What is one key to successful digestion operation?

Good and thorough mixing is crucial in a digestion operation as it ensures that the biomass is uniformly blended with the incoming organic material. This uniformity provides consistent conditions throughout the process, leading to more effective microbial action. Proper mixing helps to prevent the settling of solids, which can create dead zones where anaerobic digestion is less effective, potentially leading to inefficiencies or process failure. By maintaining a well-mixed environment, the microorganisms have better access to their food source, leading to optimal digestion performance, biogas production, and reducing the overall retention time needed in the digester.

In contrast, while constant temperature monitoring, strict control of incoming solids, and regular chemical addition play important roles in digestion operations, they do not directly address the necessity of uniformity in the substrate and biomass interaction as effectively as thorough mixing does.