (corrugated board + tissue paper), untreated control CI-UN	end point (model curve)
Song et al. (2021) · 4 DOI	312	37 °C · mesophilic	Paper waste (corrugated board + tissue paper), untreated control DE-UN	end point (model curve)
Song et al. (2021) · 5 DOI	318	37 °C · mesophilic	Paper waste (corrugated board + tissue paper), untreated control CM-UN	end point (model curve)
Weighted mean	301	arithmetic mean 301, SD 17

Process properties

fibrous
carbon-rich
low in nitrogen
slowly degrading
poor in trace elements
editorial classification

Low confidence: the description is based on general characteristics of the substrate group, not on studies of this material. Treat it as a hint to be verified.

Advantages

Methane potential in the Substraty.pl BMP dataset: weighted mean 301.4 m³ CH₄/t VS (SD 16.7; 5 records, 1 source).
Mixed waste paper: a source of cellulose, no risk of ammonia or acidification (Hendriks and Zeeman 2009).

Drawbacks and risks

Corrugated cardboard degrades more slowly.

Co-digestion — what to combine it with, what to watch out for

combines well
substrates: high alkalinity (buffer) — e.g. Cattle manure, Pig slurry, Cattle slurry, Duck slurry, Rumen and digestive tract content
Slurry supplies N, alkalinity and trace elements.^[1][2]

Dosing

No source threshold.

Introduce gradually, starting with a small dose and monitoring the process (e.g. FOS/TAC, pH, gas composition).

Practical requirements

Shred: shredding increases the surface available for degradation and speeds it up, but does not necessarily raise the final gas yield (FNR 2010, Ch. 3 “Triturado”).

Sources of the process data

The co-digestion calculator will assess a specific mixture containing this substrate.

What it is and where it comes from

Mixed waste paper is paper waste from households and trade, including corrugated cardboard and toilet paper. The dataset includes one study with a mixture of corrugated cardboard and toilet paper, in which control series (without pretreatment) served as a reference point for research on paper preparation. In waste management paper is one of the best-managed materials thanks to recycling, so what goes to digestion is mainly its contaminated or unsuitable-for-processing part.

Properties relevant to digestion

Paper consists of cellulose and hemicelluloses, with a varying lignin content. Toilet paper is made of fibres with a low lignin content and decomposes easily, while corrugated cardboard, often made from secondary fibres and pulps containing lignin, decomposes more slowly. Paper contains mineral fillers (kaolin, calcium carbonate), starch glue and coatings, which lower the VS share. The material contains little nitrogen and phosphorus, so nutrients must be supplemented in mono-digestion. Shredded paper forms a dense mass of high viscosity.

How to read the spread of results

In the dataset the spread is small, because all the records come from one study and concern control series of the same material. This does not, however, reflect the variability of waste paper in practice. The composition of the mixture depends on the proportions of cardboard and paper, the share of printed and coated material, the degree of comminution, the inoculum and the temperature, and the result on the test length. For other waste paper mixtures the values may be clearly different.

In biogas plant practice

Waste paper can supplement substrates with a low C/N ratio, e.g. protein-rich wastes, but it requires shredding, wetting and the addition of nitrogen and trace elements. Because of material recycling, digestion of paper is usually an option for contaminated batches. Waste paper is waste (group 15 or 20), and its acceptance requires the installation's permit. It is worth remembering that paper soiled with fat is not suitable for recycling, but can be digested.

For the operator it is also important that toilet paper often contains biological contaminants, so in the municipal stream it may require hygienisation. Corrugated cardboard, in turn, is sometimes soiled with glue and plastic tapes, which must be removed before shredding so that they do not end up in the tank.

Methodology in brief

BMP is the amount of methane obtained from volatile solids (VS) in a batch test, given in m³ CH₄ per tonne of VS (numerically the same as NmL CH₄/g VS in the publications) and converted to normal conditions (0 °C, 101.325 kPa). The weighted mean gives each publication a total weight of 1, split equally between its results for the substrate — a paper testing twenty varieties does not outweigh a paper with a single sample. In inter-laboratory programmes the unit is the laboratory (total weight 1), and within it the weight of a test grows with the number of bottles (replicates). Results after pretreatment (e.g. thermal, chemical, enzymatic) are shown separately and are not included in the mean.

Solid lines are curves measured in the tests. Where a publication gives only the final result, we draw a first-order kinetic model, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e^−kt): only the end point comes from the publication, and the shape of the curve serves purely as visualisation — do not read the production on a particular day from it. For this substrate k = 0.110 d⁻¹ was assumed (median of rate constants k reported in the sources and/or fitted to the mean measured curves).

The statistics describe the spread of published results — a descriptive compilation, not a meta-analysis or a guarantee of plant yield.

Full methodology and correction policy

Bibliography

Song, C.; Li, W.; Cai, F.; Liu, G.; Chen, C. (2021). Anaerobic and Microaerobic Pretreatment for Improving Methane Production From Paper Waste in Anaerobic Digestion. Frontiers in Microbiology 12, 688290. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.688290 DOI

All sources of the site: bibliography.