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Sample records for thermophilic sludge digestion

  1. Inactivation of Clostridium difficile in sewage sludge by anaerobic thermophilic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Changyun; Salsali, Hamidreza; Weese, Scott; Warriner, Keith

    2016-01-01

    There has been an increase in community-associated Clostridium difficile infections with biosolids derived from wastewater treatment being identified as one potential source. The current study evaluated the efficacy of thermophilic digestion in decreasing levels of C. difficile ribotype 078 associated with sewage sludge. Five isolates of C. difficile 078 were introduced (final density of 5 log CFU/g) into digested sludge and subjected to anaerobic digestion at mesophilic (36 or 42 °C) or thermophilic (55 °C) temperatures for up to 60 days. It was found that mesophilic digestion at 36 °C did not result in a significant reduction in C. difficile spore levels. In contrast, thermophilic sludge digestion reduced endospore levels at a rate of 0.19-2.68 log CFU/day, depending on the strain tested. The mechanism of lethality was indirect - by stimulating germination then inactivating the resultant vegetative cells. Acidification of sludge by adding acetic acid (6 g/L) inhibited the germination of spores regardless of the sludge digestion temperature. In conclusion, thermophilic digestion can be applied to reduce C. difficile in biosolids, thereby reducing the environmental burden of the enteric pathogen.

  2. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of primary and secondary sludge. Effect of pre-treatment at elevated temperature

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gavala, Hariklia N.; Yenal, U.; Skiadas, Ioannis V.

    2003-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion is an appropriate technique for the treatment of sludge before final disposal and it is employed worldwide as the oldest and most important process for sludge stabilization. In general, mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is more widely used compared to thermophilic...... digestion. Furthermore, thermal pre-treatment is suitable for the improvement of stabilization, enhancement of dewatering of the sludge, reduction of the numbers of pathogens and could be realized at relatively low cost especially at low temperatures. The present study investigates (a) the differences...... between mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge and (b) the effect of the pretreatment at 70 degreesC on mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of primary and secondary sludge. The pretreatment step showed very positive effect on the methane potential and production rate upon...

  3. Dry co-digestion of sewage sludge and rice straw under mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Xiangqian; Wu, Guangxue; Wang, Jiaquan; Hu, Zhen-Hu

    2015-12-01

    Dry anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can recover biogas as energy; however, its low C/N ratio limits it as a single substrate in the anaerobic digestion. Rice straw is an abundant agricultural residue in China, which is rich in carbon and can be used as carbon source. In the present study, the performance of dry co-digestion of sewage sludge and rice straw was investigated under mesophilic (35 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions. The operational factors impacting dry co-digestion of sewage sludge and rice straw such as C/N ratio, moisture content, and initial pH were explored under mesophilic conditions. The results show that low C/N ratios resulted in a higher biogas production rate, but a lower specific biogas yield; low moisture content of 65 % resulted in the instability of the digestion system and a low specific biogas yield. Initial pH ranging 7.0-9.0 did not affect the performance of the anaerobic digestion. The C/N ratio of 26-29:1, moisture content of 70-80 %, and pH 7.0-9.0 resulted in good performance in the dry mesophilic co-digestion of sewage sludge and rice straw. As compared with mesophilic digestion, thermophilic co-digestion of sewage sludge and rice straw significantly enhanced the degradation efficiency of the substrates and the specific biogas yield (p sewage sludge under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

  4. Thermophilic versus Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge: A Comparative Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Getachew D. Gebreeyessus

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available During advanced biological wastewater treatment, a huge amount of sludge is produced as a by-product of the treatment process. Hence, reuse and recovery of resources and energy from the sludge is a big technological challenge. The processing of sludge produced by Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs is massive, which takes up a big part of the overall operational costs. In this regard, anaerobic digestion (AD of sewage sludge continues to be an attractive option to produce biogas that could contribute to the wastewater management cost reduction and foster the sustainability of those WWTPs. At the same time, AD reduces sludge amounts and that again contributes to the reduction of the sludge disposal costs. However, sludge volume minimization remains, a challenge thus improvement of dewatering efficiency is an inevitable part of WWTP operation. As a result, AD parameters could have significant impact on sludge properties. One of the most important operational parameters influencing the AD process is temperature. Consequently, the thermophilic and the mesophilic modes of sludge AD are compared for their pros and cons by many researchers. However, most comparisons are more focused on biogas yield, process speed and stability. Regarding the biogas yield, thermophilic sludge AD is preferred over the mesophilic one because of its faster biochemical reaction rate. Equally important but not studied sufficiently until now was the influence of temperature on the digestate quality, which is expressed mainly by the sludge dewateringability, and the reject water quality (chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, and pH. In the field of comparison of thermophilic and mesophilic digestion process, few and often inconclusive research, unfortunately, has been published so far. Hence, recommendations for optimized technologies have not yet been done. The review presented provides a comparison of existing sludge AD technologies and the gaps that need to be filled so

  5. Thermophilic versus Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge: A Comparative Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebreeyessus, Getachew D.; Jenicek, Pavel

    2016-01-01

    During advanced biological wastewater treatment, a huge amount of sludge is produced as a by-product of the treatment process. Hence, reuse and recovery of resources and energy from the sludge is a big technological challenge. The processing of sludge produced by Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is massive, which takes up a big part of the overall operational costs. In this regard, anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge continues to be an attractive option to produce biogas that could contribute to the wastewater management cost reduction and foster the sustainability of those WWTPs. At the same time, AD reduces sludge amounts and that again contributes to the reduction of the sludge disposal costs. However, sludge volume minimization remains, a challenge thus improvement of dewatering efficiency is an inevitable part of WWTP operation. As a result, AD parameters could have significant impact on sludge properties. One of the most important operational parameters influencing the AD process is temperature. Consequently, the thermophilic and the mesophilic modes of sludge AD are compared for their pros and cons by many researchers. However, most comparisons are more focused on biogas yield, process speed and stability. Regarding the biogas yield, thermophilic sludge AD is preferred over the mesophilic one because of its faster biochemical reaction rate. Equally important but not studied sufficiently until now was the influence of temperature on the digestate quality, which is expressed mainly by the sludge dewateringability, and the reject water quality (chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, and pH). In the field of comparison of thermophilic and mesophilic digestion process, few and often inconclusive research, unfortunately, has been published so far. Hence, recommendations for optimized technologies have not yet been done. The review presented provides a comparison of existing sludge AD technologies and the gaps that need to be filled so as to optimize

  6. Experimental assessment of factors influencing dewatering properties of thermophilically digested biosolids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Jianpeng; Mavinic, Donald S.; Kelly, Harlan G.; Ramey, William D.

    2003-07-01

    Beneficial land application of processed wastewater sludges (biosolids) is a cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable option for the final disposal of sludges, because nutrients and organic matters in the sludge are recovered and reused as a resource. Thermophilic sludge digestion produces Class A biosolids, which can be reused without restrictions. Recent experience from full-scale thermophilic sludge digestion facilities in North America revealed that, dewatering thermophilically digested biosolids required more polymers to condition than mesophilically digested biosolids. This paper reports a laboratory study that investigated factors having significant impacts on dewatering properties of digested biosolids, and assessed the relationship among digestion, dewatering properties, and characteristics of thermophilically digested biosolids. The experimental work used batch-operated, bench-scale aerobic sludge digesters. Dewaterability was measured as Capillary Suction Time (CST). The study found that feed sludge composition significantly affected dewaterability of digested sludge. Higher percentage of the secondary sludge in the feed sludge corresponded to more significant deterioration in dewaterability. The effect of thermophilic digestion temperatures on dewaterabilty was rapid, occurred within 3-hour of digestion, indicting a heat shock effect, rather than a microbiological effect. When a high shear was applied to the sludge in digesters, it resulted In a significant deterioration in dewaterability in the digested sludge. It appears there was a strong correlation between dewaterability and extracellular biopolymers. Enzymes (protease) treatment confirmed that role of extracellular proteins in affecting the dewatering properties of thermophilic biosolids, also revealed the complex nature of biopolymers' effect on dewaterability. Such effects might be due to protein-polysaccharides interactions, hydrogen bonding, or hydrophilic and hydrophobic

  7. Combined thermophilic aerobic process and conventional anaerobic digestion: effect on sludge biodegradation and methane production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumas, C; Perez, S; Paul, E; Lefebvre, X

    2010-04-01

    The efficiency of hyper-thermophilic (65 degrees Celsius) aerobic process coupled with a mesophilic (35 degrees Celsius) digester was evaluated for the activated sludge degradation and was compared to a conventional mesophilic digester. For two Sludge Retention Time (SRT), 21 and 42 days, the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) solubilisation and biodegradation processes, the methanisation yield and the aerobic oxidation were investigated during 180 days. The best results were obtained at SRT of 44 days; the COD removal yield was 30% higher with the Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion/Thermophilic Aerobic Reactor (MAD-TAR) co-treatment. An increase of the sludge intrinsic biodegradability is also observed (20-40%), showing that the unbiodegradable COD in mesophilic conditions becomes bioavailable. However, the methanisation yield was quite similar for both processes at a same SRT. Finally, such a process enables to divide by two the volume of digester with an equivalent efficiency. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Characterisation of community structure of bacteria in parallel mesophilic and thermophilic pilot scale anaerobe sludge digesters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tauber, T; Berta, Brigitta; Székely, Anna J; Gyarmati, I; Kékesi, Katalin; Márialigeti, K; Tóth, Erika M

    2007-03-01

    The aim of the present work was to compare the microbial communities of a mesophilic and a thermophilic pilot scale anaerobe sludge digester. For studying the communities cultivation independent chemotaxonomical methods (RQ and PLFA analyses) and T-RFLP were applied. Microbial communities of the mesophilic and thermophilic pilot digesters showed considerable differences, both concerning the species present, and their abundance. A Methanosarcina sp. dominated the thermophilic, while a Methanosaeta sp. the mesophilic digester among Archaea. Species diversity of Bacteria was reduced in the thermophilic digester. Based on the quinone patterns in both digesters the dominance of sulphate reducing respiratory bacteria could be detected. The PLFA profiles of the digester communities were similar though in minor components characteristic differences were shown. Level of branched chain fatty acids is slightly lower in the thermophilic digester that reports less Gram positive bacteria. The relative ratio of fatty acids characteristic to Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroidetes and Clostridia shows differences between the two digesters: their importance generally decreased under thermophilic conditions. The sulphate reducer marker (15:1 and 17:1) fatty acids are present in low quantity in both digesters.

  9. Effect of Recycle Sludge on Anaerobic Digestion of Palm Oil Mill Effluent in A Thermophilic Continuous Digester

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irvan; Trisakti, B.; Tomiuchi, Y.; Harahap, U.; Daimon, H.

    2017-06-01

    The objective of this research is to maintain short retention time and high degradation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) to biogas by applying recycle sludge. Fresh POME from Rambutan Mill without further treatment was used as feed. Two lab-scale digesters supported from Metawater Co. Ltd. have been applied to treat POME at thermophilic (55°C) condition. Both digesters were operated under intermittent operation mode. Experiments were performed in two methods: with and without recycle sludge. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) of both methods was maintained at 6 days, while sludge retention time (SRT) was maintained at various days. The result showed that by extending SRT in return sludge process where 25% of digested slurry recycled to the digester, improvement of volatile solid (VS) decomposition was obtained around 84% at HRT of 6 days and SRT of 21 days. Then, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency could be reached until 85% by using recycle sludge.

  10. Rapid startup of thermophilic anaerobic digester to remove tetracycline and sulfonamides resistance genes from sewage sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Rui; Yang, Zhao-Hui; Wang, Qing-Peng; Bai, Yang; Liu, Jian-Bo; Zheng, Yue; Zhang, Yan-Ru; Xiong, Wei-Ping; Ahmad, Kito; Fan, Chang-Zheng

    2018-01-15

    Spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) originating from sewage sludge is highlighted as an eminent health threat. This study established a thermophilic anaerobic digester using one-step startup strategy to quickly remove tetracycline and sulfonamides resistance genes from sewage sludge. At least 20days were saved in the startup period from mesophilic to thermophilic condition. Based on the results of 16S rDNA amplicons sequencing and predicted metagenomic method, the successful startup largely relied on the fast colonization of core thermophilic microbial population (e.g. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria). Microbial metabolic gene pathways for substrate degradation and methane production was also increased by one-step mode. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR approach revealed that most targeted tetracycline and sulfonamides resistance genes ARGs (sulI, tetA, tetO, tetX) were substantially removed during thermophilic digestion (removal efficiency>80%). Network analysis showed that the elimination of ARGs was attributed to the decline of their horizontal (intI1 item) and vertical (potential hosts) transfer-related elements under high-temperature. This research demonstrated that rapid startup thermophilic anaerobic digestion of wastewater solids would be a suitable technology for reducing quantities of various ARGs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Evaluation of anaerobic digestion processes for short sludge-age waste activated sludge combined with anammox treatment of digestate liquor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Huoqing; Batstone, Damien; Keller, Jurg

    2016-01-01

    The need to reduce energy input and enhance energy recovery from wastewater is driving renewed interest in high-rate activated sludge treatment (i.e. short hydraulic and solids retention times (HRT and SRT, respectively)). This process generates short SRT activated sludge stream, which should be highly degradable. However, the evaluation of anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge has been limited. This paper assesses anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge digestion derived from meat processing wastewater under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. The thermophilic digestion system (55°C) achieved 60 and 68% volatile solids destruction at 8 day and 10 day HRT, respectively, compared with 50% in the mesophilic digestion system (35°C, 10 day HRT). The digestion effluents from the thermophilic (8-10 day HRT) and mesophilic systems were stable, as assessed by residual methane potentials. The ammonia rich sludge dewatering liquor was effectively treated by a batch anammox process, which exhibited comparable nitrogen removal rate as the tests using a control synthetic ammonia solution, indicating that the dewatering liquor did not have inhibiting/toxic effects on the anammox activity.

  12. Moorella stamsii sp. nov., a new anaerobic thermophilic hydrogenogenic carboxydotroph isolated from digester sludge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alves, J.I.; Gelder, van A.H.; Alves, M.M.; Sousa, D.Z.; Plugge, C.M.

    2013-01-01

    A novel anaerobic, thermophilic, carbon monoxide-utilizing bacterium, strain E3-O, was isolated from anaerobic sludge of a municipal solid waste digester. Cells were straight rods, 0.6 to 1µm in diameter and 2 to 3 µm in length, growing as single cells or in pairs. Cells formed round terminal

  13. Fate of antibiotic resistance genes in mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Hyun Min; Shin, Jingyeong; Choi, Sangki; Shin, Seung Gu; Park, Ki Young; Cho, Jinwoo; Kim, Young Mo

    2017-11-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AD) of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) sludge and non-CEPT (conventional sedimentation) sludge were comparatively operated under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The highest methane yield (692.46±0.46mL CH 4 /g VS removed in CEPT sludge) was observed in mesophilic AD of CEPT sludge. Meanwhile, thermophilic conditions were more favorable for the removal of total antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, no measurable difference in the fates and removal of ARGs and class 1 integrin-integrase gene (intI1) was observed between treated non-CEPT and CEPT sludge. However, redundancy analysis indicated that shifts in bacterial community were primarily accountable for the variations in ARGs and intI1. Network analysis further revealed potential host bacteria for ARGs and intI1. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. State of the art and future perspectives of thermophilic anaerobic digestion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahring, Birgitte Kiær; Mladenovska, Zuzana; Iranpour, R.

    2002-01-01

    The slate of the art of thermophilic digestion is discussed. Thermophilic digestion is a well established technology in Europe for treatment of mixtures of waste in common large scale biogas plants or for treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Due to a large number of failures...... over time with thermophilic digestion of sewage sludge this process has lost its appeal in the USA. New demands on sanitation of biosolids before land use will, however, bring the attention back to the use of elevated temperatures during sludge stabilization. In the paper we show how the use of a start......-up strategy based on the actual activity of key microbes can be used to ensure proper and fast transfer of mesophilic digesters into thermophilic operation. Extreme thermophilic temperatures of 65degreesC or more may be necessary in the future to meet the demands for full sanitation of the waste material...

  15. Microbial community structure in a thermophilic aerobic digester used as a sludge pretreatment process for the mesophilic anaerobic digestion and the enhancement of methane production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Hyun Min; Park, Sang Kyu; Ha, Jeong Hyub; Park, Jong Moon

    2013-10-01

    An effective two-stage sewage sludge digestion process, consisting of thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) followed by mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD), was developed for efficient sludge reduction and methane production. Using TAD as a biological pretreatment, the total volatile suspended solid reduction (VSSR) and methane production rate (MPR) in the MAD reactor were significantly improved. According to denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis, the results indicated that the dominant bacteria species such as Ureibacillus thermophiles and Bacterium thermus in TAD were major routes for enhancing soluble organic matter. TAD pretreatment using a relatively short SRT of 1 day showed highly increased soluble organic products and positively affected an increment of bacteria populations which performed interrelated microbial metabolisms with methanogenic species in the MAD; consequently, a quantitative real-time PCR indicated greatly increased Methanosarcinales (acetate-utilizing methanogens) in the MAD, resulting in enhanced methane production. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Quality assessment of digested sludges produced by advanced stabilization processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braguglia, C M; Coors, A; Gallipoli, A; Gianico, A; Guillon, E; Kunkel, U; Mascolo, G; Richter, E; Ternes, T A; Tomei, M C; Mininni, G

    2015-05-01

    The European Union (EU) Project Routes aimed to discover new routes in sludge stabilization treatments leading to high-quality digested sludge, suitable for land application. In order to investigate the impact of different enhanced sludge stabilization processes such as (a) thermophilic digestion integrated with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (TT), (b) sonication before mesophilic/thermophilic digestion (UMT), and (c) sequential anaerobic/aerobic digestion (AA) on digested sludge quality, a broad class of conventional and emerging organic micropollutants as well as ecotoxicity was analyzed, extending the assessment beyond the parameters typically considered (i.e., stability index and heavy metals). The stability index was improved by adding aerobic posttreatment or by operating dual-stage process but not by pretreatment integration. Filterability was worsened by thermophilic digestion, either alone (TT) or coupled with mesophilic digestion (UMT). The concentrations of heavy metals, present in ranking order Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr ~ Ni > Cd > Hg, were always below the current legal requirements for use on land and were not removed during the processes. Removals of conventional and emerging organic pollutants were greatly enhanced by performing double-stage digestion (UMT and AA treatment) compared to a single-stage process as TT; the same trend was found as regards toxicity reduction. Overall, all the digested sludges exhibited toxicity to the soil bacterium Arthrobacter globiformis at concentrations about factor 100 higher than the usual application rate of sludge to soil in Europe. For earthworms, a safety margin of factor 30 was generally achieved for all the digested samples.

  17. Dewaterability of thermophilically digested biosolids: effects of temperature and cellular polymeric substances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, J.; Mavinic, D.S.; Kelly, H.G.; Ramey, W.D.

    2002-01-01

    Thermophilic processes digest sludge at high temperatures to produce Class A biosolids.Recent research work revealed that digestion temperature is the predominant factor affecting dewaterability of thermophilic biosolids. This paper presents findings of a laboratory study that investigated how various digestion temperatures affect dewaterability of digested biosolids, studied the phase partition of the substances affecting dewaterability in digested biosolids, and tested the role of cellular polymeric substances in affecting dewaterability.Secondary sludges were digested at 40-70 o C or 22 o C for up to 12 days. Centrate from thermophilically digested biosolids were treated with protease and boiling. This study found that, during the first few hours of digestion, higher temperatures resulted in more rapid and more significant deterioration in dewaterability than lower digestion temperatures. Continued digestion resulted in either improved (60 o C or 70 o C), or unchanged (40 o C or 50 o C), or gradually deteriorated dewaterability (22 o C). The substances affecting dewaterability were primarily located in the liquid phase of thermophilically digested biosolids. Boiling treatment did not result in significant changes in dewaterability. Protease treatment of the liquid phase of thermophilic biosolids improved dewaterability by 13-19%. Such an improvement confirmed the role of proteins in affecting dewaterability. (author)

  18. Rapid establishment of thermophilic anaerobic microbial community during the one-step startup of thermophilic anaerobic digestion from a mesophilic digester.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Zhe; Zhang, Yu; Li, Yuyou; Chi, Yongzhi; Yang, Min

    2015-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore how fast the thermophilic anaerobic microbial community could be established during the one-step startup of thermophilic anaerobic digestion from a mesophilic digester. Stable thermophilic anaerobic digestion was achieved within 20 days from a mesophilic digester treating sewage sludge by adopting the one-step startup strategy. The succession of archaeal and bacterial populations over a period of 60 days after the temperature increment was followed by using 454-pyrosequencing and quantitative PCR. After the increase of temperature, thermophilic methanogenic community was established within 11 days, which was characterized by the fast colonization of Methanosarcina thermophila and two hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanothermobacter spp. and Methanoculleus spp.). At the same time, the bacterial community was dominated by Fervidobacterium, whose relative abundance rapidly increased from 0 to 28.52 % in 18 days, followed by other potential thermophilic genera, such as Clostridium, Coprothermobacter, Anaerobaculum and EM3. The above result demonstrated that the one-step startup strategy could allow the rapid establishment of the thermophilic anaerobic microbial community. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Improving biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of Thickened Waste Activated Sludge (TWAS) and fat, oil and grease (FOG) using a dual-stage hyper-thermophilic/thermophilic semi-continuous reactor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alqaralleh, Rania Mona; Kennedy, Kevin; Delatolla, Robert

    2018-07-01

    This paper investigates the feasibility and advantages of using a dual-stage hyper-thermophilic/thermophilic semi-continuous reactor system for the co-digestion of Thickened Waste Activated Sludge (TWAS) and Fat, Oil and Grease (FOG) to produce biogas in high quantity and quality. The performance of the dual-stage hyper-thermophilic (70°C)/thermophilic (55°C) anaerobic co-digestion system is evaluated and compared to the performance of a single-stage thermophilic (55°C) reactor that was used to co-digest the same FOG-TWAS mixtures. Both co-digestion reactors were compared to a control reactor (the control reactor was a single-stage thermophilic reactor that only digested TWAS). The effect of FOG% in the co-digestion mixture (based on total volatile solids) and the reactor hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the biogas/methane production and the reactors' performance were thoroughly investigated. The FOG% that led to the maximum methane yield with a stable reactor performance was determined for both reactors. The maximum FOG% obtained for the single-stage thermophilic reactor at 15 days HRT was found to be 65%. This 65% FOG resulted in 88.3% higher methane yield compared to the control reactor. However, the dual-stage hyper-thermophilic/thermophilic co-digestion reactor proved to be more efficient than the single-stage thermophilic co-digestion reactor, as it was able to digest up to 70% FOG with a stable reactor performance. The 70% FOG in the co-digestion mixture resulted in 148.2% higher methane yield compared to the control at 15 days HRT. 70% FOG (based on total volatile solids) is so far the highest FOG% that has been proved to be useful and safe for semi-continuous reactor application in the open literature. Finally, the dual-stage hyper-thermophilic/thermophilic co-digestion reactor also proved to be efficient and stable in co-digesting 40% FOG mixtures at lower HRTs (i.e., 9 and 12 days) and still produce high methane yields and Class A effluents

  20. The role of zero valent iron on the fate of tetracycline resistance genes and class 1 integrons during thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of waste sludge and kitchen waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Pin; Gu, Chaochao; Wei, Xin; Li, Xiang; Chen, Hong; Jia, Hanzhong; Liu, Zhenhong; Xue, Gang; Ma, Chunyan

    2017-03-15

    Activated sludge has been identified as a potential significant source of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to the environment. Anaerobic digestion is extensively used for sludge stabilization and resource recovery, and represents a crucial process for controlling the dissemination of ARGs prior to land application of digested sludge. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of zero valent iron (Fe 0 ) on the attenuation of seven representative tetracycline resistance genes (tet, tet(A), tet(C), tet(G), tet(M), tet(O), tet(W), and tet(X)), and the integrase gene intI1 during thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of waste sludge and kitchen waste. Significant decrease (P  0.05) were found for all gene targets between digesters with Fe 0 dosages of 5 and 60 g/L. A first-order kinetic model favorably described the trends in concentrations of tet and intI1 gene targets during thermophilic anaerobic digestion with or without Fe 0 . Notably, tet genes encoding different resistance mechanisms behaved distinctly in anaerobic digesters, although addition of Fe 0 could enhance their reduction. The overall results of this research suggest that thermophilic anaerobic digestion with Fe 0 can be a potential alternative technology for the attenuation of tet and intI1 genes in waste sludge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Co-digestion of cultivated microalgae and sewage sludge from municipal waste water treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsson, Jesper; Feng, Xin Mei; Ascue, Johnny; Gentili, Francesco G; Shabiimam, M A; Nehrenheim, Emma; Thorin, Eva

    2014-11-01

    In this study two wet microalgae cultures and one dried microalgae culture were co-digested in different proportions with sewage sludge in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The aim was to evaluate if the co-digestion could lead to an increased efficiency of methane production compared to digestion of sewage sludge alone. The results showed that co-digestion with both wet and dried microalgae, in certain proportions, increased the biochemical methane potential (BMP) compared with digestion of sewage sludge alone in mesophilic conditions. The BMP was significantly higher than the calculated BMP in many of the mixtures. This synergetic effect was statistically significant in a mixture containing 63% (w/w VS based) undigested sewage sludge and 37% (w/w VS based) wet algae slurry, which produced 23% more methane than observed with undigested sewage sludge alone. The trend was that thermophilic co-digestion of microalgae and undigested sewage sludge did not give the same synergy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Improvement of anaerobic digestion of sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dohanyos, Michael; Zabranska, Jana; Kutil, Josef; Jenicek, Pavel

    2003-07-01

    Anaerobic digestion improvement can be accomplished by different methods. Besides optimization of process conditions is frequently used pretreatment of input sludge and increase of process temperature. Thermophilic process brings a higher solids reduction and biogas production, the high resistance to foaming, no problems with odour, the higher effect of destroying pathogens and the improvement of the energy balance of the whole treatment plant. Disintegration of excess activated sludge in lysate centrifuge was proved in full-scale conditions causing increase of biogas production. The rapid thermal conditioning of digested sludge is acceptable method of particulate matter disintegration and solubilization. (author)

  3. Improving anaerobic sewage sludge digestion by implementation of a hyper-thermophilic prehydrolysis step

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lu, Jingquan; Gavala, Hariklia N.; Skiadas, Ioannis V.

    2008-01-01

    The present study focuses on a two-step process for treatment and stabilisation of primary sludge. The process consists of a hyperthermophilic hydrolysis step operated at 70 degrees C and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 clays followed by a thermophilic (55 degrees C) anaerobic digestion step......) with and Without pre-treatment respectively) and up to 115% increase of the methane production rate. Finally it was shown that the extra energy requirements for the operation of a pre-treatment step would be covered by the energy Produced from the extra methane production and in addition there would...

  4. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of winery wastewater sludge and wine lees: An integrated approach for sustainable wine production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Ros, C; Cavinato, C; Pavan, P; Bolzonella, D

    2017-12-01

    In this work, winery wastes generated by a cellar producing approximately 300,000 hL of wine per year was monitored for a period of one year. On average, 196 L of wastewater, 0.1 kg of waste activated sludge (dry matter) and 1.6 kg of wine lees were produced per hectoliter of wine produced. Different winery wastes, deriving from different production steps, namely waste activated sludge from wastewater treatment and wine lees, were co-treated using an anaerobic digestion process. Testing was conducted on a pilot scale for both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The process was stable for a long period at 37 °C, with an average biogas production of 0.386 m 3 /kg COD fed . On the other hand, for thermophilic conditions, volatile fatty acids accumulated in the reactor and the process failed after one hydraulic retention time (23 days). In order to fix the biological process, trace elements (iron, cobalt and nickel) were added to the feed of the thermophilic reactor. Metals augmentation improved process stability and yields at 55 °C. The pH ranged between 7.8 and 8.0, and specific gas production was 0.450 m 3 /kg COD fed , which corresponded to dry matter and COD removals of 34% and 88%, respectively. Although the observed performances in terms of biogas production were good, the thermophilic process exhibited some limitations related to both the necessity of metals addition and the worse dewaterability properties. In fact, while the mesophilic digestates reached a good dewatering quality via the addition of 6.5 g of polymer per kg of dry matter, the required dosage for the thermophilic sludge was greater than 10 g/kg of dry matter. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Effect of temperature on removal of antibiotic resistance genes by anaerobic digestion of activated sludge revealed by metagenomic approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tong; Yang, Ying; Pruden, Amy

    2015-09-01

    As antibiotic resistance continues to spread globally, there is growing interest in the potential to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from wastewater sources. In particular, operational conditions during sludge digestion may serve to discourage selection of resistant bacteria, reduce horizontal transfer of ARGs, and aid in hydrolysis of DNA. This study applied metagenomic analysis to examine the removal efficiency of ARGs through thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion using bench-scale reactors. Although the relative abundance of various ARGs shifted from influent to effluent sludge, there was no measureable change in the abundance of total ARGs or their diversity in either the thermophilic or mesophilic treatment. Among the 35 major ARG subtypes detected in feed sludge, substantial reductions (removal efficiency >90%) of 8 and 13 ARGs were achieved by thermophilic and mesophilic digestion, respectively. However, resistance genes of aadA, macB, and sul1 were enriched during the thermophilic anaerobic digestion, while resistance genes of erythromycin esterase type I, sul1, and tetM were enriched during the mesophilic anaerobic digestion. Efflux pump remained to be the major antibiotic resistance mechanism in sludge samples, but the portion of ARGs encoding resistance via target modification increased in the anaerobically digested sludge relative to the feed. Metagenomic analysis provided insight into the potential for anaerobic digestion to mitigate a broad array of ARGs.

  6. Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondary sludge at 70 °C prior to anaerobic digestion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skiadas, Ioannis; Gavala, Hariklia N.; Lu, J.

    2005-01-01

    In general, mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is more widely used compared tothermophilic digestion, mainly because of the lower energy requirements and higher stability of the process. However, the thermophilic anaerobic digestion process is usually characterised by accelerated...... studyinvestigates the effect of the pre-treatment at 70 °C on thermophilic (55 °C) anaerobic digestion of primaryand secondary sludge in continuously operated digesters. Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondarysludge at 70 °C enhanced the removal of organic matter and the methane production during...... the subsequentanaerobic digestion step at 55 °C. It also greatly contributed to the destruction of pathogens present inprimary sludge. Finally it results in enhanced microbial activities of the subsequent anaerobic stepsuggesting that the same efficiencies in organic matter removal and methane recovery could be obtained...

  7. Quantification of viable but nonculturable Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. during sludge anaerobic digestion and their reactivation during cake storage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, B; Jiang, Q; Liu, H-B; Liu, H

    2015-10-01

    The presence of viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacterial pathogens which often fail to be detected by cultivation and can regain the cultivability if the living conditions improve were reported. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of VBNC Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. in the biosolids during anaerobic digestion and its reactivation during the cake storage. The occurrence of VBNC Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. during mesophilic, temperature-phased, thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge and the subsequent storage were studied by RT-qPCR and most probable number (MPN) method. The VBNC incidence of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. during thermophilic digestion was four orders of magnitude higher than those of mesophilic digestion. Accordingly, higher resuscitation ratio of VBNC pathogens was also achieved in thermophilic digested sludge. As a result, the culturable Salmonella typhimurium contents in thermophilic digested sludge after cake storage were two orders of magnitude higher than mesophilic digestion. Both quantitative PCR and reverse transcription quantitative PCR assay results showed the two bacterial counting numbers remained stable throughout the cake storage. The results indicate that the increase in the culturable Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. after centrifugal dewatering was attributed to the resuscitation from the VBNC state to the culturable state. Thermophilic anaerobic digestion mainly induced Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. into VBNC state rather than killed them, suggesting that the biological safety of sewage sludge by temperature-phased anaerobic digestion should be carefully assessed. © 2015 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

  8. Previously unclassified bacteria dominate during thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic pre-treatment of primary sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pervin, Hasina M; Batstone, Damien J; Bond, Philip L

    2013-06-01

    Thermophilic biological pre-treatment enables enhanced anaerobic digestion for treatment of wastewater sludges but, at present, there is limited understanding of the hydrolytic-acidogenic microbial composition and its contribution to this process. In this study, the process was assessed by comparing the microbiology of thermophilic (50-65 °C) and mesophilic (35 °C) pre-treatment reactors treating primary sludge. A full-cycle approach for the 16S rRNA genes was applied in order to monitor the diversity of bacteria and their abundance in a thermophilic pre-treatment reactor treating primary sludge. For the thermophilic pre-treatment (TP), over 90% of the sequences were previously undetected and these had less than 97% sequence similarity to cultured organisms. During the first 83 days, members of the Betaproteobacteria dominated the community sequences and a newly designed probe was used to monitor a previously unknown bacterium affiliated with the genus Brachymonas. Between days 85 and 183, three phylotypes that affiliated with the genera Comamonas, Clostridium and Lysobacter were persistently dominant in the TP community, as revealed by terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Hydrolytic and fermentative functions have been speculated for these bacteria. Mesophilic pre-treatment (MP) and TP communities were different but they were both relatively dynamic. Statistical correlation analysis and the function of closely allied reference organisms indicated that previously unclassified bacteria dominated the TP community and may have been functionally involved in the enhanced hydrolytic performance of thermophilic anaerobic pre-treatment. This study is the first to reveal the diversity and dynamics of bacteria during anaerobic digestion of primary sludge. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  9. Winery waste recycling through anaerobic co-digestion with waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Ros, C; Cavinato, C; Pavan, P; Bolzonella, D

    2014-11-01

    In this study biogas and high quality digestate were recovered from winery waste (wine lees) through anaerobic co-digestion with waste activated sludge both in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The two conditions studied showed similar yields (0.40 m(3)/kgCODfed) but different biological process stability: in fact the mesophilic process was clearly more stable than the thermophilic one in terms of bioprocess parameters. The resulting digestates showed good characteristics for both the tested conditions: heavy metals, dioxins (PCDD/F), and dioxin like bi-phenyls (PCBs) were concentred in the effluent if compared with the influent because of the important reduction of the solid dry matter, but remained at levels acceptable for agricultural reuse. Pathogens in digestate decreased. Best reductions were observed in thermophilic condition, while at 37°C the concentration of Escherichia coli was at concentrations level as high as 1000 UFC/g. Dewatering properties of digestates were evaluated by means of the capillary suction time (CST) and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) tests and it was found that a good dewatering level was achievable only when high doses of polymer (more than 25 g per kg dry solids) were added to sludge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Stable thermophilic anaerobic digestion of dissolved air flotation (DAF) sludge by co-digestion with swine manure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creamer, K S; Chen, Y; Williams, C M; Cheng, J J

    2010-05-01

    Environmentally sound treatment of by-products in a value-adding process is an ongoing challenge in animal agriculture. The sludge produced as a result of the dissolved air flotation (DAF) wastewater treatment process in swine processing facilities is one such low-value residue. The objective of this study was to determine the fundamental performance parameters for thermophilic anaerobic digestion of DAF sludge. Testing in a semi-continuous stirred tank reactor and in batch reactors was conducted to determine the kinetics of degradation and biogas yield. Stable operation could not be achieved using pure DAF sludge as a substrate, possibly due to inhibition by long-chain fatty acids or to nutrient deficiencies. However, in a 1:1 ratio (w/w, dry basis) with swine manure, operation was both stable and productive. In the semi-continuous stirred reactor at 54.5 degrees Celsius, a hydraulic residence time of 10 days, and an organic loading rate of 4.68 gVS/day/L, the methane production rate was 2.19 L/L/day and the specific methane production rate was 0.47 L/gVS (fed). Maximum specific methanogenic activity (SMA) in batch testing was 0.15 mmoles CH(4) h(-1) gVS(-1) at a substrate concentration of 6.9 gVS L(-1). Higher substrate concentrations cause an initial lag in methane production, possibly due to long-chain fatty acid or nitrogen inhibition. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Changes of resistome, mobilome and potential hosts of antibiotic resistance genes during the transformation of anaerobic digestion from mesophilic to thermophilic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Zhe; Zhang, Yu; Yu, Bo; Yang, Min

    2016-07-01

    This study aimed to reveal how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their horizontal and vertical transfer-related items (mobilome and bacterial hosts) respond to the transformation of anaerobic digestion (AD) from mesophilic to thermophilic using one-step temperature increase. The resistomes and mobilomes of mesophilic and thermophilic sludge were investigated using metagenome sequencing, and the changes in 24 representative ARGs belonging to three categories, class 1 integron and bacterial genera during the transition period were further followed using quantitative PCR and 454-pyrosequencing. After the temperature increase, resistome abundance in the digested sludge decreased from 125.97 ppm (day 0, mesophilic) to 50.65 ppm (day 57, thermophilic) with the reduction of most ARG types except for the aminoglycoside resistance genes. Thermophilic sludge also had a smaller mobilome, including plasmids, insertion sequences and integrons, than that of mesophilic sludge, suggesting the lower horizontal transfer potential of ARGs under thermophilic conditions. On the other hand, the total abundance of 18 bacterial genera, which were suggested as the possible hosts for 13 ARGs through network analysis, decreased from 23.27% in mesophilic sludge to 11.92% in thermophilic sludge, indicating fewer hosts for the vertical expansion of ARGs after the increase in temperature. These results indicate that the better reduction of resistome abundance by thermophilic AD might be associated with the decrease of both the horizontal and vertical transferability of ARGs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Biogas production and methanogenic archaeal community in mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, D; Kurola, J M; Lähde, K; Kymäläinen, M; Sinkkonen, A; Romantschuk, M

    2014-10-01

    Over 258 Mt of solid waste are generated annually in Europe, a large fraction of which is biowaste. Sewage sludge is another major waste fraction. In this study, biowaste and sewage sludge were co-digested in an anaerobic digestion reactor (30% and 70% of total wet weight, respectively). The purpose was to investigate the biogas production and methanogenic archaeal community composition in the anaerobic digestion reactor under meso- (35-37 °C) and thermophilic (55-57 °C) processes and an increasing organic loading rate (OLR, 1-10 kg VS m(-3) d(-1)), and also to find a feasible compromise between waste treatment capacity and biogas production without causing process instability. In summary, more biogas was produced with all OLRs by the thermophilic process. Both processes showed a limited diversity of the methanogenic archaeal community which was dominated by Methanobacteriales and Methanosarcinales (e.g. Methanosarcina) in both meso- and thermophilic processes. Methanothermobacter was detected as an additional dominant genus in the thermophilic process. In addition to operating temperatures, the OLRs, the acetate concentration, and the presence of key substrates like propionate also affected the methanogenic archaeal community composition. A bacterial cell count 6.25 times higher than archaeal cell count was observed throughout the thermophilic process, while the cell count ratio varied between 0.2 and 8.5 in the mesophilic process. This suggests that the thermophilic process is more stable, but also that the relative abundance between bacteria and archaea can vary without seriously affecting biogas production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Hybrid alkali-hydrodynamic disintegration of waste-activated sludge before two-stage anaerobic digestion process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grübel, Klaudiusz; Suschka, Jan

    2015-05-01

    The first step of anaerobic digestion, the hydrolysis, is regarded as the rate-limiting step in the degradation of complex organic compounds, such as waste-activated sludge (WAS). The aim of lab-scale experiments was to pre-hydrolyze the sludge by means of low intensive alkaline sludge conditioning before applying hydrodynamic disintegration, as the pre-treatment procedure. Application of both processes as a hybrid disintegration sludge technology resulted in a higher organic matter release (soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD)) to the liquid sludge phase compared with the effects of processes conducted separately. The total SCOD after alkalization at 9 pH (pH in the range of 8.96-9.10, SCOD = 600 mg O2/L) and after hydrodynamic (SCOD = 1450 mg O2/L) disintegration equaled to 2050 mg/L. However, due to the synergistic effect, the obtained SCOD value amounted to 2800 mg/L, which constitutes an additional chemical oxygen demand (COD) dissolution of about 35 %. Similarly, the synergistic effect after alkalization at 10 pH was also obtained. The applied hybrid pre-hydrolysis technology resulted in a disintegration degree of 28-35%. The experiments aimed at selection of the most appropriate procedures in terms of optimal sludge digestion results, including high organic matter degradation (removal) and high biogas production. The analyzed soft hybrid technology influenced the effectiveness of mesophilic/thermophilic anaerobic digestion in a positive way and ensured the sludge minimization. The adopted pre-treatment technology (alkalization + hydrodynamic cavitation) resulted in 22-27% higher biogas production and 13-28% higher biogas yield. After two stages of anaerobic digestion (mesophilic conditions (MAD) + thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD)), the highest total solids (TS) reduction amounted to 45.6% and was received for the following sample at 7 days MAD + 17 days TAD. About 7% higher TS reduction was noticed compared with the sample after 9

  14. Biohydrogen and methane production by co-digestion of cassava stillage and excess sludge under thermophilic condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wen; Xie, Li; Chen, Jinrong; Luo, Gang; Zhou, Qi

    2011-02-01

    Thermophilic anaerobic hydrogen and methane production by co-digestion of cassava stillage (CS) and excess sludge (ES) was investigated in this study. The improved hydrogen and subsequent methane production were observed by co-digestion of CS with certain amount of ES in batch experiments. Compared with one phase anaerobic digestion, two phase anaerobic digestion offered an attractive alternative with more abundant biogas production and energy yield, e.g., the total energy yield in two phase obtained at VS(CS)/VS(ES) of 3:1 was 25% higher than the value of one phase. Results from continuous experiments further demonstrated that VS(CS)/VS(ES) of 3:1 was optimal for hydrogen production with the highest hydrogen yield of 74 mL/gtotal VS added, the balanced nutrient condition with C/N ratio of 1.5 g carbohydrate-COD/gprotein-COD or 11.9 g C/gN might be the main reason for such enhancement. VS(CS)/VS(ES) of 3:1 was also optimal for continuous methane production considering the higher methane yield of 350 mL/gtotal VS added and the lower propionate concentration in the effluent. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Nitrogen in the Process of Waste Activated Sludge Anaerobic Digestion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suschka Jan

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Primary or secondary sewage sludge in medium and large WWTP are most often processed by anaerobic digestion, as a method of conditioning, sludge quantity minimization and biogas production. With the aim to achieve the best results of sludge processing several modifications of technologies were suggested, investigated and introduced in the full technical scale. Various sludge pretreatment technologies before anaerobic treatment have been widely investigated and partially introduced. Obviously, there are always some limitations and some negative side effects. Selected aspects have been presented and discussed. The problem of nitrogen has been highlighted on the basis of the carried out investigations. The single and two step - mesophilic and thermophilic - anaerobic waste activated sludge digestion processes, preceded by preliminary hydrolysis were investigated. The aim of lab-scale experiments was pre-treatment of the sludge by means of low intensive alkaline and hydrodynamic disintegration. Depending on the pretreatment technologies and the digestion temperature large ammonia concentrations, up to 1800 mg NH4/dm3 have been measured. Return of the sludge liquor to the main sewage treatment line means additional nitrogen removal costs. Possible solutions are discussed.

  16. Thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge with grease waste: Effect of long chain fatty acids in the methane yield and its dewatering properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silvestre, G.; Illa, J.; Fernández, B.; Bonmatí, A.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermophilic anaerobic codigestion of sewage sludge and grease waste (GW) doubles methane yield. • High GW doses in the influent leads to instability and LCFA accumulation in the effluent. • GW addition promotes acetoclastic activity whilst worsening the hydrogenothrophic activity. • The mesophilic codigestion with GW performs better than the thermophilic one. - Abstract: Thermophilic co-digestion of sewage sludge with three different doses of trapped grease waste (GW) from the pre-treatment of a WWTP has been assessed in a CSTR bench-scale reactor. After adding 12% and 27% of grease waste (on COD basis), the organic loading rate increased from 2.2 to 2.3 and 2.8 kg COD m −3 d −1 respectively, and the methane yield increased 1.2 and 2.2 times. Further GW increase (37% on COD basis) resulted in an unstable methane yield and in long chain fatty acids (LCFA) accumulation. Although this inestability, the presence of volatile fatty acids in the effluent was negligible, showing good adaptation to fats of the thermophilic biomass. Nevertheless, the presence of LCFA in the effluent worsens its dewatering properties. Specific methanogenic activity tests showed that the addition of grease waste ameliorates the acetoclastic activity in detriment of the hydrogenotrophic activity, and suggests that the tolerance to LCFA can be further enhanced by slowly increasing the addition of lipid-rich materials

  17. Silver Sulfidation in Thermophilic Anaerobic Digesters and Effects on Antibiotic Resistance Genes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Bojeong; Miller, Jennifer H.; Monsegue, Niven; Levard, Clément; Hong, Yanjuan; Hull, Matthew S.; Murayama, Mitsuhiro; Brown, Gordon E.; Vikesland, Peter J.; Knocke, William R.; Pruden, Amy; Hochella, Michael F.

    2015-12-15

    Physical and chemical transformations and biological responses of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in wastewater treatment systems are of particular interest because of the extensive existing and continually growing uses of AgNPs in consumer products. In this study, we investigated the transformation of AgNPs and AgNO3 during thermophilic anaerobic digestion and effects on selection or transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Ag2S-NPs, sulfidation products of both AgNPs and AgNO3, were recovered from raw and digested sludges and were analyzed by analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). TEM and XAS revealed rapid (≤20 min) Ag sulfidation for both Ag treatments. Once transformed, Ag2S-NPs (as individual NPs or an NP aggregate) persisted for the duration of the batch digestion. The digestion process produced Ag2S-NPs that were strongly associated with sludge organics and/or other inorganic precipitates. Ag treatments (up to 1,000 mg Ag/kg) did not have an impact on the performance of thermophilic anaerobic digesters or ARG response, as indicated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction measurements of sul1, tet(W), and tet(O) and also intI1, an indicator of horizontal gene transfer of ARGs. Thus, rapid Ag sulfidation and stabilization with organics effectively sequester Ag and prevent biological interactions with the digester microbial community that could induce horizontal gene transfer or adversely impact digester performance through antimicrobial activity. This finding suggests that sulfide-rich anaerobic environments, such as digesters, likely have a high buffer capacity to mitigate the biological effects of AgNPs.

  18. Biohydrogen production from dual digestion pretreatment of poultry slaughterhouse sludge by anaerobic self-fermentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sittijunda, Sureewan [Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002 (Thailand); Reungsang, Alissara [Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002 (Thailand); Fermentation Research Center for Value Added Agricultural Products, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002 (Thailand); O-thong, Sompong [Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Thaksin University, Patthalung 93110 (Thailand)

    2010-12-15

    Poultry slaughterhouse sludge from chicken processing wastewater treatment plant was tested for their suitability as a substrate and inoculum source for fermentation hydrogen production. Dual digestion of poultry slaughterhouse sludge was employed to produce hydrogen by batch anaerobic self-fermentation without any extra-seeds. The sludge (5% TS) was dual digested by aerobic thermophilic digestion at 55 C with the varying retention time before using as substrate in anaerobic self-fermentation. The best digestion time for enriching hydrogen-producing seeds was 48 h as it completely repressed methanogenic activity and gave the maximum hydrogen yield of 136.9 mL H{sub 2}/g TS with a hydrogen production rate of 2.56 mL H{sub 2}/L/h. The hydrogen production of treated sludge at 48 h (136.9 mL H{sub 2}/g TS) was 15 times higher than that of the raw sludge (8.83 mL H{sub 2}/g TS). With this fermentation process, tCOD value in the activated sludge could be reduced up to 30%. (author)

  19. Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondary sludge at 70ºC prior to anaerobic digestion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skiadas, Ioannis V.; Gavala, H.N.; Lu, Jingquan

    2005-01-01

    . The present study investigates the effect of the pre-treatment at 70 degrees C on thermophilic (55 degrees C) anaerobic digestion of primary and secondary sludge in continuously operated digesters. Thermal pre-treatment of primary and secondary sludge at 70 degrees C enhanced the removal of organic matter...... and the methane production during the subsequent anaerobic digestion step at 55 degrees C. It also greatly contributed to the destruction of pathogens present in primary sludge. Finally it results in enhanced microbial activities of the subsequent anaerobic step suggesting that the same efficiencies in organic...... matter removal and methane recovery could be obtained at lower HRTs....

  20. Development of an efficient anaerobic co-digestion process for garbage, excreta, and septic tank sludge to create a resource recycling-oriented society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Zhao-Yong; Liu, Kai; Tan, Li; Tang, Yue-Qin; Kida, Kenji

    2017-03-01

    In order to develop a resource recycling-oriented society, an efficient anaerobic co-digestion process for garbage, excreta and septic tank sludge was studied based on the quantity of each biomass waste type discharged in Ooki machi, Japan. The anaerobic digestion characteristics of garbage, excreta and 5-fold condensed septic tank sludge (hereafter called condensed sludge) were determined separately. In single-stage mesophilic digestion, the excreta with lower C/N ratios yielded lower biogas volumes and accumulated higher volumes of volatile fatty acid (VFA). On the other hand, garbage allowed for a significantly larger volatile total solid (VTS) digestion efficiency as well as biogas yield by thermophilic digestion. Thus, a two-stage anaerobic co-digestion process consisting of thermophilic liquefaction and mesophilic digestion phases was proposed. In the thermophilic liquefaction of mixed condensed sludge and household garbage (wet mass ratio of 2.2:1), a maximum VTS loading rate of 24g/L/d was achieved. In the mesophilic digestion of mixed liquefied material and excreta (wet mass ratio of 1:1), biogas yield reached approximately 570ml/g-VTS fed with a methane content of 55% at a VTS loading rate of 1.0g/L/d. The performance of the two-stage process was evaluated by comparing it with a single-stage process in which biomass wastes were treated separately. Biogas production by the two-stage process was found to increase by approximately 22.9%. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of a two-stage anaerobic co-digestion process in enhancement of biogas production. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Bacterial community analysis of swine manure treated with autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Il; Congeevaram, Shankar; Ki, Dong-Won; Oh, Byoung-Taek; Park, Joonhong

    2011-02-01

    Due to the environmental problems associated with disposal of livestock sludge, many stabilization studies emphasizing on the sludge volume reduction were performed. However, little is known about the microbial risk present in sludge and its stabilized products. This study microbiologically explored the effects of anaerobic lagoon fermentation (ALF) and autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) on pathogen-related risk of raw swine manure by using culture-independent 16S rDNA cloning and sequencing methods. In raw swine manure, clones closely related to pathogens such as Dialister pneumosintes, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Succinivibrioan dextrinosolvens, and Schineria sp. were detected. Meanwhile, in the mesophilic ALF-treated swine manure, bacterial community clones closely related to pathogens such as Schineria sp. and Succinivibrio dextrinosolvens were still detected. Interestingly, the ATAD treatment resulted in no detection of clones closely related to pathogens in the stabilized thermophilic bacterial community, with the predominance of novel Clostridia class populations. These findings support the superiority of ATAD in selectively reducing potential human and animal pathogens compared to ALF, which is a typical manure stabilization method used in livestock farms.

  2. Biokinetics and bacterial communities of propionate oxidizing bacteria in phased anaerobic sludge digestion systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamanzadeh, Mirzaman; Parker, Wayne J; Verastegui, Yris; Neufeld, Josh D

    2013-03-15

    Phased anaerobic digestion is a promising technology and may be a potential source of bio-energy production. Anaerobic digesters are widely used for sewage sludge stabilization and thus a better understanding of the microbial process and kinetics may allow increased volatile solids reduction and methane production through robust process operation. In this study, we analyzed the impact of phase separation and operational conditions on the bio-kinetic characteristics and communities of bacteria associated with four phased anaerobic digestion systems. In addition to significant differences between bacterial communities associated with different digester operating temperatures, our results also revealed that bacterial communities in the phased anaerobic digestion systems differed between the 1st and 2nd phase digesters and we identified strong community composition correlations with several measured physicochemical parameters. The maximum specific growth rates of propionate oxidizing bacteria (POB) in the mesophilic and thermophilic 1st phases were 11 and 23.7 mgCOD mgCOD(-1) d(-1), respectively, while those of the mesophilic and thermophilic 2nd-phase digesters were 6.7 and 18.6 mgCOD mgCOD(-1) d(-1), respectively. Hence, the biokinetic characteristics of the POB population were dependent on the digester loading. In addition, we observed that the temperature dependency factor (θ) values were higher for the less heavily loaded digesters as compared to the values obtained for the 1st-phase digesters. Our results suggested the appropriate application of two sets of POB bio-kinetic that reflect the differing growth responses as a function of propionate concentration (and/or organic loading rates). Also, modeling acetogenesis in phased anaerobic sludge digestion systems will be improved considering a population shift in separate phases. On the basis of the bio-kinetic values estimated in various digesters, high levels of propionate in the thermophilic digesters may be

  3. Anaerobic digestion of whole stillage from dry-grind corn ethanol plant under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eskicioglu, Cigdem; Kennedy, Kevin J; Marin, Juan; Strehler, Benjamin

    2011-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion of whole stillage from a dry-grind corn-based ethanol plant was evaluated by batch and continuous-flow digesters under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. At whole corn stillage concentrations of 6348 to 50,786 mg total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD)/L, at standard temperature (0 °C) and pressure (1 atm), preliminary biochemical methane potential assays produced 88±8 L (49±5 L CH4) and 96±19 L (65±14 L CH4) biogas per L stillage from mesophilic and thermophilic digesters, respectively. Continuous-flow studies for the full-strength stillage (TCOD=254 g/L) at organic loadings of 4.25, 6.30 and 9.05 g TCOD/L days indicated unstable performance for the thermophilic digester. Among the sludge retention times (SRTs) of 60, 45 and 30 days tested, the mesophilic digestion was successful only at 60 days-SRT which does not represent a practical operation time for a large scale bioethanol plant. Future laboratory studies will focus on different reactor configurations to reduce the SRT needed in the digesters. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Start-up strategies for thermophilic anaerobic digestion of pig manure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moset, V.; Bertolini, E.; Cerisuelo, A.; Cambra, M.; Olmos, A.; Cambra-López, M.

    2014-01-01

    Sludge physicochemical composition, methane (CH 4 ) yield, and methanogenic community structure and dynamics using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were determined after start-up of anaerobic digestion of pig manure. Eight thermophilic continuous stirred anaerobic digesters were used during 126 days. Four management strategies were investigated: a feedless and a non-feedless period followed by a gradual or an abrupt addition of pig manure (two digesters per strategy). During the first 43 days, VFA (volatile fatty acids) accumulations and low CH 4 yield were observed in all digesters. After this period, digesters recovered their initial status being propionic acid the last parameter to be re-established. Non-feedless digesters with an abrupt addition of pig manure showed the best performances (lower VFA accumulation and higher CH 4 yield). Differences in microbial orders and dynamics, however, were less evident among treatments. Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, Methanomicrobiales first and Methanobacteriales second, was the dominant metabolic pathway in all digesters. Further research is needed to clarify the role and activity of hydrogenotrophic methanogens during the recovery start-up period and to identify the best molecular tools and methodologies to monitor microbial populations and dynamics reliably and accurately in anaerobic digesters. - Highlights: • Four start-up strategies for thermophilic anaerobic digestion of pig manure were tested. • Physicochemical composition, methane yield and methanogenic community were determined. • During the first 43 days, a decline in reactor's performance occurred. • The best start-up strategy was non-feedless with an abrupt addition of pig slurry. • Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was the dominant metabolic pathway

  5. Thermophilic slurry-phase treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon waste sludges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castaldi, F.J.; Bombaugh, K.J.; McFarland, B.

    1995-01-01

    Chemoheterotrophic thermophilic bacteria were used to achieve enhanced hydrocarbon degradation during slurry-phase treatment of oily waste sludges from petroleum refinery operations. Aerobic and anaerobic bacterial cultures were examined under thermophilic conditions to assess the effects of mode of metabolism on the potential for petroleum hydrocarbon degradation. The study determined that both aerobic and anaerobic thermophilic bacteria are capable of growth on petroleum hydrocarbons. Thermophilic methanogenesis is feasible during the degradation of hydrocarbons when a strict anaerobic condition is achieved in a slurry bioreactor. Aerobic thermophilic bacteria achieved the largest apparent reduction in chemical oxygen demand, freon extractable oil, total and volatile solid,s and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) when treating oily waste sludges. The observed shift with time in the molecular weight distribution of hydrocarbon material was more pronounced under aerobic metabolic conditions than under strict anaerobic conditions. The changes in the hydrocarbon molecular weight distribution, infrared spectra, and PAH concentrations during slurry-phase treatment indicate that the aerobic thermophilic bioslurry achieved a higher degree of hydrocarbon degradation than the anaerobic thermophilic bioslurry during the same time period

  6. Effects of seed sludge on fermentative characteristics and microbial community structures in thermophilic hydrogen fermentation of starch

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akutsu, Yohei; Tandukar, Madan; Kubota, Kengo; Harada, Hideki [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Li, Yu-You [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, Jinjinggonglu 26, Tianjin, 300384 (China)

    2008-11-15

    In this work, effects of seed sludge on thermophilic hydrogen fermentation were investigated. Five different kinds of sludge were separately inoculated in completely stirred tank reactors (CSTRs), without any pretreatment. The reactors were operated in parallel with starch as substrate under thermophilic condition (55 C) at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h for 50 days. Stable hydrogen production was achieved in all reactors. The highest hydrogen yield (2.32 mol H{sub 2}/mol glucose) was obtained from the reactor seeded with thermophilically digested activated sludge. The stoichiometric equation of hydrogen fermentation calculated using the data obtained in this study was expressed as follows: starch ([C{sub 6}H{sub 10}O{sub 5}]n) {yields} 2.32n H{sub 2} + 2.14n CO{sub 2} + 0.50n acetate + 0.63n butyrate + 0.11n cell (C{sub 5}H{sub 7}NO{sub 2}). Microbial community structure was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and 16S rRNA gene cloning. Close relatives of the Thermoanaerobacterium were found to be the most predominated one in all reactors. (author)

  7. Survival of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Horizontal Gene Transfer Control Antibiotic Resistance Gene Content in Anaerobic Digesters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Jennifer H; Novak, John T; Knocke, William R; Pruden, Amy

    2016-01-01

    Understanding fate of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) vs. their antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during wastewater sludge treatment is critical in order to reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance through process optimization. Here, we spiked high concentrations of tetracycline-resistant bacteria, isolated from mesophilic (Iso M1-1-a Pseudomonas sp.) and thermophilic (Iso T10-a Bacillus sp.) anaerobic digested sludge, into batch digesters and monitored their fate by plate counts and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) of their corresponding tetracycline ARGs. In batch studies, spiked ARB plate counts returned to baseline (thermophilic) or 1-log above baseline (mesophilic) while levels of the ARG present in the spiked isolate [tet(G)] remained high in mesophilic batch reactors. To compare results under semi-continuous flow conditions with natural influent variation, tet(O), tet(W), and sul1 ARGs, along with the intI1 integrase gene, were monitored over a 9-month period in the raw feed sludge and effluent sludge of lab-scale thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digesters. sul1 and intI1 in mesophilic and thermophilic digesters correlated positively (Spearman rho = 0.457-0.829, P < 0.05) with the raw feed sludge. There was no correlation in tet(O) or tet(W) ratios in raw sludge and mesophilic digested sludge or thermophilic digested sludge (Spearman rho = 0.130-0.486, P = 0.075-0.612). However, in the thermophilic digester, the tet(O) and tet(W) ratios remained consistently low over the entire monitoring period. We conclude that the influent sludge microbial composition can influence the ARG content of a digester, apparently as a result of differential survival or death of ARBs or horizontal gene transfer of genes between raw sludge ARBs and the digester microbial community. Notably, mesophilic digestion was more susceptible to ARG intrusion than thermophilic digestion, which may be attributed to a higher rate of ARB survival and/or horizontal gene

  8. Effects of continuous addition of nitrate to a thermophilic anaerobic digestion system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rivard, C.J.

    1983-01-01

    The biodegradation of complex organic matter is regulated partially by the ability to dump electrons which build up in the form of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). The effects of the continuous addition of the oxidant, nitrate, were investigated on a single-stage, thermophilic, anaerobic digester. The digester acclimated rapidly to nitrate addition. The continuous addition of nitrate resulted in a constant inhibition of total gas (30%) and methane production (36%). Reduction in total gas and methane production was accompanied by increases in sludge pH and acetate, propionate, and ammonium ion pools. Effluent particle size distribution revealed a shift to smaller particle sizes in the nitrate-pumped sludge. The continuous addition of nitrate resulted in lower numbers of methanogens and sulfate reducers in the sludge, with increases in nitrate-reducing and cellulose-degrading microorganisms. These findings indicate that added nitrate underwent dissimilatory reduction to ammonium ion, as determined from gas analysis, ammonium pools, and 15 N-nitrate-label experiments. Continuous nitrate addition to a single-phase digestion system was determined to inhibit methane production from biomass and wastes. Thus for the single-stage digestion system in which maximum methane production is desired, the addition of nitrate is not recommended. However, in a multistage digestion system, the continuous addition of nitrate in the primary stage to increase the rate and extent of degradation of organic matter to volatile fatty acids, which then would serve as feed to a second stage, may be advantageous

  9. Relationship between microbial community dynamics and process performance during thermophilic sludge bioleaching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shen-Yi; Chou, Li-Chieh

    2016-08-01

    Heavy metals can be removed from the sludge using bioleaching technologies at thermophilic condition, thereby providing an option for biotreatment of wasted sludge generated from wastewater treatment. The purposes of this study were to establish a molecular biology technique, real-time PCR, for the detection and enumeration of the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the thermophilic sludge bioleaching. The 16S rRNA gene for real-time PCR quantification targeted the bioleaching bacteria: Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans, Sulfobacillus acidophilus, and Acidithiobacillus caldus. The specificity and stringency for thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were tested before the experiments of monitoring the bacterial community, bacterial number during the thermophilic sludge bioleaching and the future application on testing various environmental samples. The results showed that S. acidophilus was identified as the dominant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, while A. caldus and S. thermosulfidooxidans occurred in relatively low numbers. The total number of the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria increased during the thermophilic bioleaching process. Meanwhile, the decrease of pH, production of sulfate, degradation of SS/VSS, and solubilization of heavy metal were found to correlate well with the population of thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the bioleaching process. The real-time PCR used in this study is a suitable method to monitor numbers of thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria during the bioleaching process.

  10. Effect of enzymes on anaerobic digestion of primary sludge and septic tank performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diak, James; Örmeci, Banu; Kennedy, Kevin J

    2012-11-01

    Enzyme additives are believed to improve septic tank performance by increasing the hydrolysis and digestion rates and maintaining a healthy microbial population. Previous studies reported mixed results on the effectiveness of enzymes on mesophilic and thermophilic digestion, and it is not clear whether enzymes would be effective under septic tank conditions where there is no heating or mixing, quantities of enzymes added are small, and they can be washed out quickly. In this study, batch reactors and continuous-flow reactors designed and operated as septic tanks were used to evaluate whether enzymatic treatment would increase the hydrolysis and digestion rates in primary sludge. Total solids, volatile solids, total suspended solids, total and soluble chemical oxygen demand, concentrations of protein, carbohydrate, ammonia and volatile acids in sludge and effluent samples were measured to determine the differences in digestion rates in the presence and absence of enzymes. Overall, no significant improvement was observed in enzyme-treated reactors compared with the control reactors.

  11. Feasibility of thermophilic anaerobic processes for treating waste activated sludge under low HRT and intermittent mixing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leite, Wanderli; Magnus, Bruna Scandolara; Guimarães, Lorena Bittencourt; Gottardo, Marco; Belli Filho, Paulo

    2017-10-01

    Thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) arises as an optimized solution for the waste activated sludge (WAS) management. However, there are few feasibility studies using low solids content typically found in the WAS, and that consider uncommon operational conditions such as intermittent mixing and low hydraulic retention time (HRT). In this investigation, a single-stage pilot reactor was used to treat WAS at low HRT (13, 9, 6 and 5 days) and intermittent mixing (withholding mixing 2 h prior feeding). Thermophilic anaerobic digestion (55 °C) was initiated from a mesophilic digester (35 °C) by the one-step startup strategy. Although instabilities on partial alkalinity (1245-3000 mgCaCO 3 /L), volatile fatty acids (1774-6421 mg/L acetic acid) and biogas production (0.21-0.09 m 3 /m 3 reactor .d) were observed, methanogenesis started to recover in 18 days. The thermophilic treatment of WAS at 13 and 9 days HRT efficiently converted VS into biogas (22 and 21%, respectively) and achieved high biogas yield (0.24 and 0.22 m 3 /kgVS fed , respectively). Intermittent mixing improved the retention of methanogens inside the reactor and reduced the washout effect even at low HRT (5% TS). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Towards a sustainable paradigm of waste-to-energy process: Enhanced anaerobic digestion of sludge with woody biochar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen, Yanwen; Linville, Jessica L.; Ignacio-de Leon, Patricia Anne A.; Schoene, Robin P.; Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem

    2016-11-01

    This study presents an integrated waste-to-energy process, using two waste streams, sludge generated from the municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and biochar generated from the biomass gasification systems, to produce fungible biomethane and nutrient-rich digestate with fertilizer value. Two woody biochar, namely pinewood (PBC) and white oak biochar (WOBC) were used as additives during anaerobic digestion (AD) of WWTP sludge to enhance methane production at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures. The PBC and WOBC have porous structure, large surface area and desirable chemical properties to be used as AD amendment material to sequester CO2 from biogas in the digester. The biochar-amended digesters achieved average methane content in biogas of up to 92.3% and 79.0%, corresponding to CO2 sequestration by up to 66.2% and 32.4% during mesophilic and thermophilic AD, respectively. Biochar addition enhanced process stability by increasing the alkalinity, but inhibitory effects were observed at high dosage. It also alleviated free ammonia inhibition by up to 10.5%. The biochar-amended digesters generated digestate rich in macro- and micronutrients including K (up to 300 m/L), Ca (up to 750 mg/L), Mg (up to 1800 mg/L) and Fe (up to 390 mg/L), making biochar-amended digestate a potential alternative used as agricultural lime fertilizer.

  13. [Gradient elevation of temperature startup experiment of thermophilic ASBR treating thermal-hydrolyzed sewage sludge].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ouyang, Er-Ming; Wang, Wei; Long, Neng; Li, Huai

    2009-04-15

    Startup experiment was conducted for thermophilic anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) treating thermal-hydrolyzed sewage sludge using the strategy of the step-wise temperature increment: 35 degrees C-->40 degrees C-->47 degrees C-->53 degrees C. The results showed that the first step-increase (from 35 degrees C to 40 degrees C) and final step-increase (from 47 degrees C to 53 degrees C) had only a slight effect on the digestion process. The second step-increase (from 40 degrees C to 47 degrees C) resulted in a severe disturbance: the biogas production, methane content, CODeffluent and microorganism all have strong disturbance. At the steady stage of thermophilic ASBR treating thermal-hydrolyzed sewage sludge, the average daily gas production, methane content, specific methane production (CH4/CODinfluent), TCOD removal rate and SCOD removal rate were 2.038 L/d, 72.0%, 188.8 mL/g, 63.8%, 83.3% respectively. The results of SEM and DGGE indicated that the dominant species are obviously different at early stage and steady stage.

  14. Effect of silver nanoparticles and antibiotics on antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Jennifer H; Novak, John T; Knocke, William R; Young, Katherine; Hong, Yanjuan; Vikesland, Peter J; Hull, Matthew S; Pruden, Amy

    2013-05-01

    Water resource recovery facilities have been described as creating breeding ground conditions for the selection, transfer, and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) among various bacteria. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of direct addition of antibiotic and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs, or nanosilver) on the occurrence of ARGs in thermophilic anaerobic digesters. Test thermophilic digesters were amended with environmentally-relevant concentrations of Ag NP (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 mg-Ag/L; corresponding to approximately 0.7, 7.0, and 70 mg-Ag/kg total solids) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) that span susceptible to resistant classifications (1, 5, and 50 mg/L) as potential selection pressures for ARGs. Tetracycline (tet(O), tet(W)) and sulfonamide (sulI, sulII) ARGs and the integrase enzyme gene (intI1) associated with Class 1 integrons were measured in raw sludge, test thermophilic digesters, a control thermophilic digester, and a control mesophilic digester. There was no apparent effect of Ag NPs on thermophilic anaerobic digester performance. The maximum SMX addition (50 mg/L) resulted in accumulation of volatile fatty acids and low pH, alkalinity, and volatile solids reduction. There was no significant difference between ARG gene copy numbers (absolute or normalized to 16S rRNA genes) in amended thermophilic digesters and the control thermophilic digester. Antibiotic resistance gene copy numbers in digested sludge ranged from 10(3) to 10(6) copies per microL (approximately 8 x10(1) to 8 x 10(4) copies per microg) of sludge as result of a 1-log reduction of ARGs (2-log reduction for intI1). Quantities of the five ARGs in raw sludge ranged from 10(4) to 10(8) copies per microL (approximately 4 x 10(2) to 4 x 10(6) per microg) of sludge. Test and control thermophilic digesters (53 degrees C, 12-day solids retention time [SRT]) consistently reduced but did not eliminate levels of all analyzed genes. The mesophilic digester (37 degrees C

  15. Status on Science and Application of Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    1994-01-01

    Thermophilic anaerobic processes are often regarded as less stable than mesophilic processes. In the paper this postulate is examined and disproved based on real operational data from of full-scale mesophilic and thermophilic biogas plants. The start-up produce for the thermophilic plants was...... for thermophilic digestion along with the implications for the methanogenic bacteria active at these temperatures....

  16. Performance of thermophilic anaerobic digesters using inoculum mixes with enhanced methanogenic diversity

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia

    2017-05-30

    BACKGROUND Reportedly, various mixes of seeds were quasi-randomly selected to startup anaerobic digesters. In contrast, this study examines the impact of inoculating thermophilic anaerobic digesters with a designed mix of non-acclimated seeds based on their methanogen composition, using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (QPCR) of 16S rRNA gene, to achieve high abundance and diversity of methanogens. RESULTS Based on QPCR results, two seed mixes were selected to inoculate two anaerobic digesters: digester (A) was inoculated with a control seed consisting of digestate, manure, and activated sludge; and digester (B) was inoculated with a further methanogen-enriched seed consisting of the control seed with added compost and leachate. Both seed combinations yielded a balanced microflora that is able to achieve a successful startup. However, upon reaching steady state, digester B exhibited lower propionate levels, resulting in lower VFA concentration and increased buffering capacity, indicating greater stability. Acetotrophs and hydrogenotrophs were dominated by Methanosarcinaceae and Methanobacteriales, respectively, in both digesters, exhibiting an average ratio of 66-to-34% in A and 76-to-24% in B during steady state. CONCLUSION The inoculation strategy in digester B resulted in improved stability, lower propionate concentration and 10% higher relative abundance of acetotrophs.

  17. Degradation of organic pollutants in sewage sludge by aerobic-thermophilic sludge treatment. Final report; Abbau organischer Schadstoffe im Klaerschlamm durch aerob-thermophile Schlammbehandlung. Abschlussbericht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prechtl, S.

    1999-07-01

    A process for reduction of organic polllutants in sewage sludge was to be developed and optimized. The organic fraction of the solid matter in sewage sludge containes more than 300 different pollutant. Apart from the substances classified in the Sewage Sludge Ordinance (dioxins/furans, PCB), there are others that have been considered relevant as well but for which no sufficient data base is available. The research project investigated whether aerobic-thermophilic treatment (AT) would improve the sewage sludge quality with regard to phthalates (di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, DEHP), PAH and 4-nonylphenol (4-NP, a degradation product of nonionic tensides). Pollutants were analzyed by HPLC and GC/MS. The concentration of DEHP and 4-NP was reduced by 70% resp. 50% in laboratory experiments with doped sludges and by 61% resp. 53% in undoped sludges. In semi-industrial tests, a 14% reduction was achieved for DEHP and a 68% reduction for 4-NP. In the case of pyrene, the degradation was up to 57% in the laboratory experiments and 22% in semi-industrial tests. A combined process of short-term anaerobic digestion and AT resulted in a 60% reduction in the case of DEHP. Up to anthracene, PAH were reduced as well. In the case of higher-condensed PAH (basic load in the ppb range) there was no clear result. In the case of 4-NP, the degradation effect was counterbalanced by the formation of new 4-NP from alkylphenol ethoxylates in both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The results prove the correlation between sewage sludge hygienisation and the time of residue in the reactor system. No enterobacteriaceae were found after a treatment of 96 h, both in the semi-industrial and the laboratory reactors. In activated sludge, a phenol-degrading mixed bacteria culture could be isolated which was also capable of degrading 4-NP in thermophilic conditions. [German] Das Ziel des Forschungsvorhabens war die Entwicklung/Optimierung eines Verfahrens zur Reduktion organischer Schadstoffe im

  18. In situ identification of the synthrophic protein fermentative Coprothermobacter spp. involved in the thermophilic anaerobic digestion process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagliano, Maria Cristina; Braguglia, Camilla Maria; Rossetti, Simona

    2014-09-01

    Thermophilic bacteria have recently attracted great attention because of their potential application in improving different biochemical processes such as anaerobic digestion of various substrates, wastewater treatment or hydrogen production. In this study we report on the design of a specific 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probe for detecting members of Coprothermobacter genus characterized by a strong protease activity to degrade proteins and peptides. The newly designed CTH485 probe and helper probes hCTH429 and hCTH439 were optimized for use in fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on thermophilic anaerobic sludge samples. In situ probing revealed that thermo-adaptive mechanisms shaping the 16S rRNA gene may affect the identification of thermophilic microorganisms. The novel developed FISH probe extends the possibility to study the widespread thermophilic syntrophic interaction of Coprothermobacter spp. with hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea, whose establishment is a great benefit for the whole anaerobic system. © 2014 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Microbial Insight into a Pilot-Scale Enhanced Two-Stage High-Solid Anaerobic Digestion System Treating Waste Activated Sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jing; Cao, Zhiping; Hu, Yuying; Wang, Xiaolu; Wang, Guangqi; Zuo, Jiane; Wang, Kaijun; Qian, Yi

    2017-11-30

    High solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) is a rapidly developed anaerobic digestion technique for treating municipal sludge, and has been widely used in Europe and Asia. Recently, the enhanced HSAD process with thermal treatment showed its advantages in both methane production and VS reduction. However, the understanding of the microbial community is still poor. This study investigated microbial communities in a pilot enhanced two-stage HSAD system that degraded waste activated sludge at 9% solid content. The system employed process "thermal pre-treatment (TPT) at 70 °C, thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD), and mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD)". Hydrogenotrophic methanogens Methanothermobacter spp. dominated the system with relative abundance up to about 100% in both TAD and MAD. Syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) bacteria were discovered in TAD, and they converted acetate into H₂ and CO₂ to support hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. The microbial composition and conversion route of this system are derived from the high solid content and protein content in raw sludge, as well as the operational conditions. This study could facilitate the understanding of the enhanced HSAD process, and is of academic and industrial importance.

  20. Digestion with initial thermophilic hydrolysis step for sanitation and enhanced methane extraction in wastewater treatment plants; Roetning med inledande termofilt hydrolyssteg foer hygienisering och utoekad metanutvinning paa avloppsreningsverk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Persson, Emelie; Ossiansson, Elin [BioMil AB, Lund (Sweden); Carlsson, My; Uldal, Martina; Johannesson, Sofia [AnoxKaldnes AB, Lund (Sweden)

    2012-02-15

    Thermophilic (55 deg) pre-hydrolysis has been shown to improve methane yield, organics reduction and/or treatment capacity when applied to anaerobic digestion (Persson m. fl. 2010). The method has also proven to kill off pathogens, making it an interesting hygienisation alternative to pasteurisation. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has opened up for the possibility to validate new methods for hygienisation, if the pathogen reduction can be proven to be efficient enough. Thermophilic pre-hydrolysis has several possible advantages to pasteurization; e. g. district heating of lower temperature can be used, the stability of the process may increase, as well as the efficiency and extent of the digestion process. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of thermophilic pre-hydrolysis on anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge with respect to: 1. Biogas/methane production and solids reduction. 2. Correlations between substrate properties, process conditions and effect on the AD process. 3. Pathogen reduction efficiency. 4. Operational consequences. Laboratory trials in continuous and batch mode were conducted on sewage sludge from four Swedish wastewater treatment plants. In the trials thermophilic pre-hydrolysis with consecutive mesophilic AD was compared to conventional one-step mesophilic AD, as well as pre-pasteurisation with consecutive AD. For all the tested sludge samples the reduction of TS and VS increased as a result of thermophilic pre-hydrolysis prior to mesophilic AD. The results with respect to methane yield were not as straightforward. Increased production of biogas was achieved in pilot scale, but the methane production did not improve. In the laboratory trials the effect on methane production varied from -8 % till +18 % for the sludge samples tested. The most positive results were achieved in the test that had the highest organic load and that was fed with a sludge that was low in fat and high in carbohydrates, compared to the

  1. Anaerobic digestibility of Scenedesmus obliquus and Phaeodactylum tricornutum under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zamalloa, Carlos; Boon, Nico; Verstraete, Willy

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► We investigate the digestion of two algae biomasses in hybrid flow-through reactors. ► We determine the bio-methane potential of these biomasses through batch assays. ► Conversion efficiencies of 20–50% with an HRT of 2.2 days are possible. ► We valorise microalgae biomass by anaerobic digestion in a high rate reactor. -- Abstract: Two types of non-axenic algal cultures, one dominated by the freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus and the other by the marine microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum, were cultivated in two types of simple photobioreactor systems. The production rates, expressed on dry matter (DM) basis, were in the order of 0.12 and 0.18 g DM L −1 d −1 for S. obliquus and P. tricornutum respectively. The biogas potential of algal biomass was assessed by performing standardized batch digestion as well as digestion in a hybrid flow-through reactor (combining a sludge blanket and a carrier bed), the latter under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Biomethane potential assays revealed the ultimate methane yield (B 0 ) of P. tricornutum biomass to be about a factor of 1.5 higher than that of S. obliquus biomass, i.e. 0.36 and 0.24 L CH 4 g −1 volatile solids (VS) added respectively. For S. obliquus biomass, the hybrid flow-through reactor tests operated at volumetric organic loading rate (Bv) of 2.8 gVS L −1 d −1 indicated low conversion efficiencies ranging between 26–31% at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2.2 days for mesophilic and thermophilic conditions respectively. When digesting P. tricornutum at a Bv of 1.9 gVS L −1 d −1 at either mesophilic or thermophilic conditions and at an HRT of 2.2 days, an overall conversion efficiency of about 50% was obtained. This work indicated that the hydrolysis of the algae cells is limiting the anaerobic processing of intensively grown S. obliquus and P. tricornutum biomass.

  2. Combining high-rate aerobic wastewater treatment with anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at a pulp and paper mill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magnusson, Björn; Ekstrand, Eva-Maria; Karlsson, Anna; Ejlertsson, Jörgen

    2018-05-01

    The activated sludge process within the pulp and paper industry is generally run to minimize the production of waste activated sludge (WAS), leading to high electricity costs from aeration and relatively large basin volumes. In this study, a pilot-scale activated sludge process was run to evaluate the concept of treating the wastewater at high rate with a low sludge age. Two 150 L containers were used, one for aeration and one for sedimentation and sludge return. The hydraulic retention time was decreased from 24 hours to 7 hours, and the sludge age was lowered from 12 days to 2-4 days. The methane potential of the WAS was evaluated using batch tests, as well as continuous anaerobic digestion (AD) in 4 L reactors in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Wastewater treatment capacity was increased almost four-fold at maintained degradation efficiency. The lower sludge age greatly improved the methane potential of the WAS in batch tests, reaching 170 NmL CH 4 /g VS at a sludge age of 2 days. In addition, the continuous AD showed a higher methane production at thermophilic conditions. Thus, the combination of high-rate wastewater treatment and AD of WAS is a promising option for the pulp and paper industry.

  3. Mesophilic and thermophilic activated sludge post-treatment of paper mill process water

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vogelaar, J.C.T.; Bouwhuis, E.; Klapwijk, A.; Spanjers, H.; Lier, van J.B.

    2002-01-01

    Increasing system closure in paper mills and higher process water temperatures make the applicability of thermophilic treatment systems increasingly important. The use of activated sludge as a suitable thermophilic post-treatment system for anaerobically pre-treated paper process water from a paper

  4. Dewaterability of sludge digested in extended aeration plants using ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Dewaterability of unconditioned sludge digested in full scale and lab scale experiments using either extended aeration (EA) or anaerobic digestion were compared on full and lab scale sand drying beds. Sludge digested in EA plants resulted in improvement in sludge dewaterability compared to sludge digested ...

  5. Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of Lurgi coal gasification wastewater in a UASB reactor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, W.; Ma, W.C.; Han, H.J.; Li, H.Q.; Yuan, M. [Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin (China)

    2011-02-15

    Lurgi coal gasification wastewater (LCGW) is a refractory wastewater, whose anaerobic treatment has been a severe problem due to its toxicity and poor biodegradability. Using a mesophilic (35 {+-} 2{sup o}C) reactor as a control, thermophilic anaerobic digestion (55 {+-} 2{sup o}C) of LCGW was investigated in a UASB reactor. After 120 days of operation, the removal of COD and total phenols by the thermophilic reactor could reach 50-55% and 50-60% respectively, at an organic loading rate of 2.5 kg COD/(m{sup 3} d) and HRT of 24h: the corresponding efficiencies were both only 20-30% in the mesophilic reactor. After thermophilic digestion, the wastewater concentrations of the aerobic effluent COD could reach below 200 mg/L compared with around 294 mg/L if mesophilic digestion was done and around 375 mg/L if sole aerobic pre-treatment was done. The results suggested that thermophilic anaerobic digestion improved significantly both anaerobic and aerobic biodegradation of LCGW.

  6. Continuous thermal hydrolysis and energy integration in sludge anaerobic digestion plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fdz-Polanco, F; Velazquez, R; Perez-Elvira, S I; Casas, C; del Barrio, D; Cantero, F J; Fdz-Polanco, M; Rodriguez, P; Panizo, L; Serrat, J; Rouge, P

    2008-01-01

    A thermal hydrolysis pilot plant with direct steam injection heating was designed and constructed. In a first period the equipment was operated in batch to verify the effect of sludge type, pressure and temperature, residence time and solids concentration. Optimal operation conditions were reached for secondary sludge at 170 degrees C, 7 bar and 30 minutes residence time, obtaining a disintegration factor higher than 10, methane production increase by 50% and easy centrifugation In a second period the pilot plant was operated working with continuous feed, testing the efficiency by using two continuous anaerobic digester operating in the mesophilic and thermophilic range. Working at 12 days residence time, biogas production increases by 40-50%. Integrating the energy transfer it is possible to design a self-sufficient system that takes advantage of this methane increase to produce 40% more electric energy. (c) IWA Publishing 2008.

  7. Co-digestion of cattle manure with food waste and sludge to increase biogas production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marañón, E.; Castrillón, L.; Quiroga, G.; Fernández-Nava, Y.; Gómez, L.; García, M.M.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Small increase in methane production was observed applying sonication pretreatment. ► Biogas productions between 720 and 1100 mL/Lreactor day were achieved. ► Volatile solids removal efficiencies ranged between 53% and 60%. ► Lower methane yields were obtained when operating under thermophilic conditions. ► Optimum OLR in lab-scale CSTR was 1.2–1.3 g VS/L day (HRT: 20 days). - Abstract: Anaerobic co-digestion strategies are needed to enhance biogas production, especially when treating certain residues such as cattle/pig manure. This paper presents a study of co-digestion of cattle manure with food waste and sewage sludge. With the aim of maximising biogas yields, a series of experiments were carried out under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions using continuously stirred-tank reactors, operating at different hydraulic residence times. Pretreatment with ultrasound was also applied to compare the results with those obtained with non-pretreated waste. Specific methane production decreases when increasing the OLR and decreasing HRT. The maximum value obtained was 603 LCH 4 /kg VS feed for the co-digestion of a mixture of 70% manure, 20% food waste and 10% sewage sludge (total solid concentration around 4%) at 36 °C, for an OLR of 1.2 g VS/L day. Increasing the OLR to 1.5 g VS/L day led to a decrease of around 20–28% in SMP. Lower methane yields were obtained when operating at 55 °C. The increase in methane production when applying ultrasound to the feed mixtures does not compensate for the energy spent in this pretreatment.

  8. Rheology and Microbiology of Sludge from a Thermophilic Aerobic Membrane Reactor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Abbà

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor (TAMR treating high-strength COD liquid wastes was submitted to an integrated investigation, with the aim of characterizing the biomass and its rheological behaviour. These processes are still scarcely adopted, also because the knowledge of their biology as well as of the physical-chemical properties of the sludge needs to be improved. In this paper, samples of mixed liquor were taken from a TAMR and submitted to fluorescent in situ hybridization for the identification and quantification of main bacterial groups. Measurements were also targeted at flocs features, filamentous bacteria, and microfauna, in order to characterize the sludge. The studied rheological properties were selected as they influence significantly the performances of membrane bioreactors (MBR and, in particular, of the TAMR systems that operate under thermophilic conditions (i.e., around 50°C with high MLSS concentrations (up to 200 gTS L−1. The proper description of the rheological behaviour of sludge represents a useful and fundamental aspect that allows characterizing the hydrodynamics of sludge suspension devoted to the optimization of the related processes. Therefore, in this study, the effects on the sludge rheology produced by the biomass concentration, pH, temperature, and aeration were analysed.

  9. Diversity, Localization, and Physiological Properties of Filamentous Microbes Belonging to Chloroflexi Subphylum I in Mesophilic and Thermophilic Methanogenic Sludge Granules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Takeshi; Sekiguchi, Yuji; Imachi, Hiroyuki; Kamagata, Yoichi; Ohashi, Akiyoshi; Harada, Hideki

    2005-01-01

    We previously reported that the thermophilic filamentous anaerobe Anaerolinea thermophila, which is the first cultured representative of subphylum I of the bacterial phylum Chloroflexi, not only was one of the predominant constituents of thermophilic sludge granules but also was a causative agent of filamentous sludge bulking in a thermophilic (55°C) upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in which high-strength organic wastewater was treated (Y. Sekiguchi, H. Takahashi, Y. Kamagata, A. Ohashi, and H. Harada, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:5740-5749, 2001). To further elucidate the ecology and function of Anaerolinea-type filamentous microbes in UASB sludge granules, we surveyed the diversity, distribution, and physiological properties of Chloroflexi subphylum I microbes residing in UASB granules. Five different types of mesophilic and thermophilic UASB sludge were used to analyze the Chloroflexi subphylum I populations. 16S rRNA gene cloning-based analyses using a 16S rRNA gene-targeted Chloroflexi-specific PCR primer set revealed that all clonal sequences were affiliated with the Chloroflexi subphylum I group and that a number of different phylotypes were present in each clone library, suggesting the ubiquity and vast genetic diversity of these populations in UASB sludge granules. Subsequent fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of the three different types of mesophilic sludge granules using a Chloroflexi-specific probe suggested that all probe-reactive cells had a filamentous morphology and were widely distributed within the sludge granules. The FISH observations also indicated that the Chloroflexi subphylum I bacteria were not always the predominant populations within mesophilic sludge granules, in contrast to thermophilic sludge granules. We isolated two mesophilic strains and one thermophilic strain belonging to the Chloroflexi subphylum I group. The physiological properties of these isolates suggested that these populations may contribute to the

  10. Effect of NaCl on thermophilic (55°C) methanol degradation in sulfate reducing granular sludge reactors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vallero, M.V.G.; Hulshoff Pol, L.W.; Lettinga, G.; Lens, P.N.L.

    2003-01-01

    The effect of NaCl on thermophilic (55degreesC) methanol conversion in the presence of excess of sulfate (COD/SO42-=0.5) was investigated in two 6.5L lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors inoculated with granular sludge previously not adapted to NaCl
    The effect of NaCl on thermophilic

  11. Biohydrogen production from desugared molasses (DM) using thermophilic mixed cultures immobilized on heat treated anaerobic sludge granules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kongjan, Prawit; O-Thong, Sompong; Angelidaki, Irini

    2011-01-01

    Hydrogen production from desugared molasses (DM) was investigated in both batch and continuous reactors using thermophilic mixed cultures enriched from digested manure by load shock (loading with DM concentration of 50.1 g-sugar/L) to suppress methanogens. H2 gas, free of methane, was produced......) and Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum with a relative abundance of 36%, 27%, and 10% of total microorganisms, respectively. This study shows that hydrogen production could be efficiently facilitated by using anaerobic granules as a carrier, where microbes from mixed culture enriched in the DM batch cultivation....... The enriched hydrogen producing mixed culture achieved from the 16.7 g-sugars/L DM batch cultivation was immobilized on heat treated anaerobic sludge granules in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The UASB reactor, operated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h fed with 16.7 g...

  12. Thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of poultry litter and thin stillage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Deepak; Espinosa-Solares, Teodoro; Huber, David H

    2013-05-01

    The purpose of this study was to test whether the performance of a thermophilic CSTR digester that has been stabilized on poultry litter will be enhanced or diminished by the addition of thin stillage as co-substrate. Replicate laboratory digesters, derived from a stable pilot-scale digester, were operated with increasing ratios (w/w) of thin stillage/poultry litter feedstock. After a period of adaptation to 20% and 40% thin stillage, digester performance showed increases in biogas, percent methane and COD removal, as well as a decrease in volatile acids. Peak performance occurred with 60% thin stillage. However, 80% thin stillage caused significant reduction of performance, including declines of methanogenic activity and COD removal. In conclusion, supplementing the thermophilic digestion of poultry litter with thin stillage improved the bioenergy (methane) output, but thin stillage became inhibitory at high concentrations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Disintegration impact on sludge digestion process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dauknys, Regimantas; Rimeika, Mindaugas; Jankeliūnaitė, Eglė; Mažeikienė, Aušra

    2016-11-01

    The anaerobic sludge digestion is a widely used method for sludge stabilization in wastewater treatment plant. This process can be improved by applying the sludge disintegration methods. As the sludge disintegration is not investigated enough, an analysis of how the application of thermal hydrolysis affects the sludge digestion process based on full-scale data was conducted. The results showed that the maximum volatile suspended solids (VSS) destruction reached the value of 65% independently on the application of thermal hydrolysis. The average VSS destruction increased by 14% when thermal hydrolysis was applied. In order to have the maximum VSS reduction and biogas production, it is recommended to keep the maximum defined VSS loading of 5.7 kg VSS/m(3)/d when the thermal hydrolysis is applied and to keep the VSS loading between 2.1-2.4 kg VSS/m(3)/d when the disintegration of sludge is not applied. The application of thermal hydrolysis leads to an approximately 2.5 times higher VSS loading maintenance comparing VSS loading without the disintegration; therefore, digesters with 1.8 times smaller volume is required.

  14. Hygienization performances of innovative sludge treatment solutions to assure safe land spreading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levantesi, C; Beimfohr, C; Blanch, A R; Carducci, A; Gianico, A; Lucena, F; Tomei, M C; Mininni, G

    2015-05-01

    The present research aims at the evaluation of the hygienization performances of innovative sludge treatment processes applied for the separated treatment of secondary sludge. Namely, two digestion pretreatments (sonication and thermal hydrolysis) and two sequential biological processes (mesophilic/thermophilic and anaerobic/aerobic digestion) were compared to the mesophilic (MAD) and thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD). Microbial indicators (Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages and Clostridium perfringens spores) and pathogens (Salmonella and enteroviruses), which show different resistances to treatment processes, were monitored in untreated and treated sludge. Overall, microbial load in secondary sludge was shown to be similar or lower than previously reported in literature for mixed sludge. Notably, the anaerobic/aerobic digestion process increased the removal of E. coli and somatic coliphages compared to the simple MAD and always achieved the hygienization requirement (2-log-unit removal of E. coli) proposed by EU Commission in the 3rd Working Document on sludge (April 2000) for the use of treated sludges in agriculture with restriction on their application. The microbial quality limits for the unrestricted use of sludge in agriculture (no Salmonella in 50 g wet weight (WW) and E. coli <500 CFU/g) were always met when thermal digestion or pretreatment was applied; however, the required removal level (6-log-unit removal of E. coli) could not be assessed due to the low level of this microorganism in raw sludge. Observed levels of indicator removal showed a higher resistance of viral particles to thermal treatment compared with bacterial cells and confirmed the suitability of somatic coliphages as indicators in thermal treatment processes.

  15. Anaerobic digestion of industrial activated aerobic sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodloe, J.G.; Roberts, R.S.

    1990-04-01

    The Tennessee Eastman Company manufactures a variety of organic chemicals, plastics and fibers at their Kingsport Tennessee Facility. The wastewater generated during the manufacture of these compounds is currently treated using an activated sludge process. The objective of the project is to evaluate the economic potential of an anaerobic digestion process to convert industrial sludge at the Tennessee Eastman Company into biogas. The evaluation will require collection and analysis of experimental data on the anaerobic digestion of industrial sludge obtained from Kingsport. Although the experiments will be conducted using Tennessee Eastman sludge, these results should be also generally applicable to similar industrial sludge

  16. Co-digestion of cattle manure with food waste and sludge to increase biogas production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maranon, E., E-mail: emara@uniovi.es [Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, University Institute of Technology of Asturias, Campus of Gijon, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijon (Spain); Castrillon, L.; Quiroga, G.; Fernandez-Nava, Y. [Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, University Institute of Technology of Asturias, Campus of Gijon, University of Oviedo, 33203 Gijon (Spain); Gomez, L.; Garcia, M.M. [Zero Emissions Technology, 41018 Seville (Spain)

    2012-10-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Small increase in methane production was observed applying sonication pretreatment. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Biogas productions between 720 and 1100 mL/Lreactor day were achieved. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Volatile solids removal efficiencies ranged between 53% and 60%. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Lower methane yields were obtained when operating under thermophilic conditions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Optimum OLR in lab-scale CSTR was 1.2-1.3 g VS/L day (HRT: 20 days). - Abstract: Anaerobic co-digestion strategies are needed to enhance biogas production, especially when treating certain residues such as cattle/pig manure. This paper presents a study of co-digestion of cattle manure with food waste and sewage sludge. With the aim of maximising biogas yields, a series of experiments were carried out under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions using continuously stirred-tank reactors, operating at different hydraulic residence times. Pretreatment with ultrasound was also applied to compare the results with those obtained with non-pretreated waste. Specific methane production decreases when increasing the OLR and decreasing HRT. The maximum value obtained was 603 LCH{sub 4}/kg VS{sub feed} for the co-digestion of a mixture of 70% manure, 20% food waste and 10% sewage sludge (total solid concentration around 4%) at 36 Degree-Sign C, for an OLR of 1.2 g VS/L day. Increasing the OLR to 1.5 g VS/L day led to a decrease of around 20-28% in SMP. Lower methane yields were obtained when operating at 55 Degree-Sign C. The increase in methane production when applying ultrasound to the feed mixtures does not compensate for the energy spent in this pretreatment.

  17. Co-digestion of pig slaughterhouse waste with sewage sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borowski, Sebastian; Kubacki, Przemysław

    2015-06-01

    Slaughterhouse wastes (SHW) are potentially very attractive substrates for biogas production. However, mono-digestion of these wastes creates great technological problems associated with the inhibitory effects of ammonia and fatty acids on methanogens as well as with the foaming in the digesters. In the following study, the co-digestion of slaughterhouse wastes with sewage sludge (SS) was undertaken. Batch and semi-continuous experiments were performed at 35°C with municipal sewage sludge and pig SHW composed of meat tissue, intestines, bristles and post-flotation sludge. In batch assays, meat tissue and intestinal wastes gave the highest methane productions of 976 and 826 dm(3)/kg VS, respectively, whereas the methane yield from the sludge was only 370 dm(3)/kg VS. The co-digestion of sewage sludge with 50% SHW (weight basis) provided the methane yield exceeding 600 dm(3)/kg VS, which was more than twice as high as the methane production from sewage sludge alone. However, when the loading rate exceeded 4 kg VS/m(3) d, a slight inhibition of methanogenesis was observed, without affecting the digester stability. The experiments showed that the co-digestion of sewage sludge with large amount of slaughterhouse wastes is feasible, and the enhanced methane production does not affect the digester stability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Microbial examination of anaerobic sludge adaptation to animal slurry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moset, V; Cerisuelo, A; Ferrer, P; Jimenez, A; Bertolini, E; Cambra-López, M

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the microbial population of anaerobic sludge digesters during the adaptation to pig slurry (PS) using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and qualitative scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, the relationship between microbial parameters and sludge physicochemical composition and methane yield was examined. Results showed that the addition of PS to an unadapted thermophilic anaerobic digester caused an increase in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, a decrease in removal efficiency and CH4 yield. Additionally, increases in total bacteria and total archaea were observed using qPCR. Scanning electron micrographs provided a general overview of the sludge's cell morphology, morphological diversity and degree of organic matter degradation. A change in microbial morphotypes from homogeneous cell morphologies to a higher morphological diversity, similar to that observed in PS, was observed with the addition of PS by SEM. Therefore, the combination of qPCR and SEM allowed expanding the knowledge about the microbial adaptation to animal slurry in thermophilic anaerobic digesters.

  19. Anaerobic co-digestion of winery waste and waste activated sludge: assessment of process feasibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Ros, C; Cavinato, C; Cecchi, F; Bolzonella, D

    2014-01-01

    In this study the anaerobic co-digestion of wine lees together with waste activated sludge in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions was tested at pilot scale. Three organic loading rates (OLRs 2.8, 3.3 and 4.5 kgCOD/m(3)d) and hydraulic retention times (HRTs 21, 19 and 16 days) were applied to the reactors, in order to evaluate the best operational conditions for the maximization of the biogas yields. The addition of lee to sludge determined a higher biogas production: the best yield obtained was 0.40 Nm(3)biogas/kgCODfed. Because of the high presence of soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and polyphenols in wine lees, the best results in terms of yields and process stability were obtained when applying the lowest of the three organic loading rates tested together with mesophilic conditions.

  20. Fate of antibiotic and metal resistance genes during two-phase anaerobic digestion of residue sludge revealed by metagenomic approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ying; Cui, Erping; Zuo, Yiru; Cheng, Weixiao; Chen, Hong

    2018-03-07

    The prevalence and persistence of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is of growing interest, and residual sludge is among the main sources for the release of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Moreover, heavy metals concentrated in dense microbial communities of sludge could potentially favor co-selection of ARGs and metal resistance genes (MRGs). Residual sludge treatment is needed to limit the spread of resistance from WWTPs into the environment. This study aimed to explore the fate of ARGs and MRGs during thermophilic two-phase (acidogenic/methanogenic phase) anaerobic digestion by metagenomic analysis. The occurrence and abundance of mobile genetic elements were also determined based on the SEED database. Among the 27 major ARG subtypes detected in feed sludge, large reductions (> 50%) in 6 ARG subtypes were achieved by acidogenic phase (AP), while 63.0% of the ARG subtypes proliferated in the following methanogenic phase (MP). In contrast, a 2.8-fold increase in total MRG abundance was found in AP, while the total abundance during MP decreased to the same order of magnitude as in feed sludge. The distinct dynamics of ARGs and MRGs during the two-phase anaerobic digestion are noteworthy, and more specific treatments are required to limit their proliferation in the environment.

  1. Comparison between ozone and ultrasound disintegration on sludge anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braguglia, C M; Gianico, A; Mininni, G

    2012-03-01

    This paper deals with the comparison of ultrasound (mechanical) and ozone (chemical) pre-treatment on the performances of excess sludge semi-continuous digestion. Sludge solubilisation has been investigated by varying specific energy input. For each pre-treatment, long anaerobic digestion tests were carried out by two parallel digesters: one reactor, as control unit, was fed with untreated waste activated sludge, and the other one was fed with disintegrated sludge. To evaluate and compare the efficacy of both pre-treatments, the specific energy was maintained approximately the same. The digestion tests were carried out to investigate the feasibility of anaerobic digestion performance (total biogas production, volatile solids removal, sludge dewaterability) and to assess the heat balance. Results obtained from the digestion of sonicated sludge at 4% disintegration degree (≈ 2500 kJ/kg TS) showed that the ultrasound pre-treatment may be effective both in increasing VS destruction (+19%) and cumulative biogas production (+26%). On the contrary, the digestion test with ozonized sludge (ozone dose of 0.05 g O(3)/g TS corresponding to ≈ 2000 kJ/kg TS) did not indicate a significant improvement on the digestion performances. By doubling the ozone dose an improvement in the organics removal and cumulative biogas production was observed. Relevant differences in terms of colloidal charge and filterability were discussed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Enhancement of anaerobic sludge digestion by high-pressure homogenization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Sheng; Zhang, Panyue; Zhang, Guangming; Fan, Jie; Zhang, Yuxuan

    2012-08-01

    To improve anaerobic sludge digestion efficiency, the effects of high-pressure homogenization (HPH) conditions on the anaerobic sludge digestion were investigated. The VS and TCOD were significantly removed with the anaerobic digestion, and the VS removal and TCOD removal increased with increasing the homogenization pressure and homogenization cycle number; correspondingly, the accumulative biogas production also increased with increasing the homogenization pressure and homogenization cycle number. The optimal homogenization pressure was 50 MPa for one homogenization cycle and 40 MPa for two homogenization cycles. The SCOD of the sludge supernatant significantly increased with increasing the homogenization pressure and homogenization cycle number due to the sludge disintegration. The relationship between the biogas production and the sludge disintegration showed that the accumulative biogas and methane production were mainly enhanced by the sludge disintegration, which accelerated the anaerobic digestion process and improved the methane content in the biogas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Comparing the Bio-Hydrogen Production Potential of Pretreated Rice Straw Co-Digested with Seeded Sludge Using an Anaerobic Bioreactor under Mesophilic Thermophilic Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asma Sattar

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Three common pretreatments (mechanical, steam explosion and chemical used to enhance the biodegradability of rice straw were compared on the basis of bio-hydrogen production potential while co-digesting rice straw with sludge under mesophilic (37 °C and thermophilic (55 °C temperatures. The results showed that the solid state NaOH pretreatment returned the highest experimental reduction of LCH (lignin, cellulose and hemi-cellulose content and bio-hydrogen production from rice straw. The increase in incubation temperature from 37 °C to 55 °C increased the bio-hydrogen yield, and the highest experimental yield of 60.6 mL/g VSremoved was obtained under chemical pretreatment at 55 °C. The time required for maximum bio-hydrogen production was found on the basis of kinetic parameters as 36 h–47 h of incubation, which can be used as a hydraulic retention time for continuous bio-hydrogen production from rice straw. The optimum pH range of bio-hydrogen production was observed to be 6.7 ± 0.1–5.8 ± 0.1 and 7.1 ± 0.1–5.8 ± 0.1 under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. The increase in temperature was found useful for controlling the volatile fatty acids (VFA under mechanical and steam explosion pretreatments. The comparison of pretreatment methods under the same set of experimental conditions in the present study provided a baseline for future research in order to select an appropriate pretreatment method.

  4. Drivers of microbial community composition in mesophilic and thermophilic temperature-phased anaerobic digestion pre-treatment reactors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pervin, Hasina M; Dennis, Paul G; Lim, Hui J; Tyson, Gene W; Batstone, Damien J; Bond, Philip L

    2013-12-01

    Temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) is an emerging technology that facilitates improved performance and pathogen destruction in anaerobic sewage sludge digestion by optimising conditions for 1) hydrolytic and acidogenic organisms in a first-stage/pre-treatment reactor and then 2) methogenic populations in a second stage reactor. Pre-treatment reactors are typically operated at 55-65 °C and as such select for thermophilic bacterial communities. However, details of key microbial populations in hydrolytic communities and links to functionality are very limited. In this study, experimental thermophilic pre-treatment (TP) and control mesophilic pre-treatment (MP) reactors were operated as first-stages of TPAD systems treating activated sludge for 340 days. The TP system was operated sequentially at 50, 60 and 65 °C, while the MP rector was held at 35 °C for the entire period. The composition of microbial communities associated with the MP and TP pre-treatment reactors was characterised weekly using terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) supported by clone library sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. The outcomes of this approach were confirmed using 454 pyrosequencing of gene amplicons and fluorescence in-situ hybridisation (FISH). TP associated bacterial communities were dominated by populations affiliated to the Firmicutes, Thermotogae, Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi. In particular there was a progression from Thermotogae to Lutispora and Coprothermobacter and diversity decreased as temperature and hydrolysis performance increased. While change in the composition of TP associated bacterial communities was attributable to temperature, that of MP associated bacterial communities was related to the composition of the incoming feed. This study determined processes driving the dynamics of key microbial populations that are correlated with an enhanced hydrolytic functionality of the TPAD system. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

  5. Sludge Digestion Manual; Handboek Slibgisting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-09-15

    This manual offers a guideline for developing, designing, optimizing and operating sludge digestion installations based on sewage sludge. It also offers tools for solving operation problems [Dutch] Het Handboek is een leidraad voor het ontwikkelen, ontwerpen, optimaliseren en bedrijven van slibgistingsinstallaties voor zuiveringsslib. Ook geeft het handvatten voor het oplossen van operationele problemen.

  6. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sulphate-containing wastewaters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colleran, E; Pender, S

    2002-01-01

    The effect of sulphate at an influent chemical oxygen demand (COD):sulphate ratio of 4 on the operational performance of anaerobic hybrid reactors treating molasses wastewater was investigated under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions in a long-term laboratory-scale study over a 1,081 day period. The presence of sulphate reduced the COD removal efficiency under both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. At 55 degrees C, effluent acetate levels were consistently greater than 4000 mg l(-1) indicating that thermophilic acetate-utilising methane-producing bacteria (MPB) or sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) had not developed in the reactor under the conditions applied. At 37 degrees C, acetate was exclusively utilised by acetoclastic methanogens, whereas H2-utilising SRB predominated over H2-utilising MPB in the competition for hydrogen. By contrast, hydrogenotrophic MPB were shown to outcompete H2-utilising SRB during long-term thermophilic operation. 16SrDNA analysis of the seed sludge and reactor biomass on conclusion of the 37 degrees C and 55 degrees C trials illustrated that the dominant methanogen present on conclusion of the thermophilic trial in the absence of influent sulphate was related to Methanocorpusculum parvuum, and was capable of growth on both acetate and hydrogen. By contrast, an organism closely related to Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum was the dominant methanogen present in the sulphate-fed reactor on completion of the thermophilic trial.

  7. Characterization of the planktonic microbiome in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors during adaptation of mesophilic methanogenic granules to thermophilic operational conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhu, Xinyu; Treu, Laura; Kougias, Panagiotis

    2017-01-01

    Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) technology refers to reactor technology where granules, i.e. self-immobilised microbial associations, are the biological catalysts involved in the anaerobic digestion process. During the start-up period, UASB reactors operate at relatively long HRT and there......Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) technology refers to reactor technology where granules, i.e. self-immobilised microbial associations, are the biological catalysts involved in the anaerobic digestion process. During the start-up period, UASB reactors operate at relatively long HRT...... and therefore the liquid phase of the reactor becomes a favourable environment for microbial growth. The current study aimed to elucidate the dynamicity of the suspended microbial community in UASB reactors, during the transition from mesophilic to thermophilic conditions. High throughput 16S rRNA amplicon...... sequencing was used to characterize the taxonomic composition of the microbiome. The results showed that the microbial community was mainly composed by hydrolytic and fermentative bacteria. Results revealed relevant shifts in the microbial community composition, which is mainly determined by the operational...

  8. Startup and stability of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of OFMSW

    KAUST Repository

    El-Fadel, Mutasem E.; Saikaly, Pascal; Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2013-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is promoted as an energy source and more recently as a greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation measure. In this context, AD systems operating at thermophilic temperatures (55-60°C)-compared to mesophilic temperatures (35-40°C)-have the unique feature of producing hygienic soil conditioners with greater process efficiency, higher energy yield, and more GHG savings. Startup of AD systems is often constrained by the lack of acclimated seeds, leading to process instability and failure. The authors focus on strategies to startup thermophilic digesters treating OFMSW in the absence of acclimated seeds and examines constraints associated with process stability and ways to overcome them. Relevant gaps in the literature and future research needs are delineated. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

  9. Performance of thermophilic anaerobic digesters using inoculum mixes with enhanced methanogenic diversity

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia; El-Fadel, Mutasem; Saikaly, Pascal

    2017-01-01

    Reportedly, various mixes of seeds were quasi-randomly selected to startup anaerobic digesters. In contrast, this study examines the impact of inoculating thermophilic anaerobic digesters with a designed mix of non-acclimated seeds based

  10. Effects of sludge inoculum and organic feedstock on active microbial communities and methane yield during anaerobic digestion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David eWilkins

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Anaerobic digestion (AD is a widespread microbial technology used to treat organic waste and recover energy in the form of methane (biogas. While most AD systems have been designed to treat a single input, mixtures of digester sludge and solid organic waste are emerging as a means to improve efficiency and methane yield. We examined laboratory anaerobic cultures of AD sludge from two sources amended with food waste, xylose, and xylan at mesophilic temperatures, and with cellulose at meso- and thermophilic temperatures, to determine whether and how the inoculum and substrate affect biogas yield and community composition. All substrate and inoculum combinations yielded methane, with food waste most productive by mass. Pyrosequencing of transcribed bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA showed that community composition varied across substrates and inocula, with differing ratios of hydrogenotrophic/acetoclastic methanogenic archaea associated with syntrophic partners. While communities did not cluster by either inoculum or substrate, additional sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene in the source sludge revealed that the bacterial communities were influenced by their inoculum. These results suggest that complete and efficient AD systems could potentially be assembled from different microbial inocula and consist of taxonomically diverse communities that nevertheless perform similar functions.

  11. Effect of ultrasonic pretreatment on anaerobic digestion and its sludge dewaterability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Huacheng; He, Pinjing; Yu, Guanghui; Shao, Liming

    2011-01-01

    To investigate the effect of ultrasonic pretreatment on anaerobic digestion and sludge dewaterability and further to probe into the influencing factors on sludge dewaterability, sludge flocs were stratified into four fractions: (1) slime; (2) loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS); (3) tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS); and (4) EPS-free pellets. The results showed that ultrasonic pretreatment increased the anaerobic digestion efficiency by 7%-8%. Anaerobic digestion without ultrasonic pretreatment deteriorated the sludge dewaterability, with the capillary suction time (CST) increased from 1.42 to 47.3 (sec x L)/g-TSS. The application of ultrasonic pretreatment firstly deteriorated the sludge dewaterability (normalized CST increased to 44.4 (sec x L)/g-TSS), while subsequent anaerobic digestion offset this effect and ultimately decreased the normalized CST to 23.2 (sec x L)/g-TSS. The dewaterability of unsonicated sludge correlated with protein (p = 0.003) and polysaccharide (p = 0.004) concentrations in the slime fraction, while that of sonicated sludge correlated with protein concentrations in the slime and LB-EPS fractions (p anarobic digestion.

  12. Domestic sewage sludge composting in a rotary drum reactor: optimizing the thermophilic stage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez, Luis; Cerrillo, María I; García-Albiach, Valentín; Villaseñor, José

    2012-12-15

    The aim of this paper was to study the influence of four process variables (turning frequency, gas-phase oxygen level, type of bulking agent and sludge/bulking agent mixing ratio) on the performance of the sewage sludge composting process using a rotary drum pilot scale reactor, in order to optimize the thermophilic stage and reduce the processing time. Powdered sawdust, wood shavings, wood chips, prunings waste and straw were used as bulking agents and the thermophilic stage temperature profile was used as the main indicator for gauging if the composting process was developing correctly. Our results showed that a 12 h(-1) turning frequency and an oxygen concentration of 10% were the optimal conditions for the composting process to develop. The best results were obtained by mixing the sewage sludge with wood shavings in a 3:1 w/w ratio (on a wet basis), which adapted the initial moisture content and porosity to an optimal range and led to a maximum temperature of 70 °C being reached thus ensuring the complete removal of pathogens. Moisture, C:N ratio, pH, organic matter, heavy metals, pathogens and stability were all analysed for every mixture obtained at the end of the thermophilic stage. These parameters were compared with the limits established by the Spanish regulation on fertilizers (RD 824/2005) in order to assess if the compost obtained could be used on agricultural soils. The right combination of having optimal process variables combined with an appropriate reactor design allowed the thermophilic stage of the composting process to be speeded up, hence obtaining a compost product, after just two weeks of processing that (with the exception of the moisture content) complied with the Spanish legal requirements for fertilizers, without requiring a later maturation stage. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Low intensity surplus activated sludge pretreatment before anaerobic digestion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suschka Jan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Sewage sludge (municipal, or industrial treatment is still a problem in so far that it is not satisfactorily resolved in terms of cost and final disposal. Two common forms of sludge disposal are possible; the first being direct disposal on land (including agriculture and the second being incineration (ash production, although neither of these methods are universally applied. Simplifying the issue, direct sludge disposal on land is seldom applied for sanitary and environmental reasons, while incineration is not popular for financial (high costs reasons. Very often medium and large wastewater treatment plants apply anaerobic digestion for sludge hygiene principles, reducing the amount to be disposed and for biogas (energy production. With the progress in sewage biological treatment aiming at nutrient removal, primary sludge has been omitted in the working processes and only surplus activated sludge requires handling. Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS is more difficult due to the presence of microorganisms, the decomposition of which requires a relatively long time for hydrolysis. In order to upgrade the hydrolysis effects, several different pre-treatment processes have already been developed and introduced. The additional pre-treatment processes applied are aimed at residual sludge bulk mass minimization, shortening of the anaerobic digestion process or higher biogas production, and therefore require additional energy. The water-energy-waste Nexus (treads of of the benefits and operational difficulties, including energy costs are discussed in this paper. The intensity of pre-treatment processes to upgrade the microorganism’s hydrolysis has crucial implications. Here a low intensity pre-treatment process, alkalisation and hydrodynamic disintegration - hybrid process - were presented in order to achieve sufficient effects of WAS anaerobic digestion. A sludge digestion efficiency increase expressed as 45% biogas additional

  14. Aged refuse enhances anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jianwei; Gui, Lin; Wang, Qilin; Liu, Yiwen; Wang, Dongbo; Ni, Bing-Jie; Li, Xiaoming; Xu, Rui; Zeng, Guangming; Yang, Qi

    2017-10-15

    In this work, a low-cost alternative approach (i.e., adding aged refuse (AR) into waste activated sludge) to significantly enhance anaerobic digestion of sludge was reported. Experimental results showed that with the addition dosage of AR increasing from 0 to 400 mg/g dry sludge soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased from 1150 to 5240 mg/L at the digestion time of 5 d, while the maximal production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) increased from 82.6 to 183.9 mg COD/g volatile suspended solids. Although further increase of AR addition decreased the concentrations of both soluble COD and VFA, their contents in these systems with AR addition at any concentration investigated were still higher than those in the blank, which resulted in higher methane yields in these systems. Mechanism studies revealed that pertinent addition of AR promoted solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidogenesis processes and did not affect methanogenesis significantly. It was found that varieties of enzymes and anaerobes in AR were primary reason for the enhancement of anaerobic digestion. Humic substances in AR benefited hydrolysis and acidogenesis but inhibited methanogenesis. The effect of heavy metals in AR on sludge anaerobic digestion was dosage dependent. Sludge anaerobic digestion was enhanced by appropriate amounts of heavy metals but inhibited by excessive amounts of heavy metals. The relative abundances of microorganisms responsible for sludge hydrolysis and acidogenesis were also observed to be improved in the system with AR addition, which was consistent with the performance of anaerobic digestion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Degradation rates in thermophilic sludge processing - the liquid and the solid way

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mihaltz, P.; Kovacs, R.; Csikor, Zs.; Dahab, M.F.

    2003-07-01

    Two promising and well known techniques for sludge stabilization and pathogen destruction, the composting and autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD, often referred to as ''liquid composting'') have not yet undergone a comparative parallel study. This comparison is presented in this paper to identify - sometimes unusually (e.g. up to 30 mg O{sub 2} /gVS h) high - degradation rates, their main influencing parameters. For the ATAD we developed a well fitting modified two-substrate kinetic model quantitatively describing this process feature too - the clear signs of two substrate degradation also appears in most own and literature composting records. However compost process modelling needs as a prerequisite the clarification of the controlling transport mechanisms. Experimental conclusions suggest the dual role of local VS limitation closely connected with, but being behind the strong observed oxygen limitation, what is proposed for the explanation of composting process rates - essentially based on specific surface area controlled transport phenomena, justifying efforts to conduct the process at lower (<20 to 25%) moisture content and higher (>1000 1/m) specific surface area levels. (author)

  16. Anaerobic digestion of chicken feather with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge for biogas production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Yun; Massé, Daniel I; McAllister, Tim A; Beaulieu, Carole; Ungerfeld, Emilio

    2012-03-01

    Biogas production from anaerobic digestion of chicken feathers with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge was assessed in two separate experiments. Ground feathers without any pre-treatment were added to 42-L digesters inoculated with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge, representing 37% and 23% of total solids, respectively and incubated at 25°C in batch mode. Compared to the control without feather addition, total CH(4) production increased by 130% (Pswine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters, respectively. Mixed liquor NH(4)N concentration increased (Pdigestion to 6.9 and 3.5 g/L at the end of digestion in the swine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters, respectively. The fraction of proteolytic microorganisms increased (Pdigestion from 12.5% to 14.5% and 11.3% to 13.0% in the swine manure and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters with feather addition, respectively, but decreased in the controls. These results are reflective of feather digestion. Feather addition did not affect CH(4) yields of the swine manure digesters (P=0.082) and the slaughterhouse sludge digesters (P=0.21), indicating that feathers can be digested together with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge without negatively affecting the digestion of swine manure and slaughterhouse sludge. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Microbial population dynamics during startup of a full-scale anaerobic digester treating industrial food waste in Kyoto eco-energy project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ike, Michihiko; Inoue, Daisuke; Miyano, Tomoki; Liu, Tong Tong; Sei, Kazunari; Soda, Satoshi; Kadoshin, Shiro

    2010-06-01

    The microbial community in a full-scale anaerobic digester (2300m3) treating industrial food waste in the Kyoto Eco-Energy Project was analyzed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism for eubacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes. Both thermophilic and mesophilic sludge of treated swine waste were seeded to the digestion tank. During the 150-day startup period, coffee grounds as a main food waste, along with potato, kelp and boiled beans, tofu, bean curd lees, and deep-fried bean curd were fed to the digestion process step-by-step (max. 40t/d). Finally, the methane yield reached 360m3/t-feed with 40days' retention time, although temporary accumulation of propionate was observed. Eubacterial communities that formed in the thermophilic digestion tank differed greatly from both thermophilic and mesophilic types of seed sludge. Results suggest that the Actinomyces/Thermomonospora and Ralstonia/Shewanella were contributors for hydrolyzation and degradation of food waste into volatile fatty acids. Acetate-utilizing methanogens, Methanosaeta, were dominant in seed sludges of both types, but they decreased drastically during processing in the digestion tank. Methanosarcina and Methanobrevibacter/Methanobacterium were, respectively, possible main contributors for methane production from acetate and H2 plus CO2. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The Effect of Iron Salt on Anaerobic Digestion and Phosphate Release to Sludge Liquor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana Ofverstrom

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Iron salts are used at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs for several reasons: for removing chemical phosphorus, preventing from struvite formation and reducing the content of hydrogen sulfide (H2S in biogas. Anaerobic digestion is a common scheme for sludge treatment due to producing biogas that could be used as biofuel. Laboratory analysis has been carried out using anaerobic digestion model W8 (Armfield Ltd, UK to investigate any possible effect of adding FeCl3 on the anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (PS and waste activated sludge (WAS mixture as well as on releasing phosphates to digested sludge liquor. The obtained results showed that FeCl3 negatively impacted the anaerobic digestion process by reducing the volume of produced biogas. Fe-dosed sludge (max produced 30% less biogas. Biogas production from un-dosed and Fe-dosed sludge (min was similar to the average of 1.20 L/gVSfed. Biogas composition was not measured during the conducted experiments. Phosphorus content in sludge liquor increased at an average of 38% when digesting sludge without ferric chloride dosing. On the contrary, phosphate content in sludge liquor from digested Fe-dosed sludge decreased by approx. 80%.

  19. Microwave enhanced digestion of aerobic SBR sludge | Kennedy ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MWs) for improving characteristics of aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) sludge to enhance mesophilic anaerobic digestion. Effects of pretreatment temperature, MW irradiation intensity and solids concentration on sludge characterisation ...

  20. Kinetics of thermophilic, anaerobic oxidation of straight and branched chain butyrate and valerate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Batstone, Damien J.; Pind, Peter Frode; Angelidaki, Irini

    2003-01-01

    The degradation kinetics of normal and branched chain butyrate and valerate are important in protein-fed anaerobic systems, as a number of amino acids degrade to these organic acids. Including activated and primary wastewater sludge digesters, the majority of full-scale systems digest feeds...... is also addressed, extending previous pure-culture and batch studies. A previously published mathematical model was modified to allow competitive uptake of i-valerate, and used to model a thermophilic manure digester operated over 180 days. The digester was periodically pulsed with straight and branched...

  1. Influence of variable feeding on mesophilic and thermophilic co-digestion of Laminaria digitata and cattle manure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarker, Shiplu; Møller, Henrik Bjarne; Bruhn, Annette

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Anaerobic co-digestion of L. digitata and cattle manure, at ∼35 and ∼50 °C. • Mesophilic co-digestion showed somewhat stable specific methane, but increased volumetric yield. • Thermophilic co-digester yielded higher methane at higher input of algae compared to control. • Mesophilic co-digester performed better in terms of various parameters except methane yield. - Abstract: In this study the effect of various feeding ratios on mesophilic (∼35 °C) and thermophilic (∼50 °C) co-digestion of brown algae Laminaria digitata and cattle manure was investigated. Algae input of 15% VS caused no influence on specific methane yield from mesophilic co-digester while deteriorated the process parameters such as the development of propionic acid in total volatile fatty acids (tVFA) pattern of the thermophilic co-digester. The accumulation of tVFA continued for the latter reactor as the feeding ratio of algae enhanced to 24% VS, but the specific methane yield improved dramatically. Same rise in feeding once again showed no improvement in specific methane yield from mesophilic co-digester even though the other process parameters stabilized or, enriched such as the gain in average volumetric methane yield. For the last feeding ratio at 41% VS algae, specific methane yield from mesophilic co-digester slightly increased which however was not still comparable with the ultimate methane yield from the cattle manure alone. The thermophilic co-digestion on the other hand yielded maximum specific methane, together with the improvement in different process characteristics, as the feeding of algae maximized at the final stage. The trend of methane production from this reactor nevertheless was sharply downward towards the end of the experiment suggesting that the optimum feeding ratio has already been achieved for the present experimental conditions

  2. Co-digestion of sewage sludge from external small WWTP's in a large plant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miodoński, Stanisław

    2017-11-01

    Improving energy efficiency of WWTPs (Waste Water Treatment Plants) is crucial action of modern wastewater treatment technology. Technological treatment process optimization is important but the main goal will not be achieved without increasing production of renewable energy from sewage sludge in anaerobic digestion process which is most often used as sludge stabilization method on large WWTP's. Usually, anaerobic digestion reactors used for sludge digestion were designed with reserve and most of them is oversized. In many cases that reserve is unused. On the other hand, smaller WWTPs have problem with management of sewage sludge due to lack of adequately developed infrastructure for sludge stabilization. Paper shows an analysis of using a technological reserve of anaerobic digestion reactors at large WWTP (1 million P.E.) for sludge stabilization collected from smaller WWTP in a co-digestion process. Over 30 small WWTPs from the same region as the large WWTP were considered in this study. Furthermore, performed analysis included also evaluation of potential sludge disintegration pre-treatment for co-digestion efficiency improvement.

  3. The Impact of Chemical Phosphorus Removal on the Process of Anaerobic Sludge Digestion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana Ofverstrom

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper investigates the efficiency of the mixture of primary sludge and excess activated sludge in Vilnius WWTP with reference to the anaerobic digestion process. Sludge digestion was carried out under laboratory conditions using anaerobic sludge digestion model W8 (Armfield Ltd., UK. Laboratory analyses consist of two periods – the anaerobic digestion of the un-dosed and Fe-dosed sludge mixture. The results of digestion were processed using the methods of statistical analysis. The findings showed reduction in volatile solids approx. by 6% when dosing min FeCl3·6H2O and 15% when dosing max FeCl3·6H2O into feed sludge. Gas volume produced during the digestion of the un-dosed sludge was 90–160 ml/d and 60–125 ml/d in min Fe-dosed sludge and 45-95 ml/d. Also, correlation between VS loadings and biogas production was found. A rise in VS loading from 0,64 g/l/d to 1,01 g/l/d increased biogas production from 90 ml/d to 140–160 ml/d.Article in Lithuanian

  4. Effect of gamma-irradiation pretreatment on improvement of anaerobic digestive characteristic of sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mou Yanyan; Yuan Shoujun; Yu Xin; Zheng Zheng; Cui Lei; Zhao Yongfu

    2005-01-01

    A comparative study was made about main anaerobic digestive characteristics of sludge which was subjected to a 60 Co gamma-irradiation pretreatment. The results showed the gamma-irradiation pretreatment can clearly improve anaerobic digestibility of sludge and pick up the anaerobic digestion speed of sludge. (authors)

  5. Study of two-phase sewage sludge anaerobic digestion process. 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kon, M; Onuma, T; Mori, N; Kakajima, I

    1981-01-01

    Studies have been made on the two-phase moderate temperature digestion process of mixed sludges sampled from various cities. With some mixed sludge, simultaneous acid fermentatin process and methane fermentation process were observed. This simultaneous fermentation processes unfavorably affected the gas generation rate. This advantage was eliminated by preheating the sludge (61 degrees C, 12hr), however, the heat balance was not satisfactory. This study was planned to improve the two-phase digestion process. The improved two-phase digestion process provides an increased methane gas generating rate exceeding that of the conventional method by 20%. The economic effect and the heat balance of the improved two-phase digestion process have been studied by the use of a simulated model of a facility for the sewage sludge treatment plant for 100,000 population city. The results of the simulation provided the possibility of lowering the volume of the digestion tank to 1/3, reducing the necessary site area by 20% and the initial cost by 20% as compared with the conventional process. 1 reference.

  6. Energy recovery from wastewater treatment plants through sludge anaerobic digestion: effect of low-organic-content sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yuyao; Li, Huan

    2017-09-18

    During anaerobic digestion, low-organic-content sludge sometimes is used as feedstock, resulting in deteriorated digestion performance. The operational experience of conventional anaerobic digestion cannot be applied to this situation. To investigate the feature of low-organic-content sludge digestion and explain its intrinsic mechanism, batch experiments were conducted using designed feedstock having volatile solids (VS) contents that were 30-64% of total solids (TS). The results showed that the accumulative biogas yield declined proportionally from 173.7 to 64.8 ml/g VS added and organic removal rate decreased from 34.8 to 11.8% with decreasing VS/TS in the substrate. The oligotrophic environment resulting from low-organic-content substrates led to decreased microbial activity and a switch from butyric fermentation to propionic fermentation. A first-order model described the biogas production from the batch experiments very well, and the degradation coefficient decreased from 0.159 to 0.069 day -1 , exhibiting a positive relation with organic content in substrate. The results observed here corroborated with data from published literature on anaerobic digestion of low-organic-content sludge and showed that it may not be feasible to recover energy from sludge with an organic content lower than 50% through mono digestion.

  7. First-order hydrothermal oxidation kinetics of digested sludge compared with raw sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanableh, A; Imteaz, M

    2008-09-01

    This article presents an assessment of the first-order hydrothermal oxidation kinetics of a selected digested sludge at subcritical ( 374 degrees C) temperatures in the range of 250-460 degrees C. Furthermore, the results were compared with reported oxidation kinetics of raw sludge treated under identical experimental conditions. In the assessment, oxidation was considered to proceed in two steps: (1) decomposition of the particulate, or non-filterable, chemical oxygen demand (PCOD); followed by (2) ultimate oxidation and removal of the total, particulate and soluble, COD. The accumulation and removal of soluble COD (SCOD) was determined from the difference between the rates of sludge decomposition and ultimate oxidation. Using results from batch and continuous-flow hydrothermal treatment experiments, the reacting organic ingredients were separated into groups according to the ease or difficulty at which they were decomposed or removed, with Arrhenius-type activation energy levels assigned to the different groups. The analysis confirmed that within the treatment range of 75% to more than 97% COD removal, the oxidation kinetics of the digested and raw sludges were nearly identical despite differences in the proportions of their original organic ingredients. The original organic ingredients were mostly removed above 75% COD removal, and the oxidation kinetics appeared to be dominated by the removal of acetic acid, an intermediate by-product which constituted 50% to more than 80% of the remaining COD. Furthermore, the oxidation kinetics of both sludge types were consistent with reported first-order oxidation kinetics of pure acetic acid solutions. The resulting kinetic models adequately represented hydrothermal oxidation of digested sludge, in terms of COD and PCOD removals, as well as accumulation and removal of the soluble SCOD.

  8. Effects of triclosan, diclofenac, and nonylphenol on mesophilic and thermophilic methanogenic activity and on the methanogenic communities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Symsaris, Evangelos C.; Fotidis, Ioannis; Stasinakis, Athanasios S.

    2015-01-01

    In this study, a toxicity assay using a mesophilic wastewater treatment plant sludge-based (SI) and a thermophilic manure-based inoculum (MI), under different biomass concentrations was performed to define the effects of diclofenac (DCF), triclosan (TCS), and nonylphenol (NP) on anaerobic digestion...

  9. Survival of weed seeds and animal parasites as affected by anaerobic digestion at meso- and thermophilic conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Anders; Bangsø Nielsen, Henrik; Hansen, Christian M.

    2013-01-01

    did not affect egg survival during the first 48h and it took up to 10days before total elimination was reached. In general, anaerobic digestion in biogas plants seems an efficient way (thermophilic more efficient than mesophilic) to treat organic farm wastes in a way that suppresses animal parasites......, Ascaris suum, was assessed under conditions similar to biogas plants managed at meso- (37°C) and thermophilic (55°C) conditions. Cattle manure was used as digestion substrate and experimental units were sampled destructively over time. Regarding weed seeds, the effect of thermophilic conditions (55°C...

  10. Enhanced dewaterability of sludge during anaerobic digestion with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment: New insights through structure evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jingsi; Li, Ning; Dai, Xiaohu; Tao, Wenquan; Jenkinson, Ian R; Li, Zhuo

    2017-12-19

    Comprehensive insights into the sludge digestate dewaterability were gained through porous network structure of sludge. We measured the evolution of digestate dewaterability, represented by the solid content of centrifugally dewatered cake, in high-solids sequencing batch digesters with and without thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP). The results show that the dewaterability of the sludge after digestion was improved by 3.5% (±0.5%) for unpretreated sludge and 5.1% (±0.4%) for thermally hydrolyzed sludge. Compared to the unpretreated sludge digestate, thermal hydrolysis pretreatment eventually resulted in an improvement of dewaterability by 4.6% (±0.5%). Smaller particle size and larger surface area of sludge were induced by thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion treatments. The structure strength and compactness of sludge, represented by elastic modulus and fractal dimension respectively, decreased with increase of digestion time. The porous network structure was broken up by thermal hydrolysis pretreatment and was further weakened during anaerobic digestion, which correspondingly improved the dewaterability of digestates. The logarithm of elastic modulus increased linearly with fractal dimension regardless of the pretreatment. Both fractal dimension and elastic modulus showed linear relationship with dewaterability. The rheological characterization combined with the analysis of fractal dimension of sewage sludge porous network structure was found applicable in quantitative evaluation of sludge dewaterability, which depended positively on both thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Biogas production enhancement by soya sludge amendment in cattle dung digesters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Satyanarayan, Shanta; Ramakant; Shivayogi [WWT Division, NEERI, Nagpur 400 020 (India)

    2010-09-15

    Biogas energy production from cattle dung is an economically feasible and eco-friendly in nature. But dependence only on cattle dung is a limiting factor. Rich nitrogen containing substrate addition to extra carbohydrate digester like cattle dung could improve the biogas production. Detailed performance of the digesters at different ratios of cattle dung and soya sludge has been discussed in this paper considering the cold countries climate. Soya sludge substrate not only has high nitrogen content of 4.0-4.8% but it also has high percentage of volatile solids content in the range of 97.8-98.8%. Soya sludge addition also improved the manurial value of the digested slurry and also improved the dewater-ability of the sludge. Results indicated an increment of 27.0% gas production at 25.0% amendment of soya sludge in non-homogenized cattle dung (NCD) digester. The amount of gas production increased to 46.4% in case of homogenized cattle dung (HCD) with respect to NCD feed at the same amendment. (author)

  12. Use of hydrodynamic disintegration to accelerate anaerobic digestion of surplus activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grübel, Klaudiusz; Machnicka, Alicja

    2009-12-01

    Hydrodynamic disintegration of activated sludge resulted in organic matter and polymers transfer from the solid phase into the liquid phase. Disintegration by hydrodynamic cavitation had a positive effect on the degree and rate of excess sludge anaerobic digestion. Also, addition of a part of anaerobic digested sludge containing adapted microorganisms resulted in acceleration of the process. The disruption of cells of foam microorganisms and addition to the digestion process led to an increase of biogas production.

  13. Population dynamics during startup of thermophilic anaerobic digesters: The mixing factor

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2013-11-01

    Two thermophilic digesters were inoculated with manure and started-up under mixed and stagnant conditions. The Archaea in the mixed digester (A) were dominated by hydrogenotrophic Methanobateriaceae (61%) with most of the methane being produced via syntrophic pathways. Methanosarcinales (35%) were the only acetoclastic methanogens present. Acetate dissipation seems to depend on balanced hydrogenotrophic-to-acetotrophic abundance, which in turn was statistically correlated to free ammonia levels. Relative abundance of bacterial community was associated with the loading rate. However, in the absence of mixing (digester B), the relationship between microbial composition and operating parameters was not discernible. This was attributed to the development of microenvironments where environmental conditions are significantly different from average measured parameters. The impact of microenvironments was accentuated by the use of a non-acclimated seed that lacks adequate propionate degraders. Failure to disperse the accumulated propionate, and other organics, created high concentration niches where competitive and inhibiting conditions developed and favored undesired genera, such as Halobacteria (65% in B). As a result, digester B experienced higher acid levels and lower allowable loading rate. Mixing was found necessary to dissipate potential inhibitors, and improve stability and loading capacity, particularly when a non-acclimated seed, often lacking balanced thermophilic microflora, is used. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  14. Population dynamics during startup of thermophilic anaerobic digesters: the mixing factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A; Saikaly, Pascal E; Li, Dong; El-Fadel, Mutasem

    2013-11-01

    Two thermophilic digesters were inoculated with manure and started-up under mixed and stagnant conditions. The Archaea in the mixed digester (A) were dominated by hydrogenotrophic Methanobateriaceae (61%) with most of the methane being produced via syntrophic pathways. Methanosarcinales (35%) were the only acetoclastic methanogens present. Acetate dissipation seems to depend on balanced hydrogenotrophic-to-acetotrophic abundance, which in turn was statistically correlated to free ammonia levels. Relative abundance of bacterial community was associated with the loading rate. However, in the absence of mixing (digester B), the relationship between microbial composition and operating parameters was not discernible. This was attributed to the development of microenvironments where environmental conditions are significantly different from average measured parameters. The impact of microenvironments was accentuated by the use of a non-acclimated seed that lacks adequate propionate degraders. Failure to disperse the accumulated propionate, and other organics, created high concentration niches where competitive and inhibiting conditions developed and favored undesired genera, such as Halobacteria (65% in B). As a result, digester B experienced higher acid levels and lower allowable loading rate. Mixing was found necessary to dissipate potential inhibitors, and improve stability and loading capacity, particularly when a non-acclimated seed, often lacking balanced thermophilic microflora, is used. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Temperature-phased anaerobic digestion of food waste: A comparison with single-stage digestions based on performance and energy balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Benyi; Qin, Yu; Zhang, Wenzhe; Wu, Jing; Qiang, Hong; Liu, Junxin; Li, Yu-You

    2018-02-01

    The temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) of food waste was studied for the purpose of comparing with single-stage mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion. The biogas and methane yields in the TPAD during the steady period were 0.759 ± 0.115 L/g added VS and 0.454 ± 0.201 L/g added VS, which were lower than those in the two single-stage anaerobic digestion. The improper sludge retention time may be the reason for the lower biogas and methane production in TPAD. The removal of volatile solids in the TPAD was 78.55 ± 4.59% and the lowest among the three anaerobic digestion processes. The reaction ratios of the four anaerobic digestion steps in the TPAD were all lower than those in the two single-stage anaerobic digestion. The energy conversion efficiency of the degraded substrate in the TPAD was similar with those in single-stage mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Ultrasonic sludge disintegration for enhanced methane production in anaerobic digestion: effects of sludge hydrolysis efficiency and hydraulic retention time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dong-Jin; Lee, Jonghak

    2012-01-01

    Hydrolysis of waste activated sludge (WAS) has been regarded as the rate limiting step of anaerobic sludge digestion. Therefore, in this study, the effect of ultrasound and hydraulic residence time during sludge hydrolysis was investigated with the goal of enhancing methane production from anaerobic digestion (AD). WAS was ultrasonically disintegrated for hydrolysis, and it was semi-continuously fed to an anaerobic digesters at various hydraulic retention times (HRTs). The results of these experiments showed that the solids and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies when using ultrasonically disintegrated sludge were higher during AD than the control sludge. The longer the HRT, the higher the removal efficiencies of solids and COD, while methane production increased with lower HRT. Sludge with 30% hydrolysis produced 7 × more methane production than the control sludge. The highest methane yields were 0.350 m(3)/kg volatile solids (VS)(add) and 0.301 m(3)/kg COD(con) for 16 and 30% hydrolyzed sludge, respectively. In addition, we found that excess ultrasound irradiation may inhibit AD since the 50% hydrolyzed sludge produced lower methane yields than 16 and 30% hydrolyzed sludge.

  17. Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge: French inventory and state of the art

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reverdy, A.L.; Dieude-Fauvel, E.; Baudez, J.C.; Ferstler, V.

    2012-01-01

    Following the Kyoto Protocol and the 'Grenelle de l'environnement', France committed itself to develop renewable energies. Methanization is a process which falls within this objective. Anaerobic digestion of organic material generates biogas made of methane (CH 4 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water (H 2 O). In 2009, electricity generation from biogas represented only 0, 93% of the renewable electricity production in France. An inventory of facilities and a state of the art of the methanization of sewage sludge on wastewater treatment plants with the inhabitant equivalent of more than 30.000 were realized. They were done with bibliography and surveys. In France, 68 installations of sewage sludge methanization were counted. The primary technology used is a mix reactor in which sewage sludge, heated at deg. C 37, are introduced. Biogas is mainly valued to warm those sludges. Electrical valorization is poor, especially on old installations. Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is generally accepted by managers, mainly because of its capacity to reduce sewage sludge quantity and odors. Methanization as listed in France is quite basic. It is performed with digestion series modification, with pretreatments or with co-digestion. Given the quantity of sewage sludge which could be digested, France could increase renewable energies via biogas. However this technology is perfectible in many units because biogas is burned in flares. (authors)

  18. Effect of acid detergent fiber in hydrothermally pretreated sewage sludge on anaerobic digestion process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takasaki, Rikiya; Yuan, Lee Chang; Kamahara, Hirotsugu; Atsuta, Youichi; Daimon, Hiroyuki

    2017-10-01

    Hydrothermal treatment is one of the pre-treatment method for anaerobic digestion. The application of hydrothermal treatment to sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plant has been succeeded to enhance the biogas production. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively clarify the effect of hydrothermal treatment on anaerobic digestion process focusing on acid detergent fiber (ADF) in sewage sludge, which is low biodegradability. The hydrothermal treatment experiment was carried out for 15 minutes between 160 °C and 200 °C respectively. The ADF content was decreased after hydrothermal treatment compared with untreated sludge. However, ADF content was increased when raising the treatment temperature from 160 °C to 200 °C. During batch anaerobic digestion experiment, untreated and treated sludge were examined for 10 days under 38 °C, and all samples were fed once based on volatile solids of samples. From batch anaerobic digestion experiment, as ADF content in sewage sludge increased, the total biogas production decreased. It was found that ADF content in sewage sludge influence on anaerobic digestion. Therefore, ADF could be one of the indicator to evaluate the effect of hydrothermal treatment to sewage sludge on anaerobic digestion.

  19. Outlook of thermal sludge digestion/pretreatment??; Verkenning thermische slibontsluiting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berkhof, D.C. [DHV, Amersfoort (Netherlands)

    2011-09-15

    This (mid-term) report sketches an image of thermal sludge digestion: the benefits are shown of this new technique as well as the critical factors for making the technique successful in the Netherlands. Moreover, research aspects for pilot research have been formulated that are part of the STOWA research on thermal sludge digestion. Thermal digestion aims to increase the dry mater degradation in the digestion of the biogas production. Next to an increase in the energy production from biogas, a decrease in the amount of sludge to be sold is realized [Dutch] In dit (tussen)rapport wordt een beeld geschetst van thermische slibontsluiting: onder meer de voordelen van deze nieuwe techniek en de kritische factoren om de techniek in Nederland succesvol te laten zijn. Er zijn tevens onderzoeksaspecten voor pilotonderzoeken geformuleerd die deel uitmaken van het STOWA-onderzoek naar thermische slibontsluiting. Met thermische ontsluiting wordt een verhoging van de drogestofafbraak in de gisting en van de biogasproductie beoogd. Naast een verhoging van de energieproductie uit biogas wordt een verlaging van de hoeveelheid af te zetten slib bereikt.

  20. Siloxane removal and sludge disintegration using thermo-alkaline treatments with air stripping prior to anaerobic sludge digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oshita, Kazuyuki; Fujime, Motochika; Takaoka, Masaki; Fujimori, Takashi; Appels, Lise; Dewil, Raf

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Siloxanes hamper the energy-use of anaerobic digestion biogas. • D5 siloxane was considered as target compound in this study. • The treatment removed 80% of D5 in sewage sludge at 55 °C and 135 g-NaOH kg −1 -VTS. • D5 removal and the disintegration of VSS in the sludge were correlated. • At the optimal conditions, the costs of anaerobic digestion were notably diminished. - Abstract: A thermo-alkaline treatment with air stripping was applied before anaerobic sludge digestion for both siloxane removal and sludge disintegration. The treatment was expected to increase the amount of biogas produced and to reduce the amount of siloxane in the gas. Adding sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to the sludge improved the removal of siloxane from the sludge, with approximately 90% of the siloxane removed to the gas phase using a thermo-alkaline treatment. Over 80% of decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) could be removed under the following conditions: 55 °C treatment temperature, 135 g-NaOH kg −1 volatile total solids (VTS), and 0.5 L min −1 air-stripping rate. The disintegration ratio of volatile suspended solids (VSS) in the sludge was correlated with the D5 removal ratio. Because most of the siloxane was adsorbed to, or was contained in the VSS, the siloxane removal ratio increased with VSS disintegration. Finally, the energy consumption and operational costs of this system were evaluated for several scenarios. Thermo-alkaline treatment at the indicated operational conditions had the lowest operating costs for a 400 m 3 day −1 anaerobic sludge digestion system

  1. Mesophilic and thermophilic alkaline fermentation of waste activated sludge for hydrogen production: Focusing on homoacetogenesis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wan, Jingjing; Jing, Yuhang; Zhang, Shicheng

    2016-01-01

    The present study compared the mesophilic and thermophilic alkaline fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) for hydrogen production with focus on homoacetogenesis, which mediated the consumption of H2 and CO2 for acetate production. Batch experiments showed that hydrogen yield of WAS increased...

  2. The influence of the anaerobic digestion process on the sewage sludges rheological behaviour

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Monteiro, P.S. [Porto Univ. (Portugal). Facultade de Engenharia. Inst. de Hidraulica e Recursos Hidricos

    1998-12-31

    During the anaerobic digestion process, a significant part of the organic matter is sewage sludge is decomposed to form other organic and inorganic compounds in dissolved form. The biological transformation of a substantial part of the organic solids has, certainly, a strong influence on the rheological characteristics of the sludges. In this paper a test facility was set up to simulate sewage sludge digestion and periodic observations on the evolution of the sludge characteristics were carried out. Results of this study show that important changes on the sludge rheological behaviour occur during anaerobic digestion and that the evolution of those changes is related with the degree of digestion. Moreover, it is shown that the verified high degree of physical changes can not be demonstrated only by the total solids concentration variation and two hypothesis are proposed to explain those changes.

  3. Leaching and accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge under concomitant thermophilic and low pH conditions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gonzalez-Gil, G.; Lopes, S.I.C.; Saikaly, P.E.; Lens, P.N.L.

    2012-01-01

    The leaching and/or accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge systems was investigated. Two thermophilic up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors operated at pH 5 were fed with sucrose (4 g COD l(reactor)(-1) d(-1)) and sulfate at different COD/SO42- ratios. During the

  4. Roles of magnetite and granular activated carbon in improvement of anaerobic sludge digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Hong; Zhang, Yaobin; Tan, Dongmei; Zhao, Zhiqiang; Zhao, Huimin; Quan, Xie

    2018-02-01

    Granular activated carbon (GAC) or magnetite could promote methane production from organic wastes, but their roles in enhancing anaerobic sludge digestion have not been clarified. GAC, magnetite and their combination were complemented into sludge digesters, respectively. Experimental results showed that average methane production increased by 7.3% for magnetite, 13.1% for GAC, and 20% for the combination of magnetite and GAC, and the effluent TCOD of the control, magnetite, GAC and magnetite-GAC digesters on day 56 were 53.2, 49.6, 48.0 and 46.6 g/L, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), nitrogen adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and microbial analysis indicated that magnetite enriched iron-reducing bacteria responsible for sludge hydrolysis while GAC enhanced syntrophic metabolism between iron-reducing bacteria and methanogens due to its high electrical conductivity and large surface area. Supplementing magnetite and GAC together into an anaerobic digester simultaneously accelerated sludge hydrolysis and methane production, resulting in better sludge digestion performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Ultrasonic and Thermal Pretreatments on Anaerobic Digestion of Petrochemical Sludge: Dewaterability and Degradation of PAHs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Jun; Xu, Weizhong; Wong, Jonathan W. C.; Yong, Xiaoyu; Yan, Binghua; Zhang, Xueying; Jia, Honghua

    2015-01-01

    Effects of different pretreatment methods on sludge dewaterability and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degradation during petrochemical sludge anaerobic digestion were studied. Results showed that the total biogas production volume in the thermal pretreatment system was 4 and 5 times higher than that in the ultrasound pretreatment and in the control system, and the corresponding volatile solid removal efficiencies reached 28%, 15%, and 8%. Phenanthrene, paranaphthalene, fluoranthene, benzofluoranthene, and benzopyrene removal rates reached 43.3%, 55.5%, 30.6%, 42.9%, and 41.7%, respectively, in the thermal pretreatment system, which were much higher than those in the ultrasound pretreatment and in the control system. Moreover, capillary suction time (CST) of sludge increased after pretreatment, and then reduced after 20 days of anaerobic digestion, indicating that sludge dewaterability was greatly improved after anaerobic digestion. The decrease of protein and polysaccharide in the sludge could improve sludge dewaterability during petrochemical sludge anaerobic digestion. This study suggested that thermal pretreatment might be a promising enhancement method for petrochemical sludge solubilization, thus contributing to degradation of the PAHs, biogas production, and improvement of dewaterability during petrochemical sludge anaerobic digestion. PMID:26327510

  6. A multi-criteria decision analysis of management alternatives for anaerobically digested kraft pulp mill sludge.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martijn Eikelboom

    Full Text Available The Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA procedure was used to compare waste management options for kraft pulp mill sludge following its anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion of sludge is advantageous because it produces biogas that may be used to generate electricity, heat and biofuels. However, adequate management of the digested sludge is essential. Landfill disposal is a non-sustainable waste management alternative. Kraft pulp mill digested sludge applied to land may pose risks to the environment and public health if the sludge has not been properly treated. This study is aimed to compare several recycling alternatives for anaerobically digested sludge from kraft pulp mills: land application, landfill disposal, composting, incineration, pyrolysis/gasification, and biofuel production by algae. The MCDA procedure considered nine criteria into three domains to compare digested sludge recycling alternatives in a kraft pulp mill: environmental (CO2 emission, exposure to pathogens, risk of pollution, material and energy recovery, economic (overall costs, value of products and technical (maintenance and operation, feasibility of implementation. The most suitable management options for digested sludge from kraft pulp mills were found to be composting and incineration (when the latter was coupled with recycling ash to the cement industry. Landfill disposal was the worst option, presenting low performance in feasibility of implementation, risk of pollution, material and energy recovery.

  7. A multi-criteria decision analysis of management alternatives for anaerobically digested kraft pulp mill sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eikelboom, Martijn; Lopes, Alice do Carmo Precci; Silva, Claudio Mudadu; Rodrigues, Fábio de Ávila; Zanuncio, José Cola

    2018-01-01

    The Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) procedure was used to compare waste management options for kraft pulp mill sludge following its anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion of sludge is advantageous because it produces biogas that may be used to generate electricity, heat and biofuels. However, adequate management of the digested sludge is essential. Landfill disposal is a non-sustainable waste management alternative. Kraft pulp mill digested sludge applied to land may pose risks to the environment and public health if the sludge has not been properly treated. This study is aimed to compare several recycling alternatives for anaerobically digested sludge from kraft pulp mills: land application, landfill disposal, composting, incineration, pyrolysis/gasification, and biofuel production by algae. The MCDA procedure considered nine criteria into three domains to compare digested sludge recycling alternatives in a kraft pulp mill: environmental (CO2 emission, exposure to pathogens, risk of pollution, material and energy recovery), economic (overall costs, value of products) and technical (maintenance and operation, feasibility of implementation). The most suitable management options for digested sludge from kraft pulp mills were found to be composting and incineration (when the latter was coupled with recycling ash to the cement industry). Landfill disposal was the worst option, presenting low performance in feasibility of implementation, risk of pollution, material and energy recovery. PMID:29298296

  8. Anaerobic digestibility of beef hooves with swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Yun; Wang, Ding-Kang; Kong, Yunhong; Ungerfeld, Emilio M; Seviour, Robert; Massé, Daniel I

    2015-04-01

    Anaerobic digestion is an effective method for treating animal by-products, generating at the same time green energy as methane (CH4). However, the methods and mechanisms involved in anaerobic digestion of α-keratin wastes like hair, nails, horns and hooves are still not clear. In this study we investigated the feasibility of anaerobically co-digesting ground beef hooves in the presence of swine manure or slaughterhouse sludge at 25 °C using eight 42-L Plexiglas lab-scale digesters. Our results showed addition of beef hooves statistically significantly increased the rate of CH4 production with swine manure, but only increased it slightly with slaughterhouse sludge. After 90-day digestion, 73% of beef hoof material added to the swine manure-inoculated digesters had been converted into CH4, which was significantly higher than the 45% level achieved in the slaughterhouse sludge inoculated digesters. BODIPY-Fluorescent casein staining detected proteolytic bacteria in all digesters with and without added beef hooves, and their relative abundances corresponded to the rate of methanogenesis of the digesters with the different inocula. Fluorescence in situ hybridization in combination with BODIPY-Fluorescent casein staining identified most proteolytic bacteria as members of genus Alkaliphilus in the subfamily Clostridiaceae 2 of family Clostridiaceae. They thus appear to be the bacteria mainly responsible for digestion of beef hooves. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Electron beam treatment of wastewaters and sludges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osborn, D.W.

    1980-01-01

    Various procedures for decreasing the health risks associated with the disposal of sewage sludges are discussed including land storage, thermophilic digestion, autothermal aerobic digestion, the Porteus Process, the Zimpro Process, incineration, pyrolysis, thermal pasteurisation, composting, lime utilisation, flash drying and radiation techniques. A fully automated sludge irradiation facility at Geiselbullach near Munich and an electron accelerator experimental plant near Boston are described. Advantages and disadvantages are given for both processes. Costs of electron radiation treatment of sewage sludges (a slurry containing 5 per cent solids) for a city the size of Johannesburg is estimated to be in the order of R900 000 per year at a dose rate of 4 000 Gy, which would produce a product of reasonable hygienic quality but not necessarily meet the criteria laid down by local authority medical officers at all times. In order to reduce costs it would be necessary to have a readily available market to dispose of disinfected material

  10. Electron beam treatment of wastewaters and sludges

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Osborn, D W [City Health Dept., Johannesburg (South Africa)

    1980-12-01

    Various procedures for decreasing the health risks associated with the disposal of sewage sludges are discussed including land storage, thermophilic digestion, autothermal aerobic digestion, the Porteus Process, the Zimpro Process, incineration, pyrolysis, thermal pasteurisation, composting, lime utilisation, flash drying and radiation techniques. A fully automated sludge irradiation facility at Geiselbullach near Munich and an electron accelerator experimental plant near Boston are described. Advantages and disadvantages are given for both processes. Costs of electron radiation treatment of sewage sludges (a slurry containing 5 per cent solids) for a city the size of Johannesburg is estimated to be in the order of R900,000 per year at a dose rate of 4,000 Gy, which would produce a product of reasonable hygienic quality but not necessarily meet the criteria laid down by local authority medical officers at all times. In order to reduce costs it would be necessary to have a readily available market to dispose of disinfected material.

  11. Plant available nitrogen from anaerobically digested sludge and septic tank sludge applied to crops grown in the tropics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sripanomtanakorn, S; Polprasert, C

    2002-04-01

    Agricultural land is an attractive alternative for the disposal of biosolids since it utilises the recyclable nutrients in the production of crops. In Thailand and other tropical regions, limited field-study information exists on the effect of biosolids management strategies on crop N utilisation and plant available N (PAN) of biosolids. A field study was conducted to quantify the PAN of the applied biosolids, and to evaluate the N uptake rates of some tropical crops. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) were chosen in this study. Two types of biosolids used were: anaerobically digested sludge and septic tank sludge. The soil is acid sulfate and is classified as Sulfic Tropaquepts with heavy clay in texture. The anaerobically digested sludge applied rates were: 0, 156 and 312 kg N ha(-1) for the sunflower plots, and 0, 586, and 1172 kg N ha(-1) for the tomato plots. The septic tank sludge applied rates were: 0, 95 and 190 kg N ha(-1) for the sunflower plots, and 0, 354 and 708 kg N ha(-1) for the tomato plots, respectively. The results indicated the feasibility of applying biosolids to grow tropical crops. The applications of the anaerobically digested sludge and the septic tank sludge resulted in the yields of sunflower seeds and tomato fruits and the plant N uptakes comparable or better than that applied with only the chemical fertiliser. The estimated PAN of the anaerobically digested sludge was about 27-42% of the sludge organic N during the growing season. For the septic tank sludge, the PAN was about 15-58% of the sludge organic N. It is interesting to observe that an increase of the rate of septic tank sludge incorporated into this heavy clay soil under the cropping system resulted in the decrease of N mineralisation rate. This situation could cause the reduction of yield and N uptake of crops.

  12. Implementation of co-digestion and sludge management systems in Portugal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Berardino, Santino [INETI/DER, Lisboa (Portugal)

    2006-07-01

    A solution based on sludge and Olive oil mill effluent (OME) co-digestion, coupled with a management plan, has been implemented, to treat and dispose safely, the mixed residues, into the natural forest and agricultural land. The mixture of up to 25% OME to the sludge improved anaerobic degradation of phenols and fats. High density fat compounds, present in OME, enhanced aggregation, settling and acetoclastic activity of anaerobic sludge. The full scale unit, obtained by modification of a cold digester, allowed to set-up a low capital cost system. The system produced large quantity of biogas and electric energy. Anaerobic degradation of the mixture improved fertilizing properties, making feasible land application of the digested mixture. Regional plan based in Geographical Information System (GIS) selected 800 ha of adequate land area for application near the WWTP. The experience is technically and economically successful. Main incomes are provided by energy use and OME charge. Sludge application in local agriculture does not generate any income, but eliminated landfill costs and reduced transportation costs.

  13. Mesophilic anaerobic stabilization of sewage sludge. Mesophile anaerobe Klaerschlammstabilisierung mit aerober Folgebehandlung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stoll, U.

    1988-01-01

    Sludges treated in two stages in experiments - 7 days of anaerobic treatment and 2 days of aerobic-thermophilic treatment - can be judged to be completely stabilized because of the stabilization parameters BOD/sub 5//COD ratio and respiratory activity. The degradation results obtained are comparable to or better than those of the 20-day digestion (reference process). For all aerobic processes under investigation a clear temperature increase in the aerobic reactor was measured because of the exothermal metabolic processes of the aerobic biocenosis. There was a temperature rise of 15/sup 0/C in the tests in the aerobic reactor even after longer digestion times of 15 and 20 days. The results of the epidemics and hygiene investigations show that a secondary aerobic-thermophilic stage after the mesophilic digestion with adequate marginal conditions - germ retention time of 23 hours in the aerobic reactor at process temperatures higher than 50/sup 0/C as well as charging in batch quantities - leads to a safe and complete decontamination. Under these process and operation conditions all salmonellae were killed and the number of the enterobacteriaceae in 1 g of sludge was always less than 1.000. (orig./EF).

  14. Digested sludge-derived three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitor electrode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jia-Jia; Fan, Hao-Xiang; Dai, Xiao-Hu; Yuan, Shi-Jie

    2018-04-01

    Digested sludge, as the main by-product of the sewage sludge anaerobic digestion process, still contains considerable organic compounds. In this protocol, we report a facile method for preparing digested sludge-derived self-doped porous carbon material for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via a sustainable pyrolysis/activation process. The obtained digested sludge-derived carbon material (HPDSC) exhibits versatile O-, N-doped hierarchical porous framework, high specific surface area (2103.6 m2 g-1) and partial graphitization phase, which can facilitate ion transport, provide more storage sites for electrolyte ions and enhance the conductivity of active electrode materials. The HPDSC-based supercapacitor electrodes show favourable energy storage performance, with a specific capacitance of 245 F g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 in 0.5 M Na2SO4; outstanding cycling stability, with 98.4% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles; and good rate performance (211 F g-1 at 11 A g-1). This work provides a unique self-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon material with a favourable charge storage capacity and at the same time finds a high value-added and environment-friendly strategy for disposal and recycling of digested sludge.

  15. Growth media in anaerobic fermentative processes: The underestimated potential of thermophilic fermentation and anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendriks, A T W M; van Lier, J B; de Kreuk, M K

    Fermentation and anaerobic digestion of organic waste and wastewater is broadly studied and applied. Despite widely available results and data for these processes, comparison of the generated results in literature is difficult. Not only due to the used variety of process conditions, but also because of the many different growth media that are used. Composition of growth media can influence biogas production (rates) and lead to process instability during anaerobic digestion. To be able to compare results of the different studies reported, and to ensure nutrient limitation is not influencing observations ascribed to process dynamics and/or reaction kinetics, a standard protocol for creating a defined growth medium for anaerobic digestion and mixed culture fermentation is proposed. This paper explains the role(s) of the different macro- and micronutrients, as well as the choices for a growth medium formulation strategy. In addition, the differences in nutrient requirements between mesophilic and thermophilic systems are discussed as well as the importance of specific trace metals regarding specific conversion routes and the possible supplementary requirement of vitamins. The paper will also give some insight into the bio-availability and toxicity of trace metals. A remarkable finding is that mesophilic and thermophilic enzymes are quite comparable at their optimum temperatures. This has consequences for the trace metal requirements of thermophiles under certain conditions. Under non-limiting conditions, the trace metal requirement of thermophilic systems is about 3 times higher than for mesophilic systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Free nitrous acid pre-treatment of waste activated sludge enhances volatile solids destruction and improves sludge dewaterability in continuous anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Wei; Wang, Qilin; Zhang, Liguo; Laloo, Andrew; Duan, Haoran; Batstone, Damien J; Yuan, Zhiguo

    2018-03-01

    Previous work has demonstrated that pre-treatment of waste activated sludge (WAS) with free nitrous acid (FNA i.e. HNO 2 ) enhances the biodegradability of WAS, identified by a 20-50% increase in specific methane production in biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. This suggests that FNA pre-treatment would enhance the destruction of volatile solids (VS) in an anaerobic sludge digester, and reduce overall sludge disposal costs, provided that the dewaterability of the digested sludge is not negatively affected. This study experimentally evaluates the impact of FNA pre-treatment on the VS destruction in anaerobic sludge digestion and on the dewaterability of digested sludge, using continuously operated bench-scale anaerobic digesters. Pre-treatment of full-scale WAS for 24 h at an FNA concentration of 1.8 mg NN/L enhanced VS destruction by 17 ± 1% (from 29.2 ± 0.9% to 34.2 ± 1.1%) and increased dewaterability (centrifuge test) from 12.4 ± 0.4% to 14.1 ± 0.4%. Supporting the VS destruction data, methane production increased by 16 ± 1%. Biochemical methane potential tests indicated that the final digestate stability was also improved with a lower potential from FNA treated digestate. Further, a 2.1 ± 0.2 log improvement in pathogen reduction was also achieved. With inorganic solids representing 15-22% of the full-scale WAS used, FNA pre-treatment resulted in a 16-17% reduction in the volume of dewatered sludge for final disposal. This results in significantly reduced costs as assessed by economic analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Inhibitory effects on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cheung, P.W.S.; Zhou, H. [Univ. of Guelph, School of Engineering, Guelph, Ontario (Canada)]. E-mail: hzhou@uoguelph.ca; Hacker, R. [Univ. of Guelph, Dept. of Animal and Poultry Science, Guelph, Ontario (Canada)

    2002-06-15

    This paper presents a laboratory study using anaerobic digestion for swine manure under both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, with emphasis on the effects of inhibitory chemicals on biogas production. A series of batch tests were conducted to examine the effects of various process parameters by varying temperature, pH, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations. As well, continuous anaerobic digestion tests were conducted using a completely stirred reactor system with a sludge retention time of 15 days. The results showed that at the initial stage, biogas was generated rapidly in the thermophilic reactor, but was more and more inhibited during the later stage with the presence of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. In contrast, the biogas production was initially delayed in the mesophilic reactor but afterwards had an even higher total gas production. In order to take advantages of both temperature effects in each reactor, the dual-stage system that consists of a thermophilic reactor followed by a mesophilic reactor was suggested. (author)

  18. Inhibitory effects on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, P.W.S.; Zhou, H.; Hacker, R.

    2002-01-01

    This paper presents a laboratory study using anaerobic digestion for swine manure under both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, with emphasis on the effects of inhibitory chemicals on biogas production. A series of batch tests were conducted to examine the effects of various process parameters by varying temperature, pH, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations. As well, continuous anaerobic digestion tests were conducted using a completely stirred reactor system with a sludge retention time of 15 days. The results showed that at the initial stage, biogas was generated rapidly in the thermophilic reactor, but was more and more inhibited during the later stage with the presence of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. In contrast, the biogas production was initially delayed in the mesophilic reactor but afterwards had an even higher total gas production. In order to take advantages of both temperature effects in each reactor, the dual-stage system that consists of a thermophilic reactor followed by a mesophilic reactor was suggested. (author)

  19. Performance and methanogenic community of rotating disk reactor packed with polyurethane during thermophilic anaerobic digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Yingnan; Tsukahara, Kenichiro; Sawayama, Shigeki

    2007-01-01

    A newly developed anaerobic rotating disk reactor (ARDR) packed with polyurethane was used in continuous mode for organic waste removal under thermophilic (55 o C) anaerobic conditions. This paper reports the effects of the rotational speed on the methanogenic performance and community in an ARDR supplied with acetic acid synthetic wastewater as the organic substrate. The best performance was obtained from the ARDR with the rotational speed (ω) of 30 rpm. The average removal of dissolved organic carbon was 98.5%, and the methane production rate was 393 ml/l-reactor/day at an organic loading rate of 2.69 g/l-reactor/day. Under these operational conditions, the reactor had a greater biomass retention capacity and better reactor performance than those at other rotational speeds (0, 5 and 60 rpm). The results of 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis indicated that the major methanogens in the reactor belonged to the genus Methanosarcina spp. The results of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis suggested that the cell density of methanogenic archaea immobilized on the polyurethane foam disk could be concentrated more than 2000 times relative to those in the original thermophilic sludge. Scanning electron microphotographs showed that there were more immobilized microbes at ω of 30 rpm than 60 rpm. A rotational speed on the outer layer of the disk of 6.6 m/min could be appropriate for anaerobic digestion using the polyurethane ARDR

  20. Comparative microbiological-hygienic studies in mesophilic and thermophilic fouling of sewage sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pohlig-Schmitt, M.; Philipp, W.; Wekerle, J.; Strauch, D.

    Investigations concerning the inactivation of microbial pathogens (bacteria, viruses and parasites) during anaerobic, alkaline dignestion of sludge are described. A thermophilic (54/sup 0/C) and a mesophilic (34/sup 0/C) operated biogas model plant were compared from the point of view of hygiene. Is was found that in the thermophilic process Salmonella senftenberg survived 13,5 h, Streptococcus faecium 55 h, Streptococcus faecalis 42 h and Klebsiella pneumoniae 0,5 h. Within 30 min eggs of Ascaris suum lost their infectivity Bovine Parvovirus was inactivated after 1 d to 2 d treatment. Survival times under mesophilic conditions of 13 d for Salmonella senftenberg and more than 8 mouth for Streptococcus faecium were found. Poliovirus Type 1 was inactivated in 8 d while Bovine Parvovirus survived no longer than 15 d. The results obtained in the thermophilic process were compared to those after heat treatment of the test microorganisms in ampules exposed in a wather-bath under defined conditions to 54/sup 0/C. It was found, that the bacteria survived only about half the time in this case. Poliovirus Type 1 was inactivated after 0,75 h and Bovine Parvovirus after 7 d exposure. (orig.RB)

  1. Enhanced methane yield by co-digestion of sewage sludge with micro-algae and catering waste leachate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-04-04

    The co-digestion of different wastes is a promising concept to improve methane generation during anaerobic process. However, the anaerobic co-digestion of catering waste leachate with algal biomass and sewage sludge has not been studied to date. This work investigated the methane generation by the anaerobic co-digestion of different mixtures of catering waste leachate, micro-algal biomass, and sewage sludge. Co-digestion of waste mixture containing equal ratios of three substrates had 39.31% higher methane yield than anaerobic digestion of raw sludge. This was possibly due to a proliferation of methanogens during the co-digestion period induced by multi-phase digestion of different wastes with different degrees of digestibility. Therefore, co-digestion of catering waste leachate, micro-algal biomass, and sewage sludge appears to be an efficient technology for energy conversion from waste resources. The scientific application of this co-digestion technology with these three substrates may play a role in solving important environmental issues of waste management.

  2. Optimization of municipal sludge and grease co-digestion using disintegration technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouchy, L; Pérez, A; Camacho, P; Rubio, P; Silvestre, G; Fernández, B; Cano, R; Polanco, M; Díaz, N

    2012-01-01

    Many drivers tend to foster the development of renewable energy production in wastewater treatment plants as many expectations rely upon energy recovery from sewage sludge, for example through biogas use. This paper is focused on the assessment of grease waste (GW) as an adequate substrate for co-digestion with municipal sludge, as it has a methane potential of 479-710 LCH(4)/kg VS, as well as the evaluation of disintegration technologies as a method to optimize the co-digestion process. With this objective three different pre-treatments have been selected for evaluation: thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic treatment. Results have shown that co-digestion processes without pre-treatment had a maximum increment of 128% of the volumetric methane productivity when GW addition was 23% inlet (at 20 days of HRT and with an OLR of 3.0 kg COD/m(3)d), compared with conventional digestion of sewage sludge alone. Concerning the application of the selected disintegration technologies, all pre-treatments showed improvements in terms of methane yield (51.8, 89.5 and 57.6% more for thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic treatment, respectively, compared with non-pretreated wastes), thermal hydrolysis of GW and secondary sludge being the best configuration as it improved the solubilization of the organic matter and the hydrodynamic characteristics of digestates.

  3. [Enhancement of anaerobic digestion of excess sludge by acid-alkali pretreatment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Guang-Huan; Zhou, Xing-Qiu; Wu, Jian-Dong

    2012-06-01

    In order to enhance the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of excess sludge, acid-alkali pretreatment method was studied. Three different pretreatment methods (alkali alone,acid-alkali, alkali-acid) were compared to investigate their impacts on hydrolysis and acidification of activated sludge. In addition, their influences on methane-producing in subsequent anaerobic digestion process were also studied. The results showed that the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) of alkaline treatment alone was about 16% higher than the combining of acid and alkali treatment, SCOD concentration increased to 5406.1 mg x L(-1) after 8 d pretreatment. After treated by acid (pH 4.0, 4 d) and alkali (pH 10.0, 4 d), the acetic acid production and its content in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were higher than other pretreatment methods. And the acetic acid production (as COD/VSS) could reach 74.4 mg x g(-1), accounting for 60.5% of SCFAs. After acid-alkali pretreatment, the C: N ratio of the sludge mixed liquor was about 25, and the C: P ratio was between 35-40, which was more favorable than C: N and C: P ratio of alkali alone and alkali-acid to subsequent anaerobic digestion. The control experiments showed that, after acid-alkali pretreatment, anaerobic digestion cumulative methane yield (CH4/VSS(in)) reached to 136.1 mL x g(-1) at 15 d, which was about 2.5-, 1.6-, and 1.7-fold of the blank (unpretreated), alkali alone pretreatment and alkali-acid pretreatment, respectively. After acid-alkali pretreatment for 8 d and anaerobic digestion for 15 d, the removal efficiency of VSS was about 60.9%, and the sludge reduction effect was better than other pretreatments. It is obvious that the acid-alkali pretreatment method was more favorable to anaerobic digestion and sludge reduction.

  4. Digested sludge-derived three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitor electrode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jia-Jia; Fan, Hao-Xiang; Dai, Xiao-Hu; Yuan, Shi-Jie

    2018-04-01

    Digested sludge, as the main by-product of the sewage sludge anaerobic digestion process, still contains considerable organic compounds. In this protocol, we report a facile method for preparing digested sludge-derived self-doped porous carbon material for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via a sustainable pyrolysis/activation process. The obtained digested sludge-derived carbon material (HPDSC) exhibits versatile O-, N-doped hierarchical porous framework, high specific surface area (2103.6 m 2  g -1 ) and partial graphitization phase, which can facilitate ion transport, provide more storage sites for electrolyte ions and enhance the conductivity of active electrode materials. The HPDSC-based supercapacitor electrodes show favourable energy storage performance, with a specific capacitance of 245 F g -1 at 1.0 A g -1 in 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 ; outstanding cycling stability, with 98.4% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles; and good rate performance (211 F g -1 at 11 A g -1 ). This work provides a unique self-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon material with a favourable charge storage capacity and at the same time finds a high value-added and environment-friendly strategy for disposal and recycling of digested sludge.

  5. Improving the stability of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating SS-OFMSW through enrichment with compost and leachate seeds

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2013-03-01

    This paper examines the potential of improving the stability of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) by adding leachate and compost during inoculation. For this purpose, two stable thermophilic digesters, A (control) and B (with added leachate and compost), were subjected to a sustained substrate shock by doubling the organic loading rate for one week. Feeding was suspended then gradually resumed to reach the pre-shock loading rate (2. gVS/l/d). Digester A failed, exhibiting excessive increase in acetate and a corresponding decrease in pH and methane generation, and lower COD and solids removal efficiencies. In contrast, digester B was able to restore its functionality with 90% recovery of pre-shock methane generation rate at stable pH, lower hydrogen levels, and reduced VFAs and ammonia accumulation. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Improving the stability of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating SS-OFMSW through enrichment with compost and leachate seeds

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.; El-Fadel, Mutasem E.; Saikaly, Pascal

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines the potential of improving the stability of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) by adding leachate and compost during inoculation. For this purpose, two stable thermophilic digesters, A (control) and B (with added leachate and compost), were subjected to a sustained substrate shock by doubling the organic loading rate for one week. Feeding was suspended then gradually resumed to reach the pre-shock loading rate (2. gVS/l/d). Digester A failed, exhibiting excessive increase in acetate and a corresponding decrease in pH and methane generation, and lower COD and solids removal efficiencies. In contrast, digester B was able to restore its functionality with 90% recovery of pre-shock methane generation rate at stable pH, lower hydrogen levels, and reduced VFAs and ammonia accumulation. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Co-digestion of municipal sludge and external organic wastes for enhanced biogas production under realistic plant constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tandukar, Madan; Pavlostathis, Spyros G

    2015-12-15

    A bench-scale investigation was conducted to select external organic wastes and mixing ratios for co-digestion with municipal sludge at the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (FWHWRC), Gwinnett County, GA, USA to support a combined heat and power (CHP) project. External wastes were chosen and used subject to two constraints: a) digester retention time no lower than 15 d; and b) total biogas (methane) production not to exceed a specific target level based on air permit constraints on CO2 emissions. Primary sludge (PS), thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) and digested sludge collected at the FWHWRC, industrial liquid waste obtained from a chewing gum manufacturing plant (GW) and dewatered fat-oil-grease (FOG) were used. All sludge and waste samples were characterized and their ultimate digestibility was assessed at 35 °C. The ultimate COD to methane conversion of PS, TWAS, municipal sludge (PS + TWAS; 40:60 w/w TS basis), GW and FOG was 49.2, 35.2, 40.3, 72.7, and 81.1%, respectively. Co-digestion of municipal sludge with GW, FOG or both, was evaluated using four bench-scale, mesophilic (35 °C) digesters. Biogas production increased significantly and additional degradation of the municipal sludge between 1.1 and 30.7% was observed. Biogas and methane production was very close to the target levels necessary to close the energy deficit at the FWHWRC. Co-digestion resulted in an effluent quality similar to that of the control digester fed only with the municipal sludge, indicating that co-digestion had no adverse effects. Study results prove that high methane production is achievable with the addition of concentrated external organic wastes to municipal digesters, at acceptable higher digester organic loadings and lower retention times, allowing the effective implementation of CHP programs at municipal wastewater treatment plants, with significant cost savings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Application of the International Water Association activated sludge models to describe aerobic sludge digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghorbani, M; Eskicioglu, C

    2011-12-01

    Batch and semi-continuous flow aerobic digesters were used to stabilize thickened waste-activated sludge at different initial conditions and mean solids retention times. Under dynamic conditions, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids (VSS) and total and particulate chemical oxygen demand (COD and PCOD) were monitored in the batch reactors and effluent from the semi-continuous flow reactors. Activated Sludge Model (ASM) no. 1 and ASM no. 3 were applied to measured data (calibration data set) to evaluate the consistency and performances of models at different flow regimes for digester COD and VSS modelling. The results indicated that both ASM1 and ASM3 predicted digester COD, VSS and PCOD concentrations well (R2, Ra2 > or = 0.93). Parameter estimation concluded that compared to ASM1, ASM3 parameters were more consistent across different batch and semi-continuous flow runs with different operating conditions. Model validation on a data set independent from the calibration data successfully predicted digester COD (R2 = 0.88) and VSS (R2 = 0.94) concentrations by ASM3, while ASM1 overestimated both reactor COD (R2 = 0.74) and VSS concentrations (R2 = 0.79) after 15 days of aerobic batch digestion.

  9. Composting of sewage sludge with solid fraction of digested pulp from agricultural biogas plant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czekała, Wojciech; Dach, Jacek; Przybył, Jacek; Mazurwiekiwcz, Jakub; Janczak, Damian; Lewicki, Andrzej; Smurzyńska, Anna; Kozłowski, Kamil

    2018-02-01

    Sewage sludge management is an important element of environmental protection. Composting and anaerobic digestion are the biological conversion methods for sewage sludge management. Mass and volume reduction is a result of a properly composted process. Solid fraction of digested pulp can be use as co-substrate, because it is good structural material. The aim of the study was to determine the possibility of composting sewage sludge with a solid fraction of digestate. The compost mix consisted of 25 kilograms of sewage sludge and 20 kilograms solid fraction of digestate in fresh mass. The experiment was carried out in laboratory conditions. Bioreactors of 165 dm3 volume were used. The experiment included two stages. Stage I took place in bioreactors and lasted until the cooling phase of the compost was complete. Stage II included compost maturation for a period of eight months (to 287 day of composting). The reduction of mass obtained at the end of Stage I amounted 30.2%. At the end of Stage II, it was 86.7% relative to the initial weight of the compost. The maximum value of temperature was 75.1°C. Studies have shown that sludge with a solid fraction of digestate can be a suitable substrate for composting with sewage sludge.

  10. Modeling the fate of antibiotic resistance genes and class 1 integrons during thermophilic anaerobic digestion of municipal wastewater solids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burch, Tucker R; Sadowsky, Michael J; LaPara, Timothy M

    2015-10-19

    This study investigated the use of thermophilic anaerobic digestion for removing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from residual municipal wastewater solids. Four laboratory-scale anaerobic digesters were operated in 8-day batch cycles at temperatures of 40, 56, 60, and 63 °C. Two tetracycline resistance genes (tet(W) and tet(X)), a fluoroquinolone resistance gene (qnrA), the integrase gene of class 1 integrons (intI1), 16S rRNA genes of all Bacteria, and 16S rRNA genes of methanogens were quantified using real-time quantitative PCR. ARG and intI1 quantities decreased at all temperatures and were described well by a modified form of the Collins-Selleck disinfection kinetic model. The magnitudes of Collins-Selleck kinetic parameters were significantly greater at thermophilic temperatures compared to 40 °C, but few statistically significant differences were observed among these parameters for the thermophilic anaerobic digesters. This model allows for the direct comparison of different operating conditions (e.g., temperature) on anaerobic digestion performance in mitigating the quantity of ARGs in wastewater solids and could be used to design full-scale anaerobic digesters to specifically treat for ARGs as a "pollutant" of concern.

  11. Understanding the impact of cationic polyacrylamide on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dongbo; Liu, Xuran; Zeng, Guangming; Zhao, Jianwei; Liu, Yiwen; Wang, Qilin; Chen, Fei; Li, Xiaoming; Yang, Qi

    2018-03-01

    Previous investigations showed that cationic polyacrylamide (cPAM), a flocculant widely used in wastewater pretreatment and waste activated sludge dewatering, deteriorated methane production during anaerobic digestion of sludge. However, details of how cPAM affects methane production are poorly understood, hindering deep control of sludge anaerobic digestion systems. In this study, the mechanisms of cPAM affecting sludge anaerobic digestion were investigated in batch and long-term tests using either real sludge or synthetic wastewaters as the digestion substrates. Experimental results showed that the presence of cPAM not only slowed the process of anaerobic digestion but also decreased methane yield. The maximal methane yield decreased from 139.1 to 86.7 mL/g of volatile suspended solids (i.e., 1861.5 to 1187.0 mL/L) with the cPAM level increasing from 0 to 12 g/kg of total suspended solids (i.e., 0-236.7 mg/L), whereas the corresponding digestion time increased from 22 to 26 d. Mechanism explorations revealed that the addition of cPAM significantly restrained the sludge solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis processes. It was found that ∼46% of cAPM was degraded in the anaerobic digestion, and the degradation products significantly affected methane production. Although the theoretically biochemical methane potential of cPAM is higher than that of protein and carbohydrate, only 6.7% of the degraded cPAM was transformed to the final product, methane. Acrylamide, acrylic acid, and polyacrylic acid were found to be the main degradation metabolites, and their amount accounted for ∼50% of the degraded cPAM. Further investigations showed that polyacrylic acid inhibited all the solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis processes while acrylamide and acrylic acid inhibited the methanogenesis significantly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Efficiency of a pilot-scale integrated sludge thickening and digestion reactor in treating low-organic excess sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Qiang; Li, Jiang; Liu, Hongxia; Tang, Chuandong; de Koning, Jaap; Spanjers, Henri

    2012-06-01

    The sludge production from medium- and small-scale wastewater treatment plants in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region is low and non-stable; especially, the organic content in this sludge is low (near 40% of VS/TS). An integrated thickening and digestion (ISTD) reactor was developed to treat this low-organic excess sludge. After a flow test and start-up experiment of the reactor, a running experiment was used to investigate the excess sludge treatment efficiency under five different excess sludge inflows: 200, 300, 400, 500 and 400 L/d (a mixture of excess sludge and primary sludge in a volume ratio of 9:1). This trial was carried out in the wastewater treatment plant in Chongqing, which covers 80% of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, under the following conditions: (1) sludge was heated to 38-40 degrees C using an electrical heater to maintain anaerobic mesophilic digestion; (2) the biogas produced was recirculated to mix raw sludge with anaerobic sludge in the reactor under the flow rate of 12.5 L/min. There were three main results. Firstly, the flow pattern of the inner reactor was almost completely mixed under the air flow of 12.0 L/min using clear water. Secondly, under all the different sludge inflows, the water content in the outlet sludge was below 93%. Thirdly, the organic content in the outlet sludge was decreased from 37% to 30% and from 24% to 20%, whose removal ratio was in relation to the organic content of the inlet sludge. The excess sludge treatment capacity of the ISTD reactor was according to the organic content in the excess sludge.

  13. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of biologically pretreated abattoir wastewaters in an upflow anaerobic filter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gannoun, H.; Bouallagui, H.; Okbi, A.; Sayadi, S.; Hamdi, M.

    2009-01-01

    The hydrolysis pretreatment of abattoir wastewaters (AW), rich in organic suspended solids (fats and protein) was studied in static and stirred batch reactors without aeration in the presence of natural microbial population acclimated in a storage tank of AW. Microbial analysis showed that the major populations which contribute to the pretreatment of AW belong to the genera Bacillus. Contrary to the static pretreatment, the stirred conditions favoured the hydrolysis and solubilization of 80% of suspended matter into soluble pollution. The pretreated AW, in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 days, was fed to an upflow anaerobic filter (UAF) at an HRT of 2 days. The performance of anaerobic digestion of biologically pretreated AW was examined under mesophilic (37 deg. C) and thermophilic (55 deg. C) conditions. The shifting from a mesophilic to a thermophilic environment in the UAF was carried out with a short start-up of thermophilic condition. The UAF ran at organic loading rates (OLRs) ranging from 0.9 to 6 g COD/L d in mesophilic conditions and at OLRs from 0.9 to 9 g COD/L d in thermophilic conditions. COD removal efficiencies of 80-90% were achieved for OLRs up to 4.5 g COD/L d in mesophilic conditions, while the highest OLRs i.e. 9 g COD/L d led to efficiencies of 70-72% in thermophilic conditions. The biogas yield in thermophilic conditions was about 0.32-0.45 L biogas/g of COD removed for OLRs up to 4.5 g COD/L d. For similar OLR, the UAF in mesophilic conditions showed lower percentage of methanization. Mesophilic anaerobic digestion has been shown to destroy pathogens partially, whereas the thermophilic process was more efficient in the removal of indicator microorganisms and pathogenic bacteria at different organic loading rates.

  14. Evaluation of the dual digestion system 2: operation and performance of the pure oxygen aerobic reactor

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Messenger, JR

    1993-07-01

    Full Text Available In a comprehensive study of the performance of a full-scale (45 m3) pure oxygen autothermal thermophilic aerobic reactor of a sewage sludge dual digestion system, it was found that: Biological heat generation rate was directly proportional...

  15. Biogas recovery from tanning sludges. Anaerobic digestion of lime fleshings, tanning sludge, and unhairing baths, laboratory and pilot scale results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fendrup, W.; Hansen, S.; Petersen, G.

    1983-11-01

    Mesophilic anaerobic digestion of various types of tannery and other wastes, separately or in mixtures, has been investigated. The following materials were used: Lime fleshings, Tannery sludge, Beamhouse sludge, Municipal sludge, Chrome leather shavings, Liquid manure. The investigations have shown anaerobic digestion to be possible with untanned tannery wastes as well as tannery effluent sludge as a substrate. Specially high gas yields were found by digestion of mixtures of tannery wastes and manure. This may be applicable to mixtures of tannery wastes and municipal sludge, too. The gas contains 0.5 - 1.0% H2S. About 25% of the gross energy (methane) output is used for sustaining the temperature necessary for the digestion together with the mixing and conveying of the material to be digested. If electricity is produced, 25% of the gross output is obtained as useful electric energy and 35% as useful thermic energy. If the gas is burned, 60% of the gross output is obtained as useful thermic energy. With the price relations found in most countries (e.g. Denmark, Finland and Sweden) it will be most profitable to produce electricity, whereas in some cases (e.g. Norway) the opposite may be true. The energy requirement of a typic Scandinavian tannery is 14.200 MJ/t rawhide as thermic energy and 2.300 MJ/t rawhide as electric energy, which means that maximum 14% of the thermic energy requirement or maximum 35% of the electricity requirement could be covered by the wastes digestion. Profitability calculations are made for each Scandinavian country. The calculations show that too small digestion plants are not profitable.

  16. Application of Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 for simulating anaerobic mesophilic sludge digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendes, Carlos; Esquerre, Karla; Matos Queiroz, Luciano

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • The behavior of a anaerobic reactor was evaluated through modeling. • Parametric sensitivity analysis was used to select most sensitive of the ADM1. • The results indicate that the ADM1 was able to predict the experimental results. • Organic load rate above of 35 kg/m 3 day affects the performance of the process. - Abstract: Improving anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge by monitoring common indicators such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs), gas composition and pH is a suitable solution for better sludge management. Modeling is an important tool to assess and to predict process performance. The present study focuses on the application of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) to simulate the dynamic behavior of a reactor fed with sewage sludge under mesophilic conditions. Parametric sensitivity analysis is used to select the most sensitive ADM1 parameters for estimation using a numerical procedure while other parameters are applied without any modification to the original values presented in the ADM1 report. The results indicate that the ADM1 model after parameter estimation was able to predict the experimental results of effluent acetate, propionate, composites and biogas flows and pH with reasonable accuracy. The simulation of the effect of organic shock loading clearly showed that an organic shock loading rate above of 35 kg/m 3 day affects the performance of the reactor. The results demonstrate that simulations can be helpful to support decisions on predicting the anaerobic digestion process of sewage sludge

  17. Application of Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 for simulating anaerobic mesophilic sludge digestion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendes, Carlos, E-mail: carllosmendez@gmail.com; Esquerre, Karla, E-mail: karlaesquerre@ufba.br; Matos Queiroz, Luciano, E-mail: lmqueiroz@ufba.br

    2015-01-15

    Highlights: • The behavior of a anaerobic reactor was evaluated through modeling. • Parametric sensitivity analysis was used to select most sensitive of the ADM1. • The results indicate that the ADM1 was able to predict the experimental results. • Organic load rate above of 35 kg/m{sup 3} day affects the performance of the process. - Abstract: Improving anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge by monitoring common indicators such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs), gas composition and pH is a suitable solution for better sludge management. Modeling is an important tool to assess and to predict process performance. The present study focuses on the application of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) to simulate the dynamic behavior of a reactor fed with sewage sludge under mesophilic conditions. Parametric sensitivity analysis is used to select the most sensitive ADM1 parameters for estimation using a numerical procedure while other parameters are applied without any modification to the original values presented in the ADM1 report. The results indicate that the ADM1 model after parameter estimation was able to predict the experimental results of effluent acetate, propionate, composites and biogas flows and pH with reasonable accuracy. The simulation of the effect of organic shock loading clearly showed that an organic shock loading rate above of 35 kg/m{sup 3} day affects the performance of the reactor. The results demonstrate that simulations can be helpful to support decisions on predicting the anaerobic digestion process of sewage sludge.

  18. Three-dimensional fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy with regional integration analysis for assessing waste sludge hydrolysis treated with multi-enzyme and thermophilic bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Liang; Lu, Mingmin; Li, Qianqian; Zhang, Jiawen; Zong, Yan; She, Zonglian

    2014-11-01

    The hydrolysis effect of waste sludge after multi-enzyme and thermophilic bacteria pretreatments is investigated using excitation-emission matrix (EEM) with fluorescence regional integration (FRI) in this study. The compositional characteristics of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and dissolved organic matters (DOM) were analyzed to evaluate the sludge disintegration. The EPS and cell wall in sludge were disrupted after hydrolysis which led to carbohydrate, protein and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) of DOM increasing in sludge supernatant. The bio-degradability level in the extracted fractions of EPS and DOM depending on the fluorescence zones was found after hydrolysis. The highest proportion of percent fluorescence response (Pi,n) in EPS and DOM was soluble microbial by-product and humic acid-like organics. A significant increase of humic acid-like organics in DOM after thermophilic bacteria hydrolysis was obtained. The assessment of hydrolysis using EEM coupled with FRI provided a new insight toward the bio-utilization process of waste sludge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Multiple approaches to characterize the microbial community in a thermophilic anaerobic digester running on swine manure: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuan, Nguyen Ngoc; Chang, Yi-Chia; Yu, Chang-Ping; Huang, Shir-Ly

    2014-01-01

    In this study, the first survey of microbial community in thermophilic anaerobic digester using swine manure as sole feedstock was performed by multiple approaches including denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), clone library and pyrosequencing techniques. The integrated analysis of 21 DGGE bands, 126 clones and 8506 pyrosequencing read sequences revealed that Clostridia from the phylum Firmicutes account for the most dominant Bacteria. In addition, our analysis also identified additional taxa that were missed by the previous researches, including members of the bacterial phyla Synergistetes, Planctomycetes, Armatimonadetes, Chloroflexi and Nitrospira which might also play a role in thermophilic anaerobic digester. Most archaeal 16S rRNA sequences could be assigned to the order Methanobacteriales instead of Methanomicrobiales comparing to previous studies. In addition, this study reported that the member of Methanothermobacter genus was firstly found in thermophilic anaerobic digester. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  20. A strict anaerobic extreme thermophilic hydrogen-producing culture enriched from digested household waste

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karakashev, Dimitar Borisov; Kotay, Shireen Meher; Trably, Eric

    2009-01-01

    The aim of this study was to enrich, characterize and identify strict anaerobic extreme thermophilic hydrogen (H-2) producers from digested household solid wastes. A strict anaerobic extreme thermophilic H-2 producing bacterial culture was enriched from a lab-scale digester treating household...... wastes at 70 degrees C. The enriched mixed culture consisted of two rod-shaped bacterial members growing at an optimal temperature of 80 degrees C and an optimal pH 8.1. The culture was able to utilize glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, arabinose, maltose, sucrose, pyruvate and glycerol as carbon...... sources. Growth on glucose produced acetate, H-2 and carbon dioxide. Maximal H-2 production rate on glucose was 1.1 mmol l(-1) h(-1) with a maximum H-2 yield of 1.9 mole H-2 per mole glucose. 16S ribosomal DNA clone library analyses showed that the culture members were phylogenetically affiliated...

  1. Preliminary study of acrylamide monomer decomposition during methane fermentation of dairy waste sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mroczek, Ewelina; Konieczny, Piotr; Lewicki, Andrzej; Waśkiewicz, Agnieszka; Dach, Jacek

    2016-07-01

    Polyacrylamide (PAM) used in sludge dewatering exists widely in high-solid anaerobic digestion. Acrylamide is registered in the list of chemicals demonstrating toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask about the mobility of such residual substances in the environment. The study was carried out to assess the impact of the mesophilic (39±1°C) and thermophilic (54±1°C) fermentation process on the level of acrylamide monomer (AMD) content in the dairy sludge. The material was analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for quantification of AMD. The results indicate that the process of methane fermentation continues regardless of the temperature effects on the degradation of AMD in dairy sludge. The degree of reduction of acrylamide monomer for thermophilic fermentation is 100%, while for mesophilic fermentation it is 91%. In practice, this means that biogas technology eliminates the risk of AMD migration to plant tissue. Moreover, it should be stressed that 90% of cumulative biogas and methane production was reached one week earlier under thermophilic conditions - the dynamics of the methanisation process were over 20% faster. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. Continuous thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion of sludge. Energy integration study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Elvira, S I; Fdz-Polanco, F

    2012-01-01

    Experimental data obtained from the operation in a pilot plant are used to perform mass and energy balances to a global process combining units of thermal hydrolysis (TH) of secondary sludge, anaerobic digestion (AD) of hydrolysed secondary sludge together with fresh primary sludge, and cogeneration from biogas by using a gas engine in which the biogas produces electricity and heat from the exhaust gases. Three scenarios were compared, corresponding to the three digesters operated: C (conventional AD, 17 days residence time), B (combined TH + AD, same time), and A (TH + AD at half residence time). The biogas production of digesters B and A was 33 and 24% better, respectively when compared with C. In the case of the combined TH + AD process (scenarios A and B), the key factors in the energy balance were the recovery of heat from hot streams, and the concentration of sludge. The results of the balances showed that for 8% DS concentration of the secondary sludge tested in the pilot plant, the process can be energetically self-sufficient, but a fraction of the biogas must by-pass the gas engine to be directly burned. From an economic point of view, scenario B is more profitable in terms of green energy and higher waste removal, while scenario A reduces the digester volume required by a half. Considering a population of 100,000 inhabitants, the economic benefit is 87,600 €/yr for scenario A and 132,373 €/yr for B. This value can be increased to 223,867 €/yr by increasing the sludge concentration of the feeding to the TH unit to a minimum value that allows use of all the biogas to produce green energy. This concentration is 13% DS, which is still possible from a practical point of view. Additional benefits gained with the combined TH + AD process are the enhancement of the digesters rheology and the possibility of getting Class A biosolids. The integration study presented here set the basis for the scale-up to a demonstration plant.

  3. Anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and molasses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalemba, Katarzyna; Barbusiński, Krzysztof

    2017-11-01

    The efficiency of simultaneous digestion of sewage sludge and by-product of refining sugar beets (molasses) was investigated. The study was conducted for 28 days under mesophilic conditions. 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 3% (m/m) of molasses was added to the mixture of sludge. The result of the study showed that addition of molasses had positive effect the biogas production. The biggest biogas yield was achieved in sample with 0.5% of molasses (95.69 mL/g VS). In this sample biogas production increased by 21% in comparison with reference sample (without molasses). The biggest methane content (73%) was also observed in the sample with 0.5% of molasses. For comparison in reference sample was produced biogas with 70% content of methane. The dose over 0.5% of molasses caused inhibition of fermentation process. The minimal degree (38%) of degradation of organic matter was achieved in reference sample (38.53%) and in sample with 0.5% of molasses (39.71%) but in other samples was in the range of 35.61-36.76 % (from 3% to 1%, respectively). Digestion process have adverse effect on dewatering properties of sludge. Before co-digestion capillary suction time was from 31 s to 55 s, and after process increased from 36 s to 556 s (from 0% to 3% of molasses, respectively).

  4. Modified anaerobic digestion elutriated phased treatment for the anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food wastewater.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Kyung; Lee, Wonbae; Kim, Moonil

    2017-02-01

    A modified anaerobic digestion elutriated phased treatment (MADEPT) process was developed for investigating anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food wastewater. The anaerobic digestion elutriated phased treatment (ADEPT) process is similar to a two-phase system, however, in which the effluent from a methanogenic reactor recycles into an acidogenic reactor to elutriate mainly dissolved organics. Although ADEPT could reduce reactor volume significantly, the unsolubilized solids should be wasted from the system. The MADEPT process combines thermo-alkali solubilization with ADEPT to improve anaerobic performance and to minimize the sludge disposal. It was determined that the optimal volume mixing ratio of sewage sludge and food wastewater was 4 : 1 for the anaerobic co-digestion. The removal efficiencies of total chemical oxygen demand, volatile solids, and volatile suspended solids in the MADEPT process were 73%, 70%, and 64%, respectively. However, those in the ADEPT process were only 48%, 37%, and 40%, respectively, at the same hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 7 days. The gas production of MADEPT was two times higher than that of ADEPT. The thermo-alkali solubilization increased the concentration of dissolved organics so that they could be effectively degraded in a short HRT, implying that MADEPT could improve the performance of ADEPT in anaerobic co-digestion.

  5. ENERGY SLUDGE PROCESSING IN A SEPARATE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT DIGESTER POMORZANY IN SZCZECIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Iżewska

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Pomorzany Sewage Treatment Plant in Szczecin ensures the required parameters of treated sewage. However, due to higher efficiency of sewage treatment, more sludge is produced after the treatment process. In the examined sludge treatment plant, primary sludge is gravitationally thickened to the content of about 5% of dry matter, and the excessive is thickened in mechanical compactors up to 6% of dry matter. Settlements preliminary and excessive after compaction is discharged to the sludge tank where a pump is forced into two closed digesters. Each digester has the capacity of 5069 m3. At a temperature of about 37 °C a mesophilic digestion is performed. Biogas, that is produced in the chamber, is stored in two-coat tanks with the capacity of 1500 m3 each and after desulphurization with the biosulfex method (which results with obtaining elemental sulphur it is used as fuel in cogeneration units. The aim of this study was to determine amount of energy given by sewage sludge in the form of heat during the process of methane digestion (primary and excessive. These amounts were determined on the basis of chemical energy balance of sewage carried into and out of Separate Sludge Digesters and produced biogas within 24h. The study determined that the percentage value of average chemical energy amount turned into heat and discharged with produced methane in relation to chemical energy of sewage carried into the first digester in Pomorzany Treatment Plant in Szczecin was in the range of 47.86 ± 9.73% for a confidence level of 0.95. On average 80.86 ± 33.65% was emitted with methane and 19.14 ± 33.65% of energy was changed into heat.

  6. Enhancing anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by pretreatment: effect of volatile to total solids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao; Duan, Xu; Chen, Jianguang; Fang, Kuo; Feng, Leiyu; Yan, Yuanyuan; Zhou, Qi

    2016-01-01

    In this study the effect of volatile to total solids (VS/TS) on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) pretreated by alkaline, thermal and thermal-alkaline strategies was studied. Experimental results showed that the production of methane from sludge was increased with VS/TS. When anaerobic digesters were fed with sludge pretreated by the thermal-alkaline method, the average methane yield was improved from 2.8 L/d at VS/TS 0.35 to 4.7 L/d at VS/TS 0.56. Also, the efficiency of VS reduction during sludge anaerobic digestion varied between 18.9% and 45.6%, and increased gradually with VS/TS. Mechanism investigation of VS/TS on WAS anaerobic digestion suggested that the general activities of anaerobic microorganisms, activities of key enzymes related to sludge hydrolysis, acidification and methanogenesis, and the ratio of Archaea to Bacteria were all increased with VS/TS, showing good agreement with methane production.

  7. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of rendering plant and slaughterhouse wastes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayr, Suvi; Rantanen, Marianne; Kaparaju, Prasad; Rintala, Jukka

    2012-01-01

    Co-digestion of rendering and slaughterhouse wastes was studied in laboratory scale semi-continuously fed continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) at 35 and 55 °C. All in all, 10 different rendering plant and slaughterhouse waste fractions were characterised showing high contents of lipids and proteins, and methane potentials of 262-572 dm(3)CH(4)/kg volatile solids(VS)(added). In mesophilic CSTR methane yields of ca 720 dm(3) CH(4)/kg VS(fed) were obtained with organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.0 and 1.5 kg VS/m(3) d, and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d. For thermophilic process, the lowest studied OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m(3) d, turned to be unstable after operation of 1.5 HRT, due to accumulating ammonia, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and probably also long chain fatty acids (LCFAs). In conclusion, mesophilic process was found to be more feasible for co-digestion than thermophilic process, methane yields being higher and process more stable in mesophilic conditions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Review of enhanced processes for anaerobic digestion treatment of sewage sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xinyuan; Han, Zeyu; Yang, Jie; Ye, Tianyi; Yang, Fang; Wu, Nan; Bao, Zhenbo

    2018-02-01

    Great amount of sewage sludge had been produced each year, which led to serious environmental pollution. Many new technologies had been developed recently, but they were hard to be applied in large scales. As one of the traditional technologies, anaerobic fermentation process was capable of obtaining bioenergy by biogas production under the functions of microbes. However, the anaerobic process is facing new challenges due to the low fermentation efficiency caused by the characteristics of sewage sludge itself. In order to improve the energy yield, the enhancement technologies including sewage sludge pretreatment process, co-digestion process, high-solid digestion process and two-stage fermentation process were widely studied in the literatures, which were introduced in this article.

  9. A comparative study of thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and wheat straw: Process stability and microbial community structure shifts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Xuchuan; Guo, Xianglin; Zuo, Jiane; Wang, Yajiao; Zhang, Mengyu

    2018-05-01

    Renewable energy recovery from organic solid waste via anaerobic digestion is a promising way to provide sustainable energy supply and eliminate environmental pollution. However, poor efficiency and operational problems hinder its wide application of anaerobic digestion. The effects of two key parameters, i.e. temperature and substrate characteristics on process stability and microbial community structure were studied using two lab-scale anaerobic reactors under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. Both the reactors were fed with food waste (FW) and wheat straw (WS). The organic loading rates (OLRs) were maintained at a constant level of 3 kg VS/(m 3 ·d). Five different FW:WS substrate ratios were utilized in different operational phases. The synergetic effects of co-digestion improved the stability and performance of the reactors. When FW was mono-digested, both reactors were unstable. The mesophilic reactor eventually failed due to volatile fatty acid accumulation. The thermophilic reactor had better performance compared to mesophilic one. The biogas production rate of the thermophilic reactor was 4.9-14.8% higher than that of mesophilic reactor throughout the experiment. The shifts in microbial community structures throughout the experiment in both thermophilic and mesophilic reactors were investigated. With increasing FW proportions, bacteria belonging to the phylum Thermotogae became predominant in the thermophilic reactor, while the phylum Bacteroidetes was predominant in the mesophilic reactor. The genus Methanosarcina was the predominant methanogen in the thermophilic reactor, while the genus Methanothrix remained predominant in the mesophilic reactor. The methanogenesis pathway shifted from acetoclastic to hydrogenotrophic when the mesophilic reactor experienced perturbations. Moreover, the population of lignocellulose-degrading microorganisms in the thermophilic reactor was higher than those in mesophilic reactor, which explained the better

  10. Effects of loading rate and temperature on anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge in a high frequency feeding system, looking in particular at stability and efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qian; Li, Hao; Wang, Gaojun; Wang, Xiaochang

    2017-08-01

    A continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with a high feeding frequency (HFF) of once every 15min was employed in order to ease the loading shock frequently occurred in digester with a low feeding frequency. The effects of the organic loading rate (OLR) and temperature on the co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge was evaluated in a 302-day long-term experiment. Due to the high hydrolysis rate, the maximum CH 4 yield in a thermophilic reactor was 407mL CH 4 /gVS added , a value that was significantly higher than the 350mL CH 4 /gVS added that occurred in a mesophilic reactor. Although the alkalinity declined when HRT was shorted than 10d, caused by the decrease of conversion ratio from protein to ammonium, the increase of specific methanogenic activity helped HFF system to achieve stable performance at an OLR of 11.2 (HRT 7.5d) and 30.2gVS/L/d (HRT 3d) under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Combined electrical-alkali pretreatment to increase the anaerobic hydrolysis rate of waste activated sludge during anaerobic digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhen, Guangyin; Lu, Xueqin; Li, Yu-You; Zhao, Youcai

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Combined electrical-alkali pretreatment for improving sludge anaerobic digestion was proposed. • Combined process enhanced the cell lysis, biopolymers releases, and thus sludge disintegration. • Increased solubilization of sludge increased the anaerobic hydrolysis rate. • Increased solubilization does not always induce an improved anaerobic digestion efficiency. - Abstract: Pretreatment can be used prior to anaerobic digestion to improve the efficiency of waste activated sludge (WAS) digestion. In this study, electrolysis and a commonly used pretreatment method of alkaline (NaOH) solubilization were integrated as a pretreatment method for promoting WAS anaerobic digestion. Pretreatment effectiveness of combined process were investigated in terms of disintegration degree (DD SCOD ), suspended solids (TSS and VSS) removals, the releases of protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS), and subsequent anaerobic digestion as well as dewaterability after digestion. Electrolysis was able to crack the microbial cells trapped in sludge gels and release the biopolymers (PN and PS) due to the cooperation of alkaline solubilization, enhancing the sludge floc disintegration/solubilization, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays showed the highest methane yield was achieved with 5 V plus pH 9.2 pretreatment with up to 20.3% improvement over the non-pretreated sludge after 42 days of mesophilic operation. In contrast, no discernible improvements on anaerobic degradability were observed for the rest of pretreated sludges, probably due to the overmuch leakage of refractory soluble organics, partial chemical mineralization of solubilized compounds and sodium inhibition. The statistical analysis further indicated that increased solubilization induced by electrical-alkali pretreatment increased the first-order anaerobic hydrolysis rate (k hyd ), but had no, or very slight enhancement on WAS ultimate

  12. Comprehensive microbial analysis of combined mesophilic anaerobic-thermophilic aerobic process treating high-strength food wastewater.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Hyun Min; Ha, Jeong Hyub; Park, Jong Moon; Kim, Mi-Sun; Sommer, Sven G

    2015-04-15

    A combined mesophilic anaerobic-thermophilic aerobic process was used to treat high-strength food wastewater in this study. During the experimental period, most of solid residue from the mesophilic anaerobic reactor (R1) was separated by centrifugation and introduced into the thermophilic aerobic reactor (R2) for further digestion. Then, thermophilic aerobically-digested sludge was reintroduced into R1 to enhance reactor performance. The combined process was operated with two different Runs: Run I with hydraulic retention time (HRT) = 40 d (corresponding OLR = 3.5 kg COD/m(3) d) and Run II with HRT = 20 d (corresponding OLR = 7 kg COD/m(3)). For a comparison, a single-stage mesophilic anaerobic reactor (R3) was operated concurrently with same OLRs and HRTs as the combined process. During the overall digestion, all reactors showed high stability without pH control. The combined process demonstrated significantly higher organic matter removal efficiencies (over 90%) of TS, VS and COD and methane production than did R3. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) results indicated that higher populations of both bacteria and archaea were maintained in R1 than in R3. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed relatively high abundance of phylum Actinobacteria in both R1 and R2, and a predominance of phyla Synergistetes and Firmicutes in R3 during Run II. Furthermore, R1 and R2 shared genera (Prevotella, Aminobacterium, Geobacillus and Unclassified Actinobacteria), which suggests synergy between mesophilic anaerobic digestion and thermophilic aerobic digestion. For archaea, in R1 methanogenic archaea shifted from genus Methanosaeta to Methanosarcina, whereas genera Methanosaeta, Methanobacterium and Methanoculleus were predominant in R3. The results demonstrated dynamics of key microbial populations that were highly consistent with an enhanced reactor performance of the combined process. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Leaching and accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge under concomitant thermophilic and low pH conditions

    KAUST Repository

    Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela; Lopes, Sí lvia I C; Saikaly, Pascal; Lens, Piet Nl L

    2012-01-01

    The leaching and/or accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge systems was investigated. Two thermophilic up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors operated at pH 5 were fed with sucrose (4gCODl reactor -1d -1) and sulfate at different COD/SO 4 2- ratios. During the start-up of such acidogenic systems, an initial leaching of trace elements from the inoculum sludge occurred regardless of trace elements supplementation in the reactor influent. The granular sludge maintained the physical structure despite high Fe leaching. After start-up and nonetheless the acidic conditions, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo and Se were retained or accumulated by the sludge when added. Particularly, Ni and Co accumulated in the carbonates and exchangeable fractions ensuring potential bioavailability. Otherwise, the initial stock in the inoculum sludge sufficed to operate the process for nearly 1year without supplementation of trace elements and no significant sludge wash-out occurred. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  14. Leaching and accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge under concomitant thermophilic and low pH conditions

    KAUST Repository

    Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela

    2012-12-01

    The leaching and/or accumulation of trace elements in sulfate reducing granular sludge systems was investigated. Two thermophilic up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors operated at pH 5 were fed with sucrose (4gCODl reactor -1d -1) and sulfate at different COD/SO 4 2- ratios. During the start-up of such acidogenic systems, an initial leaching of trace elements from the inoculum sludge occurred regardless of trace elements supplementation in the reactor influent. The granular sludge maintained the physical structure despite high Fe leaching. After start-up and nonetheless the acidic conditions, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo and Se were retained or accumulated by the sludge when added. Particularly, Ni and Co accumulated in the carbonates and exchangeable fractions ensuring potential bioavailability. Otherwise, the initial stock in the inoculum sludge sufficed to operate the process for nearly 1year without supplementation of trace elements and no significant sludge wash-out occurred. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  15. CO-DIGESTION OF SEWAGE SLUDGE AND MATURE LANDFILL LEACHATE IN PRE-BIOAUGMENTED SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Montusiewicz

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The study examined the effects of co-digestion of sewage sludge and mature landfill leachate at the volumetric ratio of 95:5% in primarily bioaugmented system. Bioaugmentation was carried out with the use of commercial product Arkea® in the volumetric dose of 5% and lasted three months prior to the co-digestion start-up. Co-digestion was undergone without bioaugmentation. The results indicated that in the first period (of three months following bioaugmentation, co-digestion led to biogas/methane yields only 5-8% lower as compared to anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, and the differences were not statistically significant. Moreover, a comparable value of volatile solids removal was obtained. However, the effects became worse over time, i.e. a lower organics removal efficiency of 16% as well as 9.5–13% decreases of biogas/methane yields were achieved by applying co-digestion for a further period (of the same duration. Co-digestion of sewage sludge and mature landfill leachate could be recognized as quite efficient in the system that was primarily bioaugmented with the use of Arkea®. However, the beneficial impact of bioaugmentation remained for the limited period of three months after its completion. To sustain the favourable effects a periodical, repeatable bioaugmentation of the co-digestion system is required.

  16. ANAEROBIC BIODEGRADATION OF A BIODEGRADABLE MATERIAL UNDER ANAEROBIC - THERMOPHILIC DIGESTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RICARDO CAMACHO-MUÑOZ

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper dertermined the anaerobic biodegradation of a polymer obtained by extrusion process of native cassava starch, polylactic acid and polycaprolactone. Initially a thermophilic - methanogenic inoculum was prepared from urban solid waste. The gas final methane concentration and medium’s pH reached values of 59,6% and 7,89 respectively. The assay assembly was carried out according ASTM D5511 standard. The biodegradation percent of used materials after 15 day of digestion were: 77,49%, 61,27%, 0,31% for cellulose, sample and polyethylene respectively. Due cellulose showed biodegradation levels higher than 70% it’s deduced that the inoculum conditions were appropriate. A biodegradation level of 61,27%, 59,35% of methane concentration in sample’s evolved gas and a medium’s finale pH of 7,71 in sample’s vessels, reveal the extruded polymer´s capacity to be anaerobically degraded under thermophilic- high solid concentration conditions.

  17. New process controls in the co-fermentation of organic waste and municipal sewage sludge; Neue Verfahrensfuehrungen bei der Co-Vergaerung von Bioabfaellen und kommunalen Klaerschlaemmen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schaepers, D.; Schierholt, M.; Buer, T.; Risse, H. [Technische Hochschule Aachen (DE). Inst. fuer Siedlungswasserwirtschaft (ISA)

    1999-07-01

    For the co-fermentation of organic waste and sewage sludge in digester towers at municipal sewage treatment plant, mainly single-stage processes have so far been studied or are in use in part. Within the framework of a project sponsored by the foundation Oswald-Schulze-Stiftung, the use of a two-stage mode of operation (thermophilic/mesophilic) for co-fermenting organic waste and sewage sludge was investigated. By adding organic waste to the digester content, biogas production per reactor volume was more than doubled in comparison with exclusive sewage sludge fermentation. Because of the thermophilic stage for the conditioning of organic waste, specific biogas yield for an organic load of 1.5 kg organic dry residue TR/m{sup 3*}d was slightly enhanced in comparison with single-stage co-fermentation. (orig.) [German] Zur Co-Vergaerung von Bioabfaellen und Klaerschlamm in Faultuermen kommunaler Klaeranlagen werden bislang hauptsaechlich einstufige Verfahren untersucht und teilweise eingesetzt. Im Rahmen eines von der Oswald-Schulze-Stiftung gefoerderten Projektes wurde der Einsatz einer 2-stufigen Betriebsweise (thermophil/mesophil) bei der Co-Vergaerung von Bioabfaellen und Klaerschlamm untersucht. Die Biogasproduktion pro Reaktorvolumen konnte durch die Zugabe von Bioabfall in die Faulbehaelter gegenueber der reinen Klaerschlammfaulung mehr als verdoppelt werden. Durch die thermophile Stufe zur Vorbehandlung der Bioabfaelle konnte die spezifische Biogasausbeute bei einer organischen Raumbelastung von 1,5 kg o TR/m{sup 3*}d gegenueber der 1-stufigen Co-Vergaerung leicht erhoeht werden. (orig.)

  18. The effect of sludge recirculation rate on a UASB-digester treating domestic sewage at 15 °C.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lei; Hendrickx, Tim L G; Kampman, Christel; Zeeman, Grietje; Temmink, Hardy; Li, Weiguang; Buisman, Cees J N

    2012-01-01

    The anaerobic treatment of low strength domestic sewage at low temperature is an attractive and important topic at present. The upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB)-digester system is one of the anaerobic systems to challenge low temperature and concentrations. The effect of sludge recirculation rate on a UASB-digester system treating domestic sewage at 15 °C was studied in this research. A sludge recirculation rate of 0.9, 2.6 and 12.5% of the influent flow rate was investigated. The results showed that the total chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency rose with increasing sludge recirculation rate. A sludge recirculation rate of 0.9% of the influent flow rate led to organic solids accumulation in the UASB reactor. After the sludge recirculation rate increased from 0.9 to 2.6%, the stability of the UASB sludge was substantially improved from 0.37 to 0.15 g CH₄-COD/g COD, and the bio-gas production in the digester went up from 2.9 to 7.4 L/d. The stability of the UASB sludge and bio-gas production in the digester were not significantly further improved by increasing sludge recirculation rate to 12.5% of the influent flow rate, but the biogas production in the UASB increased from 0.37 to 1.2 L/d. It is recommended to apply a maximum sludge recirculation rate of 2-2.5% of the influent flow rate in a UASB-digester system, as this still allows energy self-sufficiency of the system.

  19. [Distribution and removal of anaerobic antibiotic resistant bacteria during mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Juan; Wang, Yuan-Yue; Wei Yuan, Song

    2014-10-01

    Sewage sludge is one of the major sources that releasing antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) into the environment since it contains large amount of ARB, but there is little information about the fate of the anaerobic ARB in the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. Therefore, the distribution, removal and seasonal changes of tetracycline and β-lactam antibiotics resistant bacteria in the mesophilic egg-shaped digesters of a municipal wastewater treatment plant were investigated for one year in this study. Results showed that there were higher amounts of ARB and higher resistance rate of β-lactam antibiotics than that of tetracycline antibiotics in the sewage sludge. All ARB could be significantly reduced during the mesophilic anaerobic digestion process by 1.48-1.64 log unit (P anaerobic digestion by 12.0% and 14.3%, respectively (P bacteria, there were more ARB in the sewage sludge in cold season than in warm season (P < 0.05).

  20. Ultrasound assisted biogas production from co-digestion of wastewater sludges and agricultural wastes: Comparison with microwave pre-treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aylin Alagöz, B; Yenigün, Orhan; Erdinçler, Ayşen

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates the effect of ultrasonication and microwave sludge disintegration/pre-treatment techniques on the anaerobic co-digestion efficiency of wastewater sludges with olive and grape pomaces. The effects of both co-digestion and sludge pre-treatment techniques were evaluated in terms of the organic removal efficiency and the biogas production. The "co-digestion" of wastewater sludge with both types of pomaces was revealed to be a much more efficient way for the biogas production compared to the single (mono) sludge digestion. The ultrasonication and microwave pre-treatments applied to the sludge samples caused to a further increase in biogas and methane yields. Based on applied specific energies, ultrasonication pre-treatment was found much more effective than microwave irradiation. The specific energy applied in microwave pre-treatment (87,000kj/kgTS) was almost 9 times higher than that of used in ultrasonication (10,000kj/kgTS), resulting only 10-15% increases in biogas/methane yield. Co-digestion of winery and olive industry residues with pre-treated wastewater sludges appears to be a suitable technique for waste management and energy production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. A steady state model for anaerobic digestion of sewage sludges ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A steady state model for anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is developed that comprises three sequential parts – a kinetic part from which the % COD removal and ... and a carbonate system weak acid/base chemistry part from which the digester pH is calculated from the partial pressure of CO2 and alkalinity generated.

  2. AQUAPONIC SLUDGE DIGESTION FOR ORGANIC REDUCTION AND NUTRIENT REMINERALIZATION IN UASB REACTOR.

    OpenAIRE

    Delaide, Boris

    2017-01-01

    These first results on aquaponic sludge digestion are promising and highlight the interest to treat sludge directly onsite in order to reduce aquaponic system wastes and thus its impact on the environment and at the same time increase plant yield.

  3. Anaerobic digestion of biowastes; Biojaetteen anaerobinen hajottaminen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kymaelaeinen, M. [Haeme Polytechnic, Haemeenlinna (Finland)

    2005-07-01

    Caused by the demand for potential treatment options for biowastes, an interest on anaerobic digestion (AD) technology, i.e. biogasification, has clearly being increasing in Finland. There has been a need to increase knowledge and offer research facilities for the companies and other parties concerned. In this project, first, research and analytical facilities for AD studies were set up and tested. A mixture of a nitrogen rich waste (poultry slaughterhouse waste, PSHW) and a carbon rich waste (modified potato starch waste, PSW) was selected for the codigestion studies with sewage sludge (SS). The codigestion was studied in thermophilic lab-scale digesters (2x10 and 30 liters), and the startup of thermophilic digestion was clarified, in general. Typically, the PSHW must be treated at low load and long retention time due to the high concentration of lipids and proteins and their potential toxic degradation products such as long-chained fatty acids (LCFAs) and ammonia. The codigestion can help in lowering the effects of these toxic compounds. In this work, based on the experiments in 10 liters reactors fed with a fixed mixture of 2% PSHW, 8% PSW and 90% of SS, high loads of 2-4 kgVS/m3d and SRTs of 30 to 15 days could be applied. Good VS destruction could be achieved with 30 d SRT (76%) and 20 d SRT (55%). Based on the tests in 30 liters reactor fed with a varied mixture of the above mentioned wastes, high load of 4,8 kgVS/m{sup 3}d and SRT of 22 days with a mixture of 10% PSHW, 14% PSW and 76% of SS was also successfully applied. This resulted in the biogas production of about 0,7 Nm3/kgVSfed and VS reduction of around 70%. The critical process parameters were monitored in order to avoid the overloading of these digestion processes. The startup of thermophilic reactors with mesophilic digested sludge as inocula was successfully demonstrated. The findings increased the understanding and learned to control the startup and loading of AD processes thus encouraging the

  4. Biomass stabilization in the anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludges

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arnaiz, C. [Universidad de Sevilla, Dept. de Ingenieria Quimica y Ambiental, Sevilla (Spain); Gutierrez, J.C. [Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Dept. de Ciencias Ambientales, Sevilla (Spain); Lebrato, J. [Universidad de Sevilla, Grupo Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales, Sevilla (Spain)

    2005-07-01

    Sludge stabilization processes include both volatile solid destruction and biomass stabilization. Traditionally, both processes have been considered together, in such a way that, when volatile solid destruction is achieved, the biomass is considered stabilized. In this study, volatile solids reduction and biomass stabilization in the anaerobic digestion of primary, secondary and mixed sludges from municipal wastewater treatment plants were researched in batch cultures by measurements of suspended solids and suspended lipid-phosphate. The estimated kinetic constants were higher in all sludge types tested for the biomass stabilization process, indicating that volatile solids destruction and biomass stabilization are not parallel processes, since the latter one is reached before the former. (Author)

  5. Formation of metabolites during biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor under thermophilic conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Anders Skibsted; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    2002-01-01

    Biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) was shown in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor under thermophilic conditions. The reactor was inoculated with granular biomass and fed with a synthetic medium and 3 mumol/L of a mixture of LAS with alkylchain length of 10 to 13 carbon...

  6. Energy self-sufficient sewage wastewater treatment plants: is optimized anaerobic sludge digestion the key?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenicek, P; Kutil, J; Benes, O; Todt, V; Zabranska, J; Dohanyos, M

    2013-01-01

    The anaerobic digestion of primary and waste activated sludge generates biogas that can be converted into energy to power the operation of a sewage wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). But can the biogas generated by anaerobic sludge digestion ever completely satisfy the electricity requirements of a WWTP with 'standard' energy consumption (i.e. industrial pollution not treated, no external organic substrate added)? With this question in mind, we optimized biogas production at Prague's Central Wastewater Treatment Plant in the following ways: enhanced primary sludge separation; thickened waste activated sludge; implemented a lysate centrifuge; increased operational temperature; improved digester mixing. With these optimizations, biogas production increased significantly to 12.5 m(3) per population equivalent per year. In turn, this led to an equally significant increase in specific energy production from approximately 15 to 23.5 kWh per population equivalent per year. We compared these full-scale results with those obtained from WWTPs that are already energy self-sufficient, but have exceptionally low energy consumption. Both our results and our analysis suggest that, with the correct optimization of anaerobic digestion technology, even WWTPs with 'standard' energy consumption can either attain or come close to attaining energy self-sufficiency.

  7. Application of Biofilm Covered Activated Carbon Particles as a Microbial Inoculum Delivery System for Enhanced Bioaugmentation of PCBs in Contaminated Sediment

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    after anaerobic digestion at thermophilic conditions (60- 70C). Application of biofilm covered activated carbon particles as a microbial inoculum...Sludge Thickener; Sludge = Sludge after anaerobic digestion at thermophilic conditions (60- 70C). C3. Microscopic evaluation of dechlorinating...associated enzymes are capable of opening the biphenyl ring structure and transform the molecule into a linear structure, this changed structure was not

  8. Analysis on carbon dioxide emission reduction during the anaerobic synergetic digestion technology of sludge and kitchen waste: Taking kitchen waste synergetic digestion project in Zhenjiang as an example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Qia; Dai, Xiaohu

    2017-11-01

    With the popularization of municipal sewage treatment facilities, the improvement of sewage treatment efficiency and the deepening degree of sewage treatment, the sludge production of sewage plant has been sharply increased. Carbon emission during the process of municipal sewage treatment and disposal has become one of the important sources of greenhouse gases that cause greenhouse effect. How to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during sewage treatment and disposal process is of great significance for reducing air pollution. Kitchen waste and excess sludge, as two important organic wastes, once uses anaerobic synergetic digestion technology in the treatment process can on the one hand, avoid instability of sludge individual anaerobic digestion, improve sludge degradation rate and marsh gas production rate, and on the other hand, help increase the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to a great extent. The paper uses material balance method, analyzes and calculates the carbon dioxide emissions from kitchen waste and sludge disposed by the anaerobic synergetic digestion technology, compares the anaerobic synergetic digestion technology with traditional sludge sanitary landfill technology and works out the carbon dioxide emission reductions after synergetic digestion. It takes the kitchen waste and sludge synergetic digestion engineering project of Zhenjiang city in Jiangsu province as an example, makes material balance analysis using concrete data and works out the carbon dioxide daily emission reductions. The paper analyzes the actual situation of emission reduction by comparing the data, and found that the synergetic digestion of kitchen waste and sludge can effectively reduce the carbon dioxide emission, and the reduction is obvious especially compared with that of sludge sanitary landfill, which has a certain effect on whether to promote the use of the technology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Survival of weed seeds and animal parasites as affected by anaerobic digestion at meso- and thermophilic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johansen, Anders; Nielsen, Henrik B; Hansen, Christian M; Andreasen, Christian; Carlsgart, Josefine; Hauggard-Nielsen, Henrik; Roepstorff, Allan

    2013-04-01

    Anaerobic digestion of residual materials from animals and crops offers an opportunity to simultaneously produce bioenergy and plant fertilizers at single farms and in farm communities where input substrate materials and resulting digested residues are shared among member farms. A surplus benefit from this practice may be the suppressing of propagules from harmful biological pests like weeds and animal pathogens (e.g. parasites). In the present work, batch experiments were performed, where survival of seeds of seven species of weeds and non-embryonated eggs of the large roundworm of pigs, Ascaris suum, was assessed under conditions similar to biogas plants managed at meso- (37°C) and thermophilic (55°C) conditions. Cattle manure was used as digestion substrate and experimental units were sampled destructively over time. Regarding weed seeds, the effect of thermophilic conditions (55°C) was very clear as complete mortality, irrespective of weed species, was reached after less than 2 days. At mesophilic conditions, seeds of Avena fatua, Sinapsis arvensis, Solidago canadensis had completely lost germination ability, while Brassica napus, Fallopia convolvulus and Amzinckia micrantha still maintained low levels (~1%) of germination ability after 1 week. Chenopodium album was the only weed species which survived 1 week at substantial levels (7%) although after 11 d germination ability was totally lost. Similarly, at 55°C, no Ascaris eggs survived more than 3h of incubation. Incubation at 37°C did not affect egg survival during the first 48 h and it took up to 10 days before total elimination was reached. In general, anaerobic digestion in biogas plants seems an efficient way (thermophilic more efficient than mesophilic) to treat organic farm wastes in a way that suppresses animal parasites and weeds so that the digestates can be applied without risking spread of these pests. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Assessment of microbial viability in municipal sludge following ultrasound and microwave pretreatments and resulting impacts on the efficiency of anaerobic sludge digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cella, Monica Angela; Akgul, Deniz; Eskicioglu, Cigdem

    2016-03-01

    A range of ultrasonication (US) and microwave irradiation (MW) sludge pretreatments were compared to determine the extent of cellular destruction in micro-organisms within secondary sludge and how this cellular destruction translated to anaerobic digestion (AD). Cellular lysis/inactivation was measured using two microbial viability assays, (1) Syto 16® Green and Sytox® Orange counter-assay to discern the integrity of cellular membranes and (2) a fluorescein diacetate assay to understand relative enzymatic activity. A range of MW intensities (2.17-6.48 kJ/g total solids or TS, coinciding temperatures of 60-160 °C) were selected for comparison via viability assays; a range of corresponding US intensities (2.37-27.71 kJ/g TS, coinciding sonication times of 10-60 min at different amplitudes) were also compared to this MW range. The MW pretreatment of thickened waste activated sludge (tWAS) caused fourfold to fivefold greater cell death than non-pretreated and US-pretreated tWAS. The greatest microbial destruction occurred at MW intensities greater than 2.62 kJ/g TS of sludge, after which increased energy input via MW did not appear to cause greater microbial death. In addition, the optimal MW pretreatment (80 °C, 2.62 kJ/g TS) and corresponding US pretreatment (10 min, 60 % amplitude, 2.37 kJ/g TS) were administered to the tWAS of a mixed sludge and fed to anaerobic digesters over sludge retention times (SRTs) of 20, 14, and 7 days to compare effects of feed pretreatment on AD efficiency. The digester utilizing MW-pretreated tWAS (80 °C, 2.62 kJ/g TS) had the greatest fecal coliform removal (73.4 and 69.8 % reduction, respectively), greatest solids removal (44.2 % TS reduction), and highest overall methane production (248.2 L CH4/kg volatile solids) at 14- and 7-day SRTs. However, despite the fourfold to fivefold increases in cell death upon pretreatment, improvements from the digester fed MW-pretreated sludge were marginal (i.e., increases in efficiency of less

  11. High performance biological methanation in a thermophilic anaerobic trickle bed reactor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strübing, Dietmar; Huber, Bettina; Lebuhn, Michael; Drewes, Jörg E; Koch, Konrad

    2017-12-01

    In order to enhance energy efficiency of biological methanation of CO 2 and H 2 , this study investigated the performance of a thermophilic (55°C) anaerobic trickle bed reactor (ATBR) (58.1L) at ambient pressure. With a methane production rate of up to 15.4m 3 CH4 /(m 3 trickle bed ·d) at methane concentrations above 98%, the ATBR can easily compete with the performance of other mixed culture methanation reactors. Control of pH and nutrient supply turned out to be crucial for stable operation and was affected significantly by dilution due to metabolic water production, especially during demand-orientated operation. Considering practical applications, inoculation with digested sludge, containing a diverse biocenosis, showed high adaptive capacity due to intrinsic biological diversity. However, no macroscopic biofilm formation was observed at thermophilic conditions even after 313days of operation. The applied approach illustrates the high potential of thermophilic ATBRs as a very efficient energy conversion and storage technology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of garbage, screened swine and dairy cattle manure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Kai; Tang, Yue-Qin; Matsui, Toru; Morimura, Shigeru; Wu, Xiao-Lei; Kida, Kenji

    2009-01-01

    Methane fermentation characteristics of garbage, swine manure (SM), dairy cattle manure (DCM) and mixtures of these wastes were studied. SM and DCM showed much lower volatile total solid (VTS) digestion efficiencies and methane yield than those of garbage. VTS digestion efficiency of SM was significantly increased when it was co-digested with garbage (Garbage: SM=1:1). Co-digestion of garbage, SM and DCM with respect to the relative quantity of each waste discharged in the Kikuchi (1: 16: 27) and Aso (1: 19: 12) areas indicated that co-digestion with garbage would improve the digestion characteristic of SM and DCM as far as the ratio of DCM in the wastes was maintained below a certain level. When the mixed waste (Garbage: SM: DCM=1:19:12) was treated using a thermophilic UAF reactor, methanogens responsible for the methane production were Methanoculleus and Methanosarcina species. Bacterial species in the phylum Firmicutes were dominant bacteria responsible for the digestion of these wastes. As the percentage of garbage in the mixed wastes used in this study was low (2-3%) and the digestion efficiency of DCM was obviously improved, the co-digestion of SM and DCM with limited garbage was a prospective method to treat the livestock waste effectively and was an attractive alternative technology for the construction of a sustainable environment and society in stock raising area.

  13. Sludge digesters - important components of biological sewage treatment systems. Faulbehaelter - wichtige Bausteine der biologischen Abwasserklaerung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perthen, R [Ing.-Buero Perthen, Schwabach (Germany)

    1992-05-01

    Following some general explanations regarding the function of sludge digesters as components of sewage treatment systems, the paper deals with a sludge digester system in Bottrop. It consists of four egg-shaped reactors with a useful content of 15 000 m[sup 3]. The plant is designed for daily digestion of 3 000 m[sup 3] and a period of digestion of 20 days. Briefly described are the design blueprints tendered, special proposals regarding the construction of the shells and for the design of the base or foundation, as well as the actual construction work and special static and design features. (LU).

  14. Comparison of the microbial communities in solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) reactors operated at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yueh-Fen; Nelson, Michael C; Chen, Po-Hsu; Graf, Joerg; Li, Yebo; Yu, Zhongtang

    2015-01-01

    The microbiomes involved in liquid anaerobic digestion process have been investigated extensively, but the microbiomes underpinning solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) are poorly understood. In this study, microbiome composition and temporal succession in batch SS-AD reactors, operated at mesophilic or thermophilic temperatures, were investigated using Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. A greater microbial richness and evenness were found in the mesophilic than in the thermophilic SS-AD reactors. Firmicutes accounted for 60 and 82 % of the total Bacteria in the mesophilic and in the thermophilic SS-AD reactors, respectively. The genus Methanothermobacter dominated the Archaea in the thermophilic SS-AD reactors, while Methanoculleus predominated in the mesophilic SS-AD reactors. Interestingly, the data suggest syntrophic acetate oxidation coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis as an important pathway for biogas production during the thermophilic SS-AD. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that temperature was the most influential factor in shaping the microbiomes in the SS-AD reactors. Thermotogae showed strong positive correlation with operation temperature, while Fibrobacteres, Lentisphaerae, Spirochaetes, and Tenericutes were positively correlated with daily biogas yield. This study provided new insight into the microbiome that drives SS-AD process, and the findings may help advance understanding of the microbiome in SS-AD reactors and the design and operation of SS-AD systems.

  15. Effect of alkaline addition on anaerobic sludge digestion with combined pretreatment of alkaline and high pressure homogenization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Wei; Zhang, Panyue; Zhang, Guangming; Jin, Shuguang; Li, Dongyi; Zhang, Meixia; Xu, Xiangzhe

    2014-09-01

    To improve anaerobic digestion efficiency, combination pretreatment of alkaline and high pressure homogenization was applied to pretreat sewage sludge. Effect of alkaline dosage on anaerobic sludge digestion was investigated in detail. SCOD of sludge supernatant significantly increased with the alkaline dosage increase after the combined pretreatment because of sludge disintegration. Organics were significantly degraded after the anaerobic digestion, and the maximal SCOD, TCOD and VS removal was 73.5%, 61.3% and 43.5%, respectively. Cumulative biogas production, methane content in biogas and biogas production rate obviously increased with the alkaline dosage increase. Considering both the biogas production and alkaline dosage, the optimal alkaline dosage was selected as 0.04 mol/L. Relationships between biogas production and sludge disintegration showed that the accumulative biogas was mainly enhanced by the sludge disintegration. The methane yield linearly increased with the DDCOD increase as Methane yield (ml/gVS)=4.66 DDCOD-9.69. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Influence of two-phase anaerobic digestion on fate of selected antibiotic resistance genes and class I integrons in municipal wastewater sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ying; Cui, Erping; Zuo, Yiru; Cheng, Weixiao; Rensing, Christopher; Chen, Hong

    2016-07-01

    The response of representative antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to lab-scale two-phase (acidogenic/methanogenic phase) anaerobic digestion processes under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions was explored. The associated microbial communities and bacterial pathogens were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A two-phase thermophilic digestion reduced the presence of tetA, tetG, tetX, sul1, ermB, dfrA1, dfrA12 and intI1 exhibiting 0.1-0.72 log unit removal; in contrast, tetO, tetW, sul3, ermF and blaTEM even increased relative to the feed, and sul2 showed no significant decrease. The acidogenic phase of thermophilic digestion was primarily responsible for reducing the quantity of these genes, while the subsequent methanogenic phase caused a rebound in their quantity. In contrast, a two-phase mesophilic digestion process did not result in reducing the quantity of all ARGs and intI1 except for ermB and blaTEM. ARGs patterns were correlated with Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria during the two-phase anaerobic digestion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aghdam, Ehsan Fathi; Kinnunen, V.; Rintala, Jukka A.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), biowaste (BW), sewage sludge (SS), and co-digestion of BW and SS. Average methane yields of 386 ± 54, 385 ± 82, 198 ± 14, and 318 ± 59 L CH4/kg volatile solids (VS) were obtained for OFMSW...

  18. Microalgae Cultivation on Anaerobic Digestate of Municipal Wastewater, Sewage Sludge and Agro-Waste

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Zuliani

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Microalgae are fast-growing photosynthetic organisms which have the potential to be exploited as an alternative source of liquid fuels to meet growing global energy demand. The cultivation of microalgae, however, still needs to be improved in order to reduce the cost of the biomass produced. Among the major costs encountered for algal cultivation are the costs for nutrients such as CO2, nitrogen and phosphorous. In this work, therefore, different microalgal strains were cultivated using as nutrient sources three different anaerobic digestates deriving from municipal wastewater, sewage sludge or agro-waste treatment plants. In particular, anaerobic digestates deriving from agro-waste or sewage sludge treatment induced a more than 300% increase in lipid production per volume in Chlorella vulgaris cultures grown in a closed photobioreactor, and a strong increase in carotenoid accumulation in different microalgae species. Conversely, a digestate originating from a pilot scale anaerobic upflow sludge blanket (UASB was used to increase biomass production when added to an artificial nutrient-supplemented medium. The results herein demonstrate the possibility of improving biomass accumulation or lipid production using different anaerobic digestates.

  19. Conversion of sewage treatment plants on sludge digestion. Energetic and economic optimization potential

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmitt, Theo G.; Gretzschel, Oliver

    2014-03-01

    Investigations within the framework of the state-commissioned project ''Re-evaluation of wastewater purification plants with anaerobic sludge treatment with due consideration to framework conditions in terms of the energy and the wastewater management situation in Rhineland-Palatinate'', abbreviated ''NAwaS'', have shown that due to the rise in energy prices and availability of innovative techniques and methods it can be economically efficient, from a plant capacity of 10,000 inhabitants upwards, to convert sewage treatment plants to sludge digestion. Findings from the NAwaS project show the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to have a large potential for the conversion of sewage treatment plants to sludge digestion. Depending on the rate of price increase as well as interest rates the use of digester gas could permit an increase in electricity output by up to 50% over today's levels. Moreover, converted plants would be able to almost completely cover their own heat demand and in addition permit energy savings totalling an expected 5 kWh/(inhabitant x a). If one incorporates the possibilities offered by the procurement of sludge or suitable co-substrates from outside sources, by retrofitting sewage plants with combined heat and power stations or micro gas turbines as well as by process optimisation in existing digestion plants, this gives a further significant increase in potential production capacity and hence economic efficiency. In some of the sewage plants the above measures for saving energy and boosting energy production will even lead to energy self-sufficiency. [de

  20. On-Site Fecal Sludge Treatment with the Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forbis-Stokes, Aaron A; O'Meara, Patrick F; Mugo, Wangare; Simiyu, Gelas M; Deshusses, Marc A

    2016-11-01

    The Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine (ADPL) is a self-contained and energy neutral on-site sanitation system using anaerobic digestion of fecal sludge to generate biogas and then uses the biogas to pasteurize the digester effluent at 65-75°C to produce a safe effluent that can be reused locally as a fertilizer. Two ADPL systems were installed on residential plots with 17 and 35 residents in a peri-urban area outside of Eldoret, Kenya. Each system comprised three toilets built above a floating dome digester and one heat pasteurization system to sanitize the digested effluent. ADPLs are simple systems, with no moving parts and relying on gravity-induced flows. Adoption at the two sites was successful, and residents reported that the systems had little to no odor or flies. ADPLs were monitored for biogas production and temperatures in the pasteurization system. ADPLs serving 17 and 35 residents produced on average 16 and 11 L biogas /person/day (maximum of 20 and 15 L biogas /p/d), respectively. The temperature in the sterilization system was greater than 65°C on 58% and 87% of sampling days during the most stable period of operation. Treated effluent was analyzed periodically for chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), pH, and fecal coliform (FC). On average, the effluent at the two locations contained 4,540 and 6,450 mg COD/L (an 85% or 89% reduction of the estimated input), 2,050 and 3,970 mg BOD/L, and 2,420 and 4,760 mg NH 3 -N, respectively, and greater than 5 log reductions of FC (nondetectable) in the sterilization tank. Results from this field study show that anaerobic digestion of minimally diluted fecal sludge can provide enough energy to pasteurize digester effluent and that the ADPL may be a suitable option for on-site fecal sludge treatment.

  1. On-Site Fecal Sludge Treatment with the Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forbis-Stokes, Aaron A.; O'Meara, Patrick F.; Mugo, Wangare; Simiyu, Gelas M.; Deshusses, Marc A.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract The Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine (ADPL) is a self-contained and energy neutral on-site sanitation system using anaerobic digestion of fecal sludge to generate biogas and then uses the biogas to pasteurize the digester effluent at 65–75°C to produce a safe effluent that can be reused locally as a fertilizer. Two ADPL systems were installed on residential plots with 17 and 35 residents in a peri-urban area outside of Eldoret, Kenya. Each system comprised three toilets built above a floating dome digester and one heat pasteurization system to sanitize the digested effluent. ADPLs are simple systems, with no moving parts and relying on gravity-induced flows. Adoption at the two sites was successful, and residents reported that the systems had little to no odor or flies. ADPLs were monitored for biogas production and temperatures in the pasteurization system. ADPLs serving 17 and 35 residents produced on average 16 and 11 Lbiogas/person/day (maximum of 20 and 15 Lbiogas/p/d), respectively. The temperature in the sterilization system was greater than 65°C on 58% and 87% of sampling days during the most stable period of operation. Treated effluent was analyzed periodically for chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), pH, and fecal coliform (FC). On average, the effluent at the two locations contained 4,540 and 6,450 mg COD/L (an 85% or 89% reduction of the estimated input), 2,050 and 3,970 mg BOD/L, and 2,420 and 4,760 mg NH3-N, respectively, and greater than 5 log reductions of FC (nondetectable) in the sterilization tank. Results from this field study show that anaerobic digestion of minimally diluted fecal sludge can provide enough energy to pasteurize digester effluent and that the ADPL may be a suitable option for on-site fecal sludge treatment. PMID:27924135

  2. Effect of micro-aeration on anaerobic digestion of primary sludge under septic tank conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diak, James; Örmeci, Banu; Kennedy, Kevin J

    2013-04-01

    Micro-aeration, which refers to the addition of very small amounts of air, is a simple technology that can potentially be incorporated in septic tanks to improve the digestion performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of micro-aeration on anaerobic digestion of primary sludge under septic tank conditions. 1.6 L batch reactor experiments were carried out in duplicate using raw primary sludge, with 4.1 % total solids, and diluted primary sludge, with 2.1 % total solids. Reactors were operated for 5 weeks at room temperature to simulate septic tank conditions. Micro-aeration rate of 0.00156 vvm effectively solubilised chemical oxygen demand (COD) and improved the subsequent degradation of COD. Micro-aeration also increased the generation of ammonia and soluble proteins, but did not improve the reduction in total and volatile solids, or the reduction in carbohydrates. Experiments using diluted sludge samples showed similar trends as the experiments with raw sludge, which suggest that initial solids concentration did not have a significant effect on the degradation of primary sludge under septic tank conditions.

  3. Hydrogen sulfide formation control and microbial competition in batch anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse wastewater sludge: Effect of initial sludge pH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Li; Ye, Jie; Zhang, Panyue; Xu, Dong; Wu, Yan; Liu, Jianbo; Zhang, Haibo; Fang, Wei; Wang, Bei; Zeng, Guangming

    2018-07-01

    High sulfur content in excess sludge impacts the production of biomethane during anaerobic digestion, meanwhile leads to hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) formation in biogas. Effect of initial sludge pH on H 2 S formation during batch mesophilic anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse wastewater sludge was studied in this paper. The results demonstrated that when the initial sludge pH increased from 6.5 to 8.0, the biogas production increased by 10.1%, the methane production increased by 64.1%, while the H 2 S content in biogas decreased by 44.7%. The higher initial sludge pH inhibited the competition of sulfate-reducing bacteria with methane-producing bacteria, and thus benefitted the growth of methanogens. Positive correlation was found between the relative abundance of Desulfomicrobium and H 2 S production, as well as the relative abundance of Methanosarcina and methane production. More sulfates and organic sulfur were transferred to solid and liquid rather than H 2 S formation at a high initial pH. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. New insights into co-digestion of activated sludge and food waste: Biogas versus biofertilizer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Yingqun; Yin, Yao; Liu, Yu

    2017-10-01

    This study explored two holistic approaches for co-digestion of activated sludge and food waste. In Approach 1, mixed activated sludge and food waste were first hydrolyzed with fungal mash, and produced hydrolysate without separation was directly subject to anaerobic digestion. In Approach 2, solid generated after hydrolysis of food waste by fungal mash was directly converted to biofertilizer, while separated liquid with high soluble COD concentration was further co-digested with activated sludge for biomethane production. Although the potential energy produced from Approach 1 was about 1.8-time higher than that from Approach 2, the total economic revenue generated from Approach 2 was about 1.9-fold of that from Approach 1 due to high market value of biofertilizer. It is expected that this study may lead to a paradigm shift in biosolid management towards environmental and economic sustainability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Modeling temperature variations in a pilot plant thermophilic anaerobic digester.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valle-Guadarrama, Salvador; Espinosa-Solares, Teodoro; López-Cruz, Irineo L; Domaschko, Max

    2011-05-01

    A model that predicts temperature changes in a pilot plant thermophilic anaerobic digester was developed based on fundamental thermodynamic laws. The methodology utilized two simulation strategies. In the first, model equations were solved through a searching routine based on a minimal square optimization criterion, from which the overall heat transfer coefficient values, for both biodigester and heat exchanger, were determined. In the second, the simulation was performed with variable values of these overall coefficients. The prediction with both strategies allowed reproducing experimental data within 5% of the temperature span permitted in the equipment by the system control, which validated the model. The temperature variation was affected by the heterogeneity of the feeding and extraction processes, by the heterogeneity of the digestate recirculation through the heating system and by the lack of a perfect mixing inside the biodigester tank. The use of variable overall heat transfer coefficients improved the temperature change prediction and reduced the effect of a non-ideal performance of the pilot plant modeled.

  6. Preliminary experimental results of Sewage Sludge (SS) Co-digestion with Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) for Enhanced Biogas Production in Laboratory Scale Anaerobic Digester

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivasankari, R; Kumaran, P; Normanbhay, Saifuddin; Shamsuddin, Abd Halim

    2013-01-01

    An investigation on the feasibility of co-digesting Sewage Sludge with Palm Oil Mill Effluent for enhancing the biogas production and the corresponding effect of the co-digestion substrate ratio on the biogas production has been evaluated. Anaerobic co-digestion of POME with SS was performed at ratios of 100:0, 70:30, 60:40 and 0:100 to find the optimum blend required for enhanced waste digestion and biogas production. Single stage batch digestion was carried out for 12 days in a laboratory scale anaerobic digester. Co-digestion of sludge's at the 70:30 proportion resulted in optimal COD and C: N ratio which subsequently recorded the highest performance with regards to biogas production at 28.1 L's compared to the 1.98 L's of biogas produced from digestion of SS alone. From the results obtained, it is evident that co-digestion of POME and SS is an attractive option to be explored for enhancement of biogas production in anaerobic digesters.

  7. Verification Of The Defense Waste Processing Facility's (DWPF) Process Digestion Methods For The Sludge Batch 8 Qualification Sample

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Click, D. R.; Edwards, T. B.; Wiedenman, B. J.; Brown, L. W.

    2013-01-01

    This report contains the results and comparison of data generated from inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis of Aqua Regia (AR), Sodium Peroxide/Sodium Hydroxide Fusion Dissolution (PF) and Cold Chem (CC) method digestions and Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption analysis of Hg digestions from the DWPF Hg digestion method of Sludge Batch 8 (SB8) Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) Receipt and SB8 SRAT Product samples. The SB8 SRAT Receipt and SB8 SRAT Product samples were prepared in the SRNL Shielded Cells, and the SRAT Receipt material is representative of the sludge that constitutes the SB8 Batch or qualification composition. This is the sludge in Tank 51 that is to be transferred into Tank 40, which will contain the heel of Sludge Batch 7b (SB7b), to form the SB8 Blend composition

  8. On-Site Fecal Sludge Treatment with the Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine

    OpenAIRE

    Forbis-Stokes, Aaron A.; O'Meara, Patrick F.; Mugo, Wangare; Simiyu, Gelas M.; Deshusses, Marc A.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract The Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine (ADPL) is a self-contained and energy neutral on-site sanitation system using anaerobic digestion of fecal sludge to generate biogas and then uses the biogas to pasteurize the digester effluent at 65?75?C to produce a safe effluent that can be reused locally as a fertilizer. Two ADPL systems were installed on residential plots with 17 and 35 residents in a peri-urban area outside of Eldoret, Kenya. Each system comprised three toilets bui...

  9. Treatment of municipal landfill leachate using a combined anaerobic digester and activated sludge system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kheradmand, S.; Karimi-Jashni, A.; Sartaj, M.

    2010-01-01

    The main objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of treating sanitary landfill leachate using a combined anaerobic and activated sludge system. A high-strength leachate from Shiraz municipal landfill site was treated using this system. A two-stage laboratory-scale anaerobic digester under mesophilic conditions and an activated sludge unit were used. Landfill leachate composition and characteristics varied considerably during 8 months experiment (COD concentrations of 48,552-62,150 mg/L). It was found that the system could reduce the COD of the leachate by 94% at a loading rate of 2.25 g COD/L/d and 93% at loading rate of 3.37 g COD/L/d. The anaerobic digester treatment was quite effective in removing Fe, Cu, Mn, and Ni. However, in the case of Zn, removal efficiency was about 50%. For the rest of the HMs the removal efficiencies were in the range 88.8-99.9%. Ammonia reduction did not occur in anaerobic digesters. Anaerobic reactors increased alkalinity about 3.2-4.8% in the 1st digester and 1.8-7.9% in the 2nd digester. In activated sludge unit, alkalinity and ammonia removal efficiency were 49-60% and 48.6-64.7%, respectively. Methane production rate was in the range of 0.02-0.04, 0.04-0.07, and 0.02-0.04 L/g COD rem for the 1st digester, the 2nd digester, and combination of both digesters, respectively; the methane content of the biogas varied between 60% and 63%.

  10. Experimental continuous sludge microwave system to enhance dehydration ability and hydrogen production from anaerobic digestion of sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Cuihong; Huang, Xintong; Zeng, Meng

    2018-05-01

    Dehydrating large amounts of sludge produced by sewage treatment plants is difficult. Microwave pretreatment can effectively and significantly improve the dewaterability and hydrogen production of sludge subjected to anaerobic digestion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different microwave conditions on hydrogen production from anaerobic digestion and dewaterability of sludge. Based on an analysis of the electric field distribution, a spiral reactor was designed and a continuous microwave system was built to conduct intermittent and continuous experiments under different conditions. Settling Volume, Capillary Suction Time, particle size, and moisture content of the sludge were measured. The results show that sludge pretreatment in continuous experiments has equally remarkable dehydration performance as in intermittent experiments; the minimum moisture content was 77.29% in the intermittent experiment under a microwave power of 300W and an exposure time of 60sec, and that in the continuous experiment was 77.56% under a microwave power of 400W and an exposure time of 60sec. The peak measured by Differential Scanning Calorimeter appeared earliest under a microwave power of 600W and an exposure time of 180sec. The heat flux at the peak was 4.343W/g, which is relatively small. This indicates that microwave pretreatment induced desirable effects. The maximum yield of hydrogen production was 7.967% under the conditions of microwave power of 500W, exposure time of 120sec, and water bath at 55°C. This research provides a theoretical and experimental basis for the development of a continuous microwave sludge-conditioning system. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Pressurised electro-osmotic dewatering of activated and anaerobically digested sludges: electrical variables analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Citeau, M; Olivier, J; Mahmoud, A; Vaxelaire, J; Larue, O; Vorobiev, E

    2012-09-15

    Pressurised electro-osmotic dewatering (PEOD) of two sewage sludges (activated and anaerobically digested) was studied under constant electric current (C.C.) and constant voltage (C.V.) with a laboratory chamber simulating closely an industrial filter. The influence of sludge characteristics, process parameters, and electrode/filter cloth position was investigated. The next parameters were tested: 40 and 80 A/m², 20, 30, and 50 V-for digested sludge dewatering; and 20, 40 and 80 A/m², 20, 30, and 50 V-for activated sludge dewatering. Effects of filter cloth electric resistance and initial cake thickness were also investigated. The application of PEOD provides a gain of 12 points of dry solids content for the digested sludge (47.0% w/w) and for the activated sludge (31.7% w/w). In PEOD processed at C.C. or at C.V., the dewatering flow rate was similar for the same electric field intensity. In C.C. mode, both the electric resistance of cake and voltage increase, causing a temperature rise by ohmic effect. In C.V. mode, a current intensity peak was observed in the earlier dewatering period. Applying at first a constant current and later on a constant voltage, permitted to have better control of ohmic heating effect. The dewatering rate was not significantly affected by the presence of filter cloth on electrodes, but the use of a thin filter cloth reduced remarkably the energy consumption compared to a thicker one: 69% of reduction energy input at 45% w/w of dry solids content. The reduction of the initial cake thickness is advantageous to increase the final dry solids content. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Dry thermophilic semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of food waste: Performance evaluation, modified Gompertz model analysis, and energy balance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, Dinh Duc; Chang, Soon Woong; Jeong, Seong Yeob; Jeung, Jaehoon; Kim, Sungsu; Guo, Wenshan; Ngo, Huu Hao

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Energy self-sufficiency/energy recovery with thermophilic DScAD of FW was evaluated. • The maximum biogas production rate was positively influenced by OLRs. • Maximum (average) electrical energy recoverable from a 1 tons of FW was 1050 kW h. • Thermophilic DScAD can substantially reduce the VS and recover energy to serve itself. • A modified Gompertz model fitted well with the experimental results for all phases. - Abstract: A thermophilic, dry semi-continuous anaerobic digestion (DScAD) method was used to effectively transform food waste (FW) into renewable energy. This study aims to thoroughly evaluate the system performance and model simulation to predict biogas production, intermediate products and their outcomes, energy recovery potential, and energy balance, while operating with organic loading rates ranging from 2.3 to 9.21 kg-TS/m"3 day. The results indicate that volatile solids (VS) reduction and biogas production both improved as the organic loading rates (OLR) increased, and the cost of FW valorization remained low. The greatest VS reduction achieved was 87.01%, associated with 170 m"3 of biogas yield per ton of sludge (69% methane) at an ORL of 9.21 ± 0.89 kg-TS/m"3 day (8.62 ± 0.34 kg-VS/m"3 day) although the amounts of ammonia (3700 mg/L), hydrogen sulfide (420 ppm), and total volatile fatty acids (7101 mg/L) during fermentation were relatively high. Furthermore, 75% of total energy requirement for the system could be recovered via biomethane production, resulting in a considerably reduced specific energy supply (kW h/ton of treating FW). The results suggest that a modified Gompertz model is suitable for estimating the biogas and methane production potential and rate. The results also reveal that the DScAD of FW at 55 °C is a reliable, stable, and robust option for both solids reduction and energy recovery via biogas generation.

  13. Pilot-scale anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge with agro-industrial by-products for increased biogas production of existing digesters at wastewater treatment plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maragkaki, A E; Fountoulakis, M; Gypakis, A; Kyriakou, A; Lasaridi, K; Manios, T

    2017-01-01

    Due to low degradability of dry solids, most of the digesters at wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) operate at low loading rates resulting in poor biogas yields. In this study, co-digestion of sewage sludge (SS) with olive mill wastewater (OMW), cheese whey (CW) and crude glycerol (CG) was studied in an attempt to improve biogas production of existing digesters at WWTPs. The effect of agro-industrial by-products in biogas production was investigated using a 220L pilot-scale (180L working volume) digester under mesophilic conditions (35°C) with a total feeding volume of 7.5L daily and a 24-day hydraulic retention time. The initial feed was sewage sludge and the bioreactor was operated using this feed for 40days. Each agro-industrial by-product was then added to the feed so that the reactor was fed continuously with 95% sewage sludge and 5% (v/v) of each examined agro-industrial by-product. The experiments showed that a 5% (v/v) addition of OMW, CG or CW to sewage sludge significantly increased biogas production by nearly 220%, 350% and 86% as values of 34.8±3.2L/d, 185.7±15.3L/d and 45.9±3.6L/d respectively, compared to that with sewage sludge alone (375ml daily, 5% v/v in the feed). The average removal of dissolved chemical oxygen demand (d-COD) ranged between 72 and 99% for organic loading rates between 0.9 and 1.5kgVSm -3 d -1 . Reduction in the volatile solids ranged between 25 and 40%. This work suggests that methane can be produced very efficiently by adding a small concentration (5%) of agro-industrial by-products and especially CG in the inlet of digesters treating sewage sludge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Enhanced high-solids anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by the addition of scrap iron.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yaobin; Feng, Yinghong; Yu, Qilin; Xu, Zibin; Quan, Xie

    2014-05-01

    Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge usually requires pretreatment procedure to improve the bioavailability of sludge, which involves considerable energy and high expenditures. This study proposes a cost-effective method for enhanced anaerobic digestion of sludge without a pretreatment by directly adding iron into the digester. The results showed that addition of Fe(0) powder could enhance 14.46% methane yield, and Fe scrap (clean scrap) could further enhance methane yield (improving rate 21.28%) because the scrap has better mass transfer efficiency with sludge and liquid than Fe(0) powder. The scrap of Fe with rust (rusty scrap) could induce microbial Fe(III) reduction, which resulted in achieving the highest methane yield (improving rate 29.51%), and the reduction rate of volatile suspended solids (VSS) was also highest (48.27%) among Fe powder, clean scrap and rusty scrap. PCR-DGGE proved that the addition of rusty scrap could enhance diversity of acetobacteria and enrich iron-reducing bacteria to enhance degradation of complex substrates. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Enrichment of Thermophilic Propionate-Oxidizing Bacteria in Syntrophy with Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum or Methanobacterium thermoformicicum

    OpenAIRE

    Stams, Alfons J. M.; Grolle, Katja C. F.; Frijters, Carla T. M.; Van Lier, Jules B.

    1992-01-01

    Thermophilic propionate-oxidizing, proton-reducing bacteria were enriched from the granular methanogenic sludge of a bench-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor operated at 55°C with a mixture of volatile fatty acids as feed. Thermophilic hydrogenotrophic methanogens had a high decay rate. Therefore, stable, thermophilic propionate-oxidizing cultures could not be obtained by using the usual enrichment procedures. Stable and reproducible cultivation was possible by enrichment in hydrogen-p...

  16. Application of Hydrothermal Treatment to High Concentrated Sewage Sludge for Anaerobic Digestion Process

    OpenAIRE

    M. Orikawa; H. Kamahara; Y. Atsuta; H. Daimon

    2013-01-01

    Tomato and seaweed were produced by utilizing CO2 and heat discharged from power generation using biogas in Toyogawa biomass park, Japan. The biogas was obtained by anaerobic digestion with hydrothermal treatment. The hydrothermal treatment was applied to the high concentrated sewage sludge (22 % total solids (TS) dewatered sludge). The purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of hydrothermal treatment on the qualities of high concentrated sewage sludge, by analyzing particulate organic...

  17. Mass and Energy Balances of Dry Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion Treating Swine Manure Mixed with Rice Straw

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, Sheng; Zhang, Jining; Zou, Guoyan; Riya, Shohei; Hosomi, Masaaki

    2015-01-01

    To evaluate the feasibility of swine manure treatment by a proposed Dry Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion (DT-AD) system, we evaluated the methane yield of swine manure treated using a DT-AD method with rice straw under different C/N ratios and solid retention time (SRT) and calculated the mass and energy balances when the DT-AD system is used for swine manure treatment from a model farm with 1000 pigs and the digested residue is used for forage rice production. A traditional swine manure trea...

  18. Effects of Physico-Chemical Post-Treatments on the Semi-Continuous Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinbo Tian

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Sludge production in wastewater treatment plants is increasing worldwide due to the increasing population. This work investigated the effects of ultrasonic (ULS, ultrasonic-ozone (ULS-Ozone and ultrasonic + alkaline (ULS+ALK post-treatments on the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge in semi-continuous anaerobic reactors. Three conditions were tested with different hydraulic retention times (HRT, 10 or 20 days and sludge recycle ratios (R = QR/Qin (%: 50 or 100%. Biogas yield increased by 17.8% when ULS+ALK post-treatment was applied to the effluent of a reactor operating at 20 days HRT and at a 100% recycle ratio. Operation at 10 days HRT also improved the biogas yield (277 mL CH4/g VSadded (VS: volatile solids versus 249 mL CH4/g VSadded in the control. The tested post-treatment methods showed 4–7% decrease in effluent VS. The post-treatment resulted in a decrease in the cellular ATP (Adenosine tri-phosphate concentration indicating stress imposed on microorganisms in the reactor. Nevertheless, this did not prevent higher biogas production. Based on the results, the post-treatment of digested sludge or treating the sludge between two digesters is an interesting alternative to pre-treatments.

  19. Peracetic acid oxidation as an alternative pre-treatment for the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Appels, Lise; Van Assche, Ado; Willems, Kris; Degrève, Jan; Van Impe, Jan; Dewil, Raf

    2011-03-01

    Anaerobic digestion is generally considered to be an economic and environmentally friendly technology for treating waste activated sludge, but has some limitations, such as the time it takes for the sludge to be digested and also the ineffectiveness of degrading the solids. Various pre-treatment technologies have been suggested to overcome these limitations and to improve the biogas production rate by enhancing the hydrolysis of organic matter. This paper studies the use of peracetic acid for disintegrating sludge as a pre-treatment of anaerobic digestion. It has been proved that this treatment effectively leads to a solubilisation of organic material. A maximum increase in biogas production by 21% is achieved. High dosages of PAA lead to a decrease in biogas production. This is due to the inhibition of the anaerobic micro-organisms by the high VFA-concentrations. The evolution of the various VFAs during digestion is studied and the observed trends support this hypothesis. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Biotransformation of a highly chlorinated PCB mixture in an activated sludge collected from a Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) subjected to anaerobic digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertin, Lorenzo; Capodicasa, Serena; Fedi, Stefano; Zannoni, Davide; Marchetti, Leonardo; Fava, Fabio

    2011-01-01

    The role of anaerobic digestion (AD) on the decontamination and biomethanization of a PCB-spiked sludge obtained from a Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) pilot plant was investigated throughout a 10-month batch experiment. The study was carried out under mesophilic (35 deg. C) and thermophilic (55 deg. C) conditions and was monitored by means of an integrated chemical, microbiological and molecular biology strategy. Remarkable PCB depletions (higher than 50% of the overall spiked PCBs) and dechlorinations were achieved under methanogenic conditions. The process was not affected by yeast extract addition. Both acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens, together with some fermentative eubacteria, were found to persist in all PCB biodegrading microcosms. This finding, together with those obtained from parallel microcosms where specific populations were selectively inhibited, suggested that native methanogens played a key role in the biodegradation and dechlorination of the spiked PCBs. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that AD is a feasible option for the decontamination and the efficient disposal (with the production of a CH 4 -rich biogas) of contaminated MBR sludge, which can be then employed as a fertilizer for agricultural purposes.

  1. Thermophilic (55 - 65°C) and extreme thermophilic (70 - 80°C) sulfate reduction in methanol and formate-fed UASB reactors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vallero, M.V.G.; Camarero, E.; Lettinga, G.; Lens, P.N.L.

    2004-01-01

    The feasibility of thermophilic (55-65 degreesC) and extreme thermophilic (70-80 degreesC) sulfate-reducing processes was investigated in three lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors fed with either methanol or formate as the sole substrates and inoculated with mesophilic granular

  2. Thermophillic Sidestream Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors: The Shear Rate Dilemma

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jeison, D.A.; Telkamp, P.; Lier, van J.B.

    2009-01-01

    Anaerobic biomass retention under thermophilic conditions has proven difficult. Membrane filtration can be used as alternative way to achieve high sludge concentrations. This research studied the feasibility of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) under thermophilic conditions. A sidestream MBR

  3. A new approach for concurrently improving performance of South Korean food waste valorization and renewable energy recovery via dry anaerobic digestion under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Dinh Duc; Yeop, Jeong Seong; Choi, Jaehoon; Kim, Sungsu; Chang, Soon Woong; Jeon, Byong-Hun; Guo, Wenshan; Ngo, Huu Hao

    2017-08-01

    Dry semicontinuous anaerobic digestion (AD) of South Korean food waste (FW) under four solid loading rates (SLRs) (2.30-9.21kg total solids (TS)/m 3 day) and at a fixed TS content was compared between two digesters, one each under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Biogas production and organic matter reduction in both digesters followed similar trends, increasing with rising SLR. Inhibitor (intermediate products of the anaerobic fermentation process) effects on the digesters' performance were not observed under the studied conditions. In all cases tested, the digesters' best performance was achieved at the SLR of 9.21kg TS/m 3 day, with 74.02% and 80.98% reduction of volatile solids (VS), 0.87 and 0.90m 3 biogas/kg VS removed , and 0.65 (65% CH 4 ) and 0.73 (60.02% CH 4 ) m 3 biogas/kg VS fed , under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. Thermophilic dry AD is recommended for FW treatment in South Korea because it is more efficient and has higher energy recovery potential when compared to mesophilic dry AD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A Novel Process Configuration for Anaerobic Digestion of Source-Sorted Household Waste Using Hyper-Thermophilic Post-Treatment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartmann, H.; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    2005-01-01

    A novel reactor configuration was investigated for anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). An anaerobic hyper-thermophilic (68°C) reactor R68 was implemented as a post–treatment step for the effluent of a thermophilic reactor R1 (55°C) in order to enhance...... hydrolysis of recalcitrant organic matter, improve sanitation and ease the stripping of ammonia from the reactor. The efficiency of the combined system was studied in terms of methane yield, volatile solids (VS) reduction and volatile fatty acid (VFA) production at different hydraulic retention times (HRT...

  5. Semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge and fat, oil and grease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Caixia; Zhou Quancheng; Fu Guiming; Li Yebo

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) with fat, oil and grease (FOG). → Co-digestion of TWAS and FOG at 64% VS increased biogas production by 137%. → FOG addition ratio at 74% of total VS caused inhibition of the anaerobic digestion process. → Micronutrients addition did not significantly improve the biogas production and digestion stabilization. - Abstract: Co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) and fat, oil and grease (FOG) was conducted semi-continuously under mesophilic conditions. The results showed that daily methane yield at the steady state was 598 L/kg VS added when TWAS and FOG (64% of total VS) were co-digested, which was 137% higher than that obtained from digestion of TWAS alone. The biogas composition was stabilized at a CH 4 and CO 2 content of 66.8% and 29.5%, respectively. Micronutrients added to co-digestion did not improve the biogas production and digestion stabilization. With a higher addition of FOG (74% of total VS), the digester initially failed but was slowly self-recovered; however, the methane yield was only about 50% of a healthy reactor with the same organic loading rate.

  6. Radioisotope tracer technology for a hydraulic efficiency diagnosis of sludge digester after cleaning up

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, Sung Hee; Kim Jong Bum; Choi, Byung Jong

    2004-03-01

    Radiotracer experiments were carried out on a cylindrical 2-stage anaerobic sludge digester in order to investigate the improvement of its efficiency by means of RTD (Residence Time Distribution) measurements before and after cleaning up the inside of the digester. The tracer was Sc-46 in an EDTA solution which forms such a stable complex compound to keep the isotope from being absorbed onto the surface of the pipelines or the wall. It was injected into the digester by pressurized nitrogen gas and its movement was monitored by NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors installed around the digester and recorded for a month by a 24-channel data acquisition system specially developed for radiotracer experiments by the Korea Tracer Group of KAERI. The experimental data was analyzed for the MRT (Mean Residence Time) and other parameters characterizing the flow behavior. After the cleaning of the digesters the variance has been decreased and the sludge dynamics was activated as a result of the increase of the effective volume from 20% to 80% after cleaning up in the secondary digester. Particularly the MRT of the secondary digester which has no mixing mechanism has been increased by 3 times

  7. High-solid Anaerobic Co-digestion of Sewage Sludge and Cattle Manure: The Effects of Volatile Solid Ratio and pH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Xiaohu; Chen, Yang; Zhang, Dong; Yi, Jing

    2016-01-01

    High-solid anaerobic digestion is an attractive solution to the problem of sewage sludge disposal. One method that can be used to enhance the production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and the generation of methane from anaerobic digestion involves combining an alkaline pretreatment step with the synergistic effects of sewage sludge and cattle manure co-digestion, which improves the activity of key enzymes and microorganisms in the anaerobic co-digestion system to promote the digestion of organic waste. In this study, we describe an efficient strategy that involves adjusting the volatile solid (VS) ratio (sewage sludge/cattle manure: 3/7) and initial pH (9.0) to improve VFA production and methane generation from the co-digestion of sludge and manure. The experimental results indicate that the maximum VFA production was 98.33 g/kg-TS (total solid) at the optimal conditions. Furthermore, methane generation in a long-term semi-continuously operated reactor (at a VS ratio of 3/7 and pH of 9.0) was greater than 120.0 L/kg-TS. PMID:27725704

  8. Effects of temperature and organic loading rate on the performance and microbial community of anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and food waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gou, Chengliu; Yang, Zhaohui; Huang, Jing; Wang, Huiling; Xu, Haiyin; Wang, Like

    2014-06-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and food waste was investigated semi-continuously using continuously stirred tank reactors. Results showed that the performance of co-digestion system was distinctly influenced by temperature and organic loading rate (OLR) in terms of gas production rate (GPR), methane yield, volatile solids (VS) removal efficiency and the system stability. The highest GPR at 55 °C was 1.6 and 1.3 times higher than that at 35 and 45 °C with the OLR of 1 g VSL(-1)d(-1), and the corresponding average CH₄ yields were 0.40, 0.26 and 0.30 L CH₄ g(-1)VSadded, respectively. The thermophilic system exhibited the best load bearing capacity at extremely high OLR of 7 g VSL(-1)d(-1), while the mesophilic system showed the best process stability at low OLRs (< 5 g VSL(-1)d(-1)). Temperature had a more remarkable effect on the richness and diversity of microbial populations than the OLR. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Enhanced waste activated sludge digestion using a submerged anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor: performance, sludge characteristics and microbial community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Hongguang; Wang, Zhiwei; Wu, Zhichao; Zhu, Chaowei

    2016-02-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AD) plays an important role in waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment; however, conventional AD (CAD) process needs substantial improvements, especially for the treatment of WAS with low solids content and poor anaerobic biodegradability. Herein, we propose a submerged anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) for simultaneous WAS thickening and digestion without any pretreatment. During the long-term operation, the AnDMBR exhibited an enhanced sludge reduction and improved methane production over CAD process. Moreover, the biogas generated in the AnDMBR contained higher methane content than CAD process. Stable carbon isotopic signatures elucidated the occurrence of combined methanogenic pathways in the AnDMBR process, in which hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathway made a larger contribution to the total methane production. It was also found that organic matter degradation was enhanced in the AnDMBR, thus providing more favorable substrates for microorganisms. Pyrosequencing revealed that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were abundant in bacterial communities and Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta in archaeal communities, which played an important role in the AnDMBR system. This study shed light on the enhanced digestion of WAS using AnDMBR technology.

  10. Aged-engineered nanoparticles effect on sludge anaerobic digestion performance and associated microbial communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eduok, Samuel; Ferguson, Robert; Jefferson, Bruce; Villa, Raffaella; Coulon, Frédéric

    2017-12-31

    To investigate the potential effect of aged engineered nanoparticles (a-ENPs) on sludge digestion performance, 150L pilot anaerobic digesters (AD) were fed with a blend of primary and waste activated sludge spiked either with a mixture of silver oxide, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide or a mixture of their equivalent bulk metal salts to achieve a target concentration of 250, 2000, and 2800mgkg -1 dry weight, respectively. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) were 1.2 times higher in the spiked digesters and significantly different (p=0.05) from the control conditions. Specifically, isovaleric acid concentration was 2 times lower in the control digester compared to the spiked digesters, whereas hydrogen sulfide was 2 times lower in the ENPs spiked digester indicating inhibitory effect on sulfate reducing microorganisms. Based on the ether-linked isoprenoids concentration, the total abundance of methanogens was 1.4 times lower in the ENPs spiked digester than in the control and metal salt spiked digesters. Pyrosequencing indicated 80% decrease in abundance and diversity of methanogens in ENPs spiked digester compared to the control digester. Methanosarcina acetivorans and Methanosarcina barkeri were identified as nano-tolerant as their relative abundance increased by a factor of 6 and 11, respectively, compared to the other digesters. The results further provide compelling evidence on the resilience of Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria and the Trojan horse-like effect of ENPs which offered a competitive advantage to some organisms while reducing microbial abundance and diversity. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Co-digestion of bovine slaughterhouse wastes, cow manure, various crops and municipal solid waste at thermophilic conditions: a comparison with specific case running at mesophilic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagés-Díaz, J; Sárvári-Horváth, I; Pérez-Olmo, J; Pereda-Reyes, I

    2013-01-01

    A co-digestion process was evaluated when mixing different ratios of agro-industrial residues, i.e. bovine slaughterhouse waste (SB); cow manure (M); various crop residues (VC); and municipal solid waste (MSW) by anaerobic batch digestion under thermophilic conditions (55 °C). A selected study case at mesophilic condition (37 °C) was also investigated. The performance of the co-digestion was evaluated by kinetics (k(0)). The best kinetic results were obtained under thermophilic operation when a mixture of 22% w/w SB, 22% w/w M, 45% w/w VC and 11% w/w MSW was co-digested, which showed a proper combination of high values in r(s)CH(4) and k(0) (0.066 Nm(3)CH(4)/kgVS*d, 0.336 d(-1)) during the anaerobic process. The effect of temperature on methane yield (Y(CH4)), specific methane rate (r(s)CH(4)) and k(0) was also analyzed for a specific study case; there a mixture of 25% w/w of SB, 37.5% w/w of M, 37.5% of VC and 0% of MSW was used. Response variables were severely affected by mesophilic conditions, diminishing to at least 45% of the thermophilic values obtained for a similar mixture. The effect of temperature suggested that thermophilic conditions are suitable to treat these residues.

  12. Anaerobic co-digestion of swine and poultry manure with municipal sewage sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borowski, Sebastian; Domański, Jarosław; Weatherley, Laurence

    2014-02-01

    The anaerobic digestion of municipal sewage sludge (SS) with swine manure (SM) and poultry manure (PM) was undertaken. It was found that a mixture of sewage sludge with a 30% addition of swine manure gave around 400 dm(3)/kg VS of biogas, whereas the maximal biogas yield from ternary mixture (SS:SM:PM=70:20:10 by weight) was only 336 dm(3)/kg VS. An inhibition of methanogenesis by free ammonia was observed in poultry manure experiments. The anaerobic digestion was inefficient in pathogen inactivation as the reduction in the number of E. coli an Enterobacteriaceae was only by one logarithmic unit. A substantial portion of pathogens was also released into the supernatant. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Sulfate addition as an effective method to improve methane fermentation performance and propionate degradation in thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of coffee grounds, milk and waste activated sludge with AnMBR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qian; Li, Yu-You; Qiao, Wei; Wang, Xiaochang; Takayanagi, Kazuyuki

    2015-06-01

    This study was conducted to investigate the effects of sulfate on propionate degradation and higher organic loading rate (OLR) achievement in a thermophilic AnMBR for 373days using coffee grounds, milk and waste activated sludge (WAS) as the co-substrate. Without the addition of sulfate, the anaerobic system failed at an OLR of 14.6g-COD/L/d, with propionate accumulating to above 2.23g-COD/L, and recovery by an alkalinity supplement was not successful. After sulfate was added into substrates at a COD/SO4(2-) ratio of 200:1 to 350:1, biogas production increased proportionally with OLR increasing from 4.06 to 15.2g-COD/L/d. Propionic acid was maintained at less than 100mg-COD/L due to the effective conversion of propionic acid to methane after the sulfate supplement was added. The long-term stable performance of the AnMBR indicated that adding sulfate was beneficial for the degradation of propionate and achieving a higher OLR under the thermophilic condition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Model assisted startup of anaerobic digesters fed with thermally hydrolysed activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batstone, D J; Balthes, C; Barr, K

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents the use of the IWA ADM1 to predict and interpret results from two full-scale anaerobic digesters fed with thermal hyrolysate (waste activated sludge with a long upstream sludge age) from a Cambi hydrolysis process operating at 165°C and 6 bar-g. The first digester was fed conventionally-though intermittently, while the second was heavily diluted through a substantial component of the evaluation period (110 days). There were a number of important outcomes-related to both model application, and model predictions. Input and inert COD: mass ratio was very important, and was considerably higher than the 1.42 g g⁻¹ used for biomass throughout the IWA activated sludge and anaerobic digestion models. Input COD: VS ratio was 1.6 g g⁻¹, and inert COD: VS ratio was 1.7 g g⁻¹. The model succeeded on a number of levels, including effective prediction of important outputs (degradability, gas flow and composition, and final solids), clarification of the substantial data scatter, prediction of recovery times during operationally poor periods, and cross-validation of the results between digester 1 and digester 2. Key failures in model performance were related to an early incorrect assumption of the COD: VS ratio of 1.42 g g⁻¹, and intermittent high acetate levels, most likely caused by inhibition, and rapid acclimatisation to ammonia. The acute free ammonia limit was found to be 0.008 M NH(3)-N, while the chronic inhibition constant (K(I,NH₃,ac)) was 0.007 ± 0.001 M NH₃-N. Overall, this is a complex system, and application of the model added significant confidence to the initial operational decisions during an aggressive startup on an atypical feed.

  15. Optimization of micronutrient supplement for enhancing biogas production from food waste in two-phase thermophilic anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menon, Ajay; Wang, Jing-Yuan; Giannis, Apostolos

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to enhance the biogas productivity of two-phase thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) using food waste (FW) as the primary substrate. The influence of adding four trace metals (Ca, Mg, Co, and Ni) as micronutrient supplement in the methanogenic phase of the thermophilic system was investigated. Initially, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to determine the optimal concentration of micronutrients in batch experiments. The results showed that optimal concentrations of 303, 777, 7 and 3mg/L of Ca, Mg, Co and Ni, respectively, increased the biogas productivity as much as 50% and significantly reduced the processing time. The formulated supplement was tested in continuous two-phase thermophilic AD system with regard to process stability and productivity. It was found that a destabilized thermophilic AD process encountering high VFA accumulation recovered in less than two weeks, while the biogas production was improved by 40% yielding 0.46L CH 4 /gVS added /day. There was also a major increase in soluble COD utilization upon the addition of micronutrient supplement. The results of this study indicate that a micronutrient supplement containing Ca, Mg, Co and Ni could probably remedy any type of thermophilic AD process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Disinfection of sewage sludge by gamma radiation, electron beams and alternative methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lessel, T.

    1997-01-01

    Sewage sludges generally contain high concentrations of pathogens, even after digestion or other conventional treatments for stabilization. Disinfection can be effected by irradiation (e.g. gamma or electron beam), by heat treatment (pasteurization or thermophilic stabilization), and by changing the pH (lime treatment). Irradiation is a simple and reliable process for disinfection with special advantages and favorable side-effects. Irradiation can be combined with oxygenation, heat or other treatments, with favorable synergistic effects. The total costs for the irradiation treatment of sewage sludges are comparable to those of alternative disinfection methods. Most of the worldwide practical experience has been obtained at the sewage-sludge irradiation plant in Geiselbullach (10 km west of Munich, Germany), which was continuously in operation from 1973 to 1993. A multidisciplinary research programme was conducted during the first 8 years. In subsequent years, the plant was operated commercially for sewage-sludge disinfection, without public funds. Other demonstration or research plants for sewage-sludge irradiation have been reported in the USA, India, Russia, Japan, Austria, Germany and Hungary. (author)

  17. Enhancement of biogas production from sewage sludge by addition of grease trap sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grosser, A.; Neczaj, E.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Addition of grease trap sludge is interesting option for sewage sludge digestion. • Co-digestion of grease trap sludge and sewage sludge improved efficiency of process. • The anaerobic digestion can be carried out at short hydraulic retention time. • Long chain fatty acids concentration was below the ranges for inhibition of anaerobic digestion. - Abstract: Despite having many benefits, a low degree of volatile solids removal as well as long retention time are the main factors limiting the performance of the anaerobic digestion. Co-digestion of sewage sludge with other organic waste (for example fat rich materials) is one of the few potential ways to enhance the performance of the anaerobic digestion. In this article, the effects of adding fatty rich materials on the performance and stability of semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated on a 6 l laboratory-scale reactor (working volume equal to 5.5 l). The reactor was operated in a semi-continuous mode with a hydraulic retention time of 10 days. The data presented in this paper relate to the period in which the grease trap sludge accounted for 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18% of the mixture on the volatile solids basis. The results clearly indicate that the addition of fat rich materials like grease trap sludge can lead to a satisfactory increase in biogas yield in digester treating sewage sludge. The results showed that co-digestion can enhance the biogas yield by 28–82% compared to anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge alone (control sample). Moreover, the addition of grease trap sludge to digesters resulted in increased volatile solids removal from 44.38% (control sample) to 57.77% (feedstock with 14% addition of grease trap sludge). It was found that the increase of grease trap sludge in the feedstock had a direct impact on the biogas production and methane yield. This proposal has also been confirmed by statistical analysis such as Pearson correlation coefficients and

  18. Kinetic study of mesophilic anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Yunqin; Wang, Dehan; Li, Qing; Huang, Lijian

    2011-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper sludge (PPS) and monosodium glutamate waste liquor (MGWL) was studied in completely stirred tank reactors (CSTR) at 37 ± 2 °C. This work focused on the effect of increased organic loading rate (OLR) on the methane production in long-term experiments. For OLR in the range of (1.5–5.0) kg m −3 d −1 based on VS fed, VFA and SCOD concentrations decreased for the first 10 days and then kept stable at about 2.3 kg m −3 and 4.0 kg m −3 respectively until to the critical OLR of 5.0 kg m −3 d −1 ; and the methane generation rate enhanced to 0.838 m 3 m −3 d −1 during this period until to the reactor failure. Additionally, reaction rate constant k and sludge retention time (SRT) are described on the basis of a mass balance in a CSTR followed a first order kinetic equation. In the present study, values for y m and k were obtained as 0.733 m 3 kg −1 of removed VS and 0.07 d −1 , respectively. The simple model can apply for dimensioning a CSTR digesting of organic wastes from pulp and paper industries, food processing industries, sewage treatment plants or biogas crops. -- Highlights: ► Evaluating methane yields for semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of PPS and MGWL. ► Determining the critical OLR for semi-continuous co-digestion. ► Developing the kinetic model for co-digestion of PPFS and MGWL in CSTR. ► Dimensioning CSTR by the model equations for organic wastes digestion.

  19. Methane Emission from Digestion of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME in a Thermophilic Anaerobic Reactor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Irvan

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available As the issue of global warming draws increasing concern, many studies to reduce CO2 and CH4 gases (greenhouse gases, GHG have been implemented in several countries, including in Indonesia. Considering that Indonesia has a huge numbers of palm oil mills, no doubt if their waste water treatment as one of the major sources in GHG.  This paper presents the results from a research project between Metawater Co., Ltd.-Japan and University of Sumatera Utara-Indonesia. The objective of the research is to study the methane emission of thermophilic fermentation in the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME on a laboratory scale. Anaerobic digestion was performed in two-litre water jacketed biodigester type continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR and operated at a thermophilic temperature (55 oC. As raw material, a real liquid waste (POME from palm oil mill was used. Fresh POME was obtained from seeding pond of PTPN II waste water treatment facility which has concentration of 39.7 g of VS/L and COD value of 59,000 mg/L. To gain precise results, complete recording and reliable equipment of reactor was employed. As the experimental results, for hydraulic retention time (HRT 8 days, VS decomposition rate of 63.5% and gas generation of 6.05-9.82 L/day were obtained, while for HRT 6 and 4 days, VS decomposition rate of 61.2, 53.3% and gas generation of  6.93-8.94  and  13.95-16.14 L/day were obtained respectively. Keywords—methane (CH4, palm oil mill effluent (POME, anaerobic digestion, thermophilic, green house gases (GHG

  20. Comparative Analysis of Performance and Microbial Characteristics Between High-Solid and Low-Solid Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge Under Mesophilic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Qin; Yi, Jing; Yang, Dianhai

    2016-01-01

    High-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge achieves highly efficient volatile solid reduction, and production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) and methane compared with conventional low-solid anaerobic digestion. In this study, the potential mechanisms of the better performance in high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated by using 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing and real-time PCR to analyze the microbial characteristics in sewage sludge fermentation reactors. The results obtained by 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing revealed that the phyla Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were the dominant functional microorganisms in high-solid and low-solid anaerobic systems. Meanwhile, the real-time PCR assays showed that high-solid anaerobic digestion significantly increased the number of total bacteria, which enhanced the hydrolysis and acidification of sewage sludge. Further study indicated that the number of total archaea (dominated by Methanosarcina) in a high-solid anaerobic fermentation reactor was also higher than that in a low-solid reactor, resulting in higher VFA consumption and methane production. Hence, the increased key bacteria and methanogenic archaea involved in sewage sludge hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis resulted in the better performance of high-solid anaerobic sewage sludge fermentation.

  1. Effect of hydraulic retention time on deterioration/restarting of sludge anaerobic digestion: Extracellular polymeric substances and microbial response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Liangliang; An, Xiaoyan; Wang, Sheng; Xue, Chonghua; Jiang, Junqiu; Zhao, Qingliang; Kabutey, Felix Tetteh; Wang, Kun

    2017-11-01

    In this study, the transformation of the sludge-related extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) during mesophilic anaerobic digestion was characterized to assess the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on reactor deterioration/restarting. Experimental HRT variations from 20 to 15 and 10d was implemented for deterioration, and from 10 to 20d for restarting. Long-term digestion at the lowest HRT (10d) resulted in significant accumulation of hydrolyzed hydrophobic materials and volatile fatty acids in the supernatants. Moreover, less efficient hydrolysis of sludge EPS, especially of proteins related substances which contributed to the deterioration of digester. Aceticlastic species of Methanosaetaceae decreased from 36.3% to 27.6% with decreasing HRT (20-10d), while hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales) increased from 30.4% to 38.3%. Proteins and soluble microbial byproducts related fluorophores in feed sludge for the anaerobic digester changed insignificantly at high HRT, whereas the fluorescent intensity of fulvic acid-like components declined sharply once the digestion deteriorated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Potential and optimization of two-phase anaerobic digestion of oil refinery waste activated sludge and microbial community study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qinghong; Liang, Ying; Zhao, Peng; Li, Qing X.; Guo, Shaohui; Chen, Chunmao

    2016-01-01

    Oil refinery waste activated sludge produced from oil wastewater biological treatment is a major industrial sludge. Two-phase anaerobic digestion of oil refinery waste activated sludge was studied for the first time. Thermal pretreatment under 170 °C is effective on sludge solubilization. At the optimum hydrolytic-acidogenic condition which was pH of 6.5, temperature of 55 °C and HRT of 2 days, 2754 mg/L volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were produced and acetic acid and butyric acid were the key components. Comparative studies of single-phase and two-phase anaerobic digestion in terms of organic removal, biogas production and methane concentration were conducted. The cumulative methane production and soluble COD (SCOD) removal efficiency in the two-phase system were 228 mL/g COD added and 77.8%, respectively, which were 1.6 and 2.1 times higher than those in single-phase anaerobic digestion. Such improved performance is attributed to intensification of dominant microbial population in separated reactors. Caloramator, Ureibacillus, Dechloromonas, Petrobacter, and T78 played important roles in hydrolytic-acidification and oil-organics degradation. Syntrophic bacteria in the family Porphyromonadaceae and the genus Anaerobranca provide acetate for methanogen. The results demonstrated the potential and operating condition of two-phase anaerobic digestion in treatment of oil refinery waste activated sludge. PMID:27905538

  3. Greenhouse gases emissions accounting for typical sewage sludge digestion with energy utilization and residue land application in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niu Dongjie; Huang Hui; Dai Xiaohu; Zhao Youcai

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► GHGs emissions from sludge digestion + residue land use in China were calculated. ► The AD unit contributes more than 97% of total biogenic GHGs emissions. ► AD with methane recovery is attractive for sludge GHGs emissions reduction. - Abstract: About 20 million tonnes of sludge (with 80% moisture content) is discharged by the sewage treatment plants per year in China, which, if not treated properly, can be a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Anaerobic digestion is a conventional sewage sludge treatment method and will continue to be one of the main technologies in the following years. This research has taken into consideration GHGs emissions from typical processes of sludge thickening + anaerobic digestion + dewatering + residue land application in China. Fossil CO 2 , biogenic CO 2 , CH 4, and avoided CO 2 as the main objects is discussed respectively. The results show that the total CO 2 -eq is about 1133 kg/t DM (including the biogenic CO 2 ), while the net CO 2 -eq is about 372 kg/t DM (excluding the biogenic CO 2 ). An anaerobic digestion unit as the main GHGs emission source occupies more than 91% CO 2 -eq of the whole process. The use of biogas is important for achieving carbon dioxide emission reductions, which could reach about 24% of the total CO 2 -eq reduction.

  4. Zero-valent iron enhanced methanogenic activity in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge after heat and alkali pretreatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yaobin; Feng, Yinghong; Quan, Xie

    2015-04-01

    Heat or alkali pretreatment is the effective method to improve hydrolysis of waste sludge and then enhance anaerobic sludge digestion. However the pretreatment may inactivate the methanogens in the sludge. In the present work, zero-valent iron (ZVI) was used to enhance the methanogenic activity in anaerobic sludge digester under two methanogens-suppressing conditions, i.e. heat-pretreatment and alkali condition respectively. With the addition of ZVI, the lag time of methane production was shortened, and the methane yield increased by 91.5% compared to the control group. The consumption of VFA was accelerated by ZVI, especially for acetate, indicating that the acetoclastic methanogenesis was enhanced. In the alkali-condition experiment, the hydrogen produced decreased from 27.6 to 18.8 mL when increasing the ZVI dosage from 0 to 10 g/L. Correspondingly, the methane yield increased from 1.9 to 32.2 mL, which meant that the H2-utilizing methanogenes was enriched. These results suggested that the addition of ZVI into anaerobic digestion of sludge after pretreated by the heat or alkali process could efficiently recover the methanogenic activity and increase the methane production and sludge reduction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Two-phase anaerobic digestion of partially acidified sewage sludge: a pilot plant study for safe sludge disposal in developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passio, Luca; Rizzoa, Luigi; Fuchs, Stephan

    2012-09-01

    The unsafe disposal of wastewater and sludge in different areas of developing countries results in significant environmental pollution, particularly for groundwater, thus increasing the risk of waterborne diseases spreading. In this work, a two-phase anaerobic digestion process for post-treatment of partially acidified sewage sludge was investigated to evaluate its feasibility as a safe sludge disposal system. Pilot tests showed that an effective sludge stabilization can be achieved (total volatile solids content <65%, organic acid concentration <200 mg/L at flow rate = 50 L/d and hydraulic residence time = 18 d) as well as a relative low faecal coliform density (<1000 most probable number per g total solids), showing that land application of the sludge without restrictions is possible according to US Environmental Protection Agency criteria for safe sludge disposal. A biogas production as high as 390 L/d with a 60% methane content by volume was achieved, showing that energy production from biogas may be achieved as well.

  6. Impacts of microwave pretreatments on the semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of dairy waste activated sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uma Rani, R.; Adish Kumar, S.; Kaliappan, S.; Yeom, IckTae; Rajesh Banu, J.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Microwave pretreatment of dairy WAS was studied. ► MW pretreatment at 70% intensity for 12 min, COD solubilization was 18.6%. ► Biogas production and SS reduction was 35% and 14% higher than control. ► In digester at 15 days SRT with medium OLR, SS and VS reduction was 67% and 64%. ► Biogas and methane production was 57% and 49% higher than control, in digesters. - Abstract: Microwave (MW) irradiation is one of the new and possible methods used for pretreating the sludge. Following its use in different fields, this MW irradiation method has proved to be more appropriate in the field of environmental research. In this paper, we focused on the effects of MW irradiation at different intensities on solubilization, biodegradation and anaerobic digestion of sludge from the dairy sludge. The changes in the soluble fractions of the organic matter, the biogas yield, the methane content in the biogas were used as control parameters for evaluating the efficiency of the MW pretreatment. Additionally, the energetic efficiency was also examined. In terms of an energetic aspect, the most economical pretreatment of sludge was at 70% intensity for 12 min irradiation time. At this, COD solubilization, SS reduction and biogas production were found to be 18.6%, 14% and 35% higher than the control, respectively. Not only the increase in biogas production was investigated, excluding protein and carbohydrate hydrolysis was also performed successfully by this microwave pretreatment even at low irradiation energy input. Also, experiments were carried out in semi continuous anaerobic digesters, with 3.5 L working volume. Combining microwave pretreatment with anaerobic digestion led to 67%, 64% and 57% of SS reduction, VS reduction and biogas production higher than the control, respectively

  7. Evaluation of two-phase thermophilic anaerobic methane fermentation for the treatment of garbage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Y.J.; Hong, F.; Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo; Tsuno, H.; Hidaka, T.; Cheon, J.H.; Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo

    2004-01-01

    Municipal solid wastes (MSW) in Japan are generally incinerated. However, in recent years, garbage has been recognized as a renewable energy source. This has resulted in an increase in the use of biological processes, such as anaerobic digestion, to treat organic waste such as sewage sludge and garbage. The two phases of anaerobic digestion are the acidogenic phase and the methane producing phase. Both differ significantly in their nutritional and physiological requirements. This study evaluated the effectiveness of treating garbage with the two-phase thermophilic methane fermentation system (TPS). The performance of the acid fermentation phase in TPS was examined with particular reference to operational parameters such as pH, hydraulic retention time and organic loading rate on volatile fatty acid fermentation. It was shown that TPS was more efficient than the single-phase thermophilic methane fermentation system (SPS). Acidification control in the first stage resulted in better stability of methane fermentation in the second stage. VFA formation was optimized at a pH of 6. The recovery ratios of VFAs and methane were achieved in the range of 42 to 44 per cent and 88 to 91 per cent of garbage by high organic loading rate respectively. 12 refs., 6 tabs., 4 figs

  8. ASSESSMENT OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURAL USE OF SEWAGE SLUDGE FROM WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN OLECKO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Filkiewicz

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available According to the National Waste Management Plan 2014 (NWMP 2014 recommended method of utilization of sewage sludge is using it for agricultural purposes or for land reclamation. The sludge is characterized by a high content of organic substances, microelements and biogenic compounds, through which sewage sludge possess high soil formation and fertilization properties. It is assumed that in 2020 approximately 30% of the sludge production will be used for agricultural purposes, while 15% will be used for land reclamation. We have to remember that prior to the introduction of sludge into the ground, security, health and chemical requirements should be met. In order to use the sludge for agricultural purposes, the process of their disposal should be previously carried out e.g. Autoheated Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion (ATAD. It allows for hygienisation of sewage sludge and reducing the heavy metal content. As a result, processed sewage sludge is characterized by the presence of heavy metals in amounts which do not exceed the standards. It is also deprived of microorganisms. The stabilized sludge is characterized by high phosphorus and calcium content. Therefore there is possibility to use the examined sludge in agriculture.

  9. Biodegradation of phthalate esters during the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gavala, Hariklia N.; Alatriste-Mondragon, Felipe; Iranpour, R.

    2003-01-01

    of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-ethyl phthalate (DEP) and di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) was investigated and their relative rates of anaerobic degradation were calculated. Also, the biological removal of PAE during the anaerobic digestion of sludge in bench-scale digesters was investigated using DBP...... and DEHP as model compounds of one biodegradable and one recalcitrant PAE respectively. The degradation of all the PAE tested in this study (DEP, DBP and DEHP) is adequately described by first-order kinetics. Batch and continuous experiments showed that DEP and DBP present in sludge are rapidly degraded...... under mesophilic anaerobic conditions (a first-order kinetic constant of 8.04 x 10(-2) and 13.69 x 10(-2) -4.35 day(-1) respectively) while DEHP is degraded at a rate between one to two orders of magnitude lower (0.35 x 10(-2) -3.59 x 10(-2) day(-1)). It is of high significance that experiments...

  10. Food waste co-digestion with slaughterhouse waste and sewage sludge: Digestate conditioning and supernatant quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borowski, Sebastian; Boniecki, Paweł; Kubacki, Przemysław; Czyżowska, Agata

    2018-04-01

    In this study, the anaerobic mesophilic co-digestion of food waste (FW) with municipal sewage sludge (MSS) and slaughterhouse waste (SHW) was undertaken in 3-dm 3 laboratory reactors as well as in 50-dm 3 reactors operated in semi-continuous conditions. The highest methane yield of around 0.63 m 3 CH 4 /kgVS fed was achieved for the mixture of FW and SHW treated in the laboratory digester operated at solids retention time (SRT) of 30 days, whereas the co-digestion of FW with MSS under similar operating conditions produced 0.46 m 3 of methane from 1 kgVS fed . No significant differences between methane yields from laboratory digesters and large-scale reactors were reported. The conditioning tests with the digestates from reactor experiments revealed the highest efficiency of inorganic coagulants among all investigated chemicals, which applied in a dose of 10 g/kg allowed to reduce capiliary suction time (CST) of the digestate below 20 s. The combined conditioning with coagulants and bentonite did not further reduce the CST value but improved the quality of the digestate supernatant. In particular, the concentrations of suspended solids, COD as well as metals in the supernatant were considerably lowered. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  11. Spectroscopic characterization of digestates obtained from sludge mixed to increasing amounts of fruit and vegetable wastes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Provenzano, Maria Rosaria; Cavallo, Ornella; Malerba, Anna Daniela; Di Maria, Francesco; Ricci, Anna; Gigliotti, Giovanni

    2015-04-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AD) represents an efficient waste-treatment technology during which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in absence of oxygen yielding a biogas containing methane. The aim of this work was to investigate the transformations occurring in the organic matter during the co-digestion of waste mixed sludge (WMS) with an increasing amount of fruit and vegetable wastes (FVW) in a pilot scale apparatus reproducing a full-scale digester in an existing wastewater treatment plant. Samples comprised: sludge, FVW, sludge mixed with 10-20-30-40% FVW. Ingestates and digestates were analyzed by means of emission fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR associated to Fourier self deconvolution (FSD) of spectra. With increasing the amount of FVW from 10% to 20% at which percentage biogas production reached the maximum value, FTIR spectra and FSD traces of digestates exhibited a decrease of intensity of peaks assigned to polysaccharides and aliphatics and an increase of peak assigned to aromatics as a result of the biodegradation of rapidly degradable materials and concentration of aromatic recalcitrant compounds. Digestates with 30 and 40% FVW exhibited a relative increase of intensity of peaks assigned to aliphatics likely as a result of the increasing amount of rapidly degradable materials and the consequent reduction of the hydraulic retention time. This may cause inhibition of methanogenesis and accumulation of volatile fatty acids. The highest emission fluorescence intensity was observed for the digestate with 20% FVW confirming the concentration of aromatic recalcitrant compounds in the substrate obtained at the highest biogas production.

  12. Equilibrium sampling reveals increasing thermodynamic potential of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during sewage sludge digestion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sjøholm, Karina Knudsmark; Nørgaard Schmidt, Stine; Jahnke, Annika

    2018-01-01

    The reuse of digested sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as soil fertilizer poses a risk for contamination of soil and water environments. The present study provides a new approach for investigating the exposure of hydrophobic organic chemicals in sewage sludge. The methodology...... (Cfree). The PAHs with logKow > 6 had ARs close to 1.3, whereas PAHs with logKow sediment....

  13. A methodology to quantify the aerobic and anaerobic sludge digestion performance for nutrient recycling in aquaponics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Delaide, B.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Description of the subject. This research note presents a methodology to quantify the tilapia sludge digestion performance in aerobic and anaerobic reactors for aquaponic purpose. Both organic reduction and macro- and microelements mineralization performances were addressed. Objectives. To set up an appropriate methodology to quantify sludge digestion performance in aquaponics. To describe the methodology and illustrate it with some results as example. Method. Equations were adapted to quantify (1 the organic reduction performance in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD and total suspended solids (TSS reduction, and (2 the nutrient recycling performance in terms of macro- and microelements mineralization. Results. The equations were applied to data obtained from experimental aerobic and anaerobic reactors as example. Reactors were able to remove at least 50% of the TSS and COD input. The nutrient mineralization was consistent with a 10 — 60% range for all macro- and micronutrients. Conclusions. The methodology provides explicit indicators on the sludge treatment performances for aquaponics. Treating aquaponic sludge onsite is promising to avoid sludge spillage, improve nutrient recycling and save water.

  14. Digestion of thermally hydrolyzed sewage sludge by anaerobic sequencing batch reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Zhijun; Wang Wei; Zhang Xihui; Zhang Guangming

    2009-01-01

    Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) for the digestion of thermally hydrolyzed sewage sludge. Both mesophilic ASBR and continuous-flow stirred tank reactors (CSTR) were evaluated with an equivalent loading rate of 2.71 kg COD/m 3 day at 20-day hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 5.42 kg COD/m 3 day at 10-day HRT. The average total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removals of the ASBR at the 20-day and 10-day HRT were 67.71% and 61.66%, respectively. These were 12.38% and 27.92% higher than those obtained by CSTR. As a result, the average daily gas production of ASBR was 15% higher than that of the CSTR at 20-day HRT, and 31% higher than that of the CSTR at 10-day HRT. Solids in thermally hydrolyzed sludge accumulated within ASBR were able to reach a high steady state with solid content of 65-80 g/L. This resulted in a relatively high solid retention time (SRT) of 34-40 days in the ASBR at 10-day HRT. However, too much solid accumulation resulted in the unsteadiness of the ASBR, making regular discharge of digested sludge from the bottom of the ASBR necessary to keep the reactor stable. The evolution of the gas production, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in an operation cycle of ASBR also showed that the ASBR was steady and feasible for the treatment of thermally hydrolyzed sludge

  15. Anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge with shredded grass from public green spaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidaka, Taira; Arai, Sayuri; Okamoto, Seiichiro; Uchida, Tsutomu

    2013-02-01

    Adding greenery from public spaces to the co-digestion process with sewage sludge was evaluated by shredding experiments and laboratory-scale batch and continuous mesophilic anaerobic fermentation experiments. The ratio of the shredded grass with 20mm or less in length by a commercially available shredder was 93%. The methane production was around 0.2NL/gVS-grass in the batch experiment. The continuous experiment fed with sewage sludge and shredded grass was stably operated for 81days. The average methane production was 0.09NL/gVS-grass when the TS ratio of the sewage sludge and the grass was 10:1. This value was smaller than those of other reports using grass silage, but the grass species in this study were not managed, and the collected grass was just shredded and not ensiled before feeding to the reactor for simple operation. The addition of grass to a digester can improve the carbon/nitrogen ratio, methane production and dewaterability. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Greenhouse gases emissions accounting for typical sewage sludge digestion with energy utilization and residue land application in China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niu Dongjie, E-mail: niudongjie@tongji.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Yangtze Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Huang Hui [Key Laboratory of Yangtze Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Dai Xiaohu [Key Laboratory of Yangtze Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); National Engineering Research Center for Urban Pollution Control, Shanghai 200092 (China); Zhao Youcai [Key Laboratory of Yangtze Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China)

    2013-01-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer GHGs emissions from sludge digestion + residue land use in China were calculated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The AD unit contributes more than 97% of total biogenic GHGs emissions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer AD with methane recovery is attractive for sludge GHGs emissions reduction. - Abstract: About 20 million tonnes of sludge (with 80% moisture content) is discharged by the sewage treatment plants per year in China, which, if not treated properly, can be a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Anaerobic digestion is a conventional sewage sludge treatment method and will continue to be one of the main technologies in the following years. This research has taken into consideration GHGs emissions from typical processes of sludge thickening + anaerobic digestion + dewatering + residue land application in China. Fossil CO{sub 2}, biogenic CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4,} and avoided CO{sub 2} as the main objects is discussed respectively. The results show that the total CO{sub 2}-eq is about 1133 kg/t DM (including the biogenic CO{sub 2}), while the net CO{sub 2}-eq is about 372 kg/t DM (excluding the biogenic CO{sub 2}). An anaerobic digestion unit as the main GHGs emission source occupies more than 91% CO{sub 2}-eq of the whole process. The use of biogas is important for achieving carbon dioxide emission reductions, which could reach about 24% of the total CO{sub 2}-eq reduction.

  17. Long-term stability of thermophilic co-digestion submerged anaerobic membrane reactor encountering high organic loading rate, persistent propionate and detectable hydrogen in biogas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Wei; Takayanagi, Kazuyuki; Niu, Qigui; Shofie, Mohammad; Li, Yu You

    2013-12-01

    The performance of thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of coffee grounds and sludge using membrane reactor was investigated for 148 days, out of a total research duration of 263 days. The OLR was increased from 2.2 to 33.7 kg-COD/m(3)d and HRT was shortened from 70 to 7 days. A significant irreversible drop in pH confirmed the overload of reactor. Under a moderately high OLR of 23.6 kg-COD/m(3)d, and with HRT and influent total solids of 10 days and 150 g/L, respectively, the COD removal efficiency was 44.5%. Hydrogen in biogas was around 100-200 ppm, which resulted in the persistent propionate of 1.0-3.2g/L. The VFA consumed approximately 60% of the total alkalinity. NH4HCO3 was supplemented to maintain alkalinity. The stability of system relied on pH management under steady state. The 16SrDNA results showed that hydrogen-utilizing methanogens dominates the archaeal community. The propionate-oxidizing bacteria in bacterial community was insufficient. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Conductive iron oxides accelerate thermophilic methanogenesis from acetate and propionate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Chihaya; Kato, Souichiro; Ueno, Yoshiyuki; Ishii, Masaharu; Igarashi, Yasuo

    2015-06-01

    Anaerobic digester is one of the attractive technologies for treatment of organic wastes and wastewater, while continuous development and improvements on their stable operation with efficient organic removal are required. Particles of conductive iron oxides (e.g., magnetite) are known to facilitate microbial interspecies electron transfer (termed as electric syntrophy). Electric syntrophy has been reported to enhance methanogenic degradation of organic acids by mesophilic communities in soil and anaerobic digester. Here we investigated the effects of supplementation of conductive iron oxides (magnetite) on thermophilic methanogenic microbial communities derived from a thermophilic anaerobic digester. Supplementation of magnetite accelerated methanogenesis from acetate and propionate under thermophilic conditions, while supplementation of ferrihydrite also accelerated methanogenesis from propionate. Microbial community analysis revealed that supplementation of magnetite drastically changed bacterial populations in the methanogenic acetate-degrading cultures, in which Tepidoanaerobacter sp. and Coprothermobacter sp. dominated. These results suggest that supplementation of magnetite induce electric syntrophy between organic acid-oxidizing bacteria and methanogenic archaea and accelerate methanogenesis even under thermophilic conditions. Findings from this study would provide a possibility for the achievement of stably operating thermophilic anaerobic digestion systems with high efficiency for removal of organics and generation of CH4. Copyright © 2014 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Thermophilic fermentative hydrogen production from starch-wastewater with bio-granules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akutsu, Yohei; Harada, Hideki [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Lee, Dong-Yeol [Research Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 (Japan); Chi, Yong-Zhi [Department of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, Jinjinggonglu 26, Tianjin 300384 (China); Li, Yu-You [Department of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, Jinjinggonglu 26, Tianjin 300384 (China); Department of Environmental Science, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Yu, Han-Qing [School of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)

    2009-06-15

    In this study, the effects of the hydraulic retention time (HRT), pH and substrate concentration on the thermophilic hydrogen production of starch with an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor were investigated. Starch was used as a sole substrate. Continuous hydrogen production was stably attained with a maximum H{sub 2} yield of 1.7 mol H{sub 2}/mol glucose. A H{sub 2}-producing thermophilic granule was successfully formed with diameter in the range of 0.5-4.0 mm with thermally pretreated methanogenic granules as the nuclei. The metabolic pathway of the granules was drastically changed at each operational parameter. The production of formic or lactic acids is an indication of the deterioration of hydrogen production for H{sub 2}-producing thermophilic granular sludge. (author)

  20. Nitrite addition to acidified sludge significantly improves digestibility, toxic metal removal, dewaterability and pathogen reduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Fangzhou; Keller, Jürg; Yuan, Zhiguo; Batstone, Damien J.; Freguia, Stefano; Pikaar, Ilje

    2016-12-01

    Sludge management is a major issue for water utilities globally. Poor digestibility and dewaterability are the main factors determining the cost for sludge management, whereas pathogen and toxic metal concentrations limit beneficial reuse. In this study, the effects of low level nitrite addition to acidified sludge to simultaneously enhance digestibility, toxic metal removal, dewaterability and pathogen reduction were investigated. Waste activated sludge (WAS) from a full-scale waste water treatment plant was treated at pH 2 with 10 mg NO2--N/L for 5 h. Biochemical methane potential tests showed an increase in the methane production of 28%, corresponding to an improvement from 247 ± 8 L CH4/kg VS to 317 ± 1 L CH4/kg VS. The enhanced removal of toxic metals further increased the methane production by another 18% to 360 ± 6 L CH4/kg VS (a total increase of 46%). The solids content of dewatered sludge increased from 14.6 ± 1.4% in the control to 18.2 ± 0.8%. A 4-log reduction for both total coliforms and E. coli was achieved. Overall, this study highlights the potential of acidification with low level nitrite addition as an effective and simple method achieving multiple improvements in terms of sludge management.

  1. Preliminary results of lab-scale investigations of products of incomplete combustion during incineration of primary and mixed digested sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braguglia, C M; Bagnuolo, G; Gianico, A; Mininni, G; Pastore, C; Mascolo, G

    2016-03-01

    Separation between primary and secondary sludge treatment could be a valuable solution for sludge management. According to this approach, secondary sludge can be conveniently used in agriculture while primary sludge could be easily dried and incinerated. It follows that some concern may arise from incinerating primary sludge with respect to the current practice to incinerate mixed digested sludge. Incineration of primary and mixed digested municipal sludge was investigated with a lab-scale equipment in terms of emissions of products of incomplete combustion (PICs) during incineration failure modes. PICs can be grouped in three sub-categories, namely aliphatic hydrocarbons (alkanes and alkenes), compounds with a single aromatic ring, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). After-burning temperature was the most important parameter to be controlled in order to minimize emissions of alkanes and alkenes. As for mono-aromatic compounds, benzene and toluene are the most thermally resistant compounds, and in some cases, an after-burning temperature of 1100 °C was not enough to get the complete destruction of benzene leading to a residual emission of 18 mg/kgsludge. PAHs showed an opposite trend with respect to aliphatic and mono-aromatic hydrocarbons being the thermal failure mode the main responsible of PIC emissions. A proper oxygen concentration is more important than elevated temperature thus reflecting the high thermal stability of PAHs. Overall, obtained results, even though obtained under flameless conditions that are different from those of the industrial plants, demonstrated that separation of primary and secondary sludge does not pose any drawbacks or concern regarding primary sludge being disposed of by incineration even though it is more contaminated than mixed digested sludge in terms of organic pollutants.

  2. Comparative analyses of microbial structures and gene copy numbers in the anaerobic digestion of various types of sewage sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidaka, Taira; Tsushima, Ikuo; Tsumori, Jun

    2018-04-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion of various sewage sludges is a promising approach for greater recovery of energy, but the process is more complicated than mono-digestion of sewage sludge. The applicability of microbial structure analyses and gene quantification to understand microbial conditions was evaluated. The results show that information from gene analyses is useful in managing anaerobic co-digestion and damaged microbes in addition to conventional parameters like total solids, pH and biogas production. Total bacterial 16S rRNA gene copy numbers are the most useful tools for evaluating unstable anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, rather than mcrA and total archaeal 16S rRNA gene copy numbers, and high-throughput sequencing. First order decay rates of gene copy numbers during pH failure were higher than typical decay rates of microbes in stable operation. The sequencing analyses, including multidimensional scaling, showed very different microbial structure shifts, but the results were not consistent. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Biological testing of a digested sewage sludge and derived composts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreira, R; Sousa, J P; Canhoto, C

    2008-11-01

    Aiming to evaluate a possible loss of soil habitat function after amendment with organic wastes, a digested sewage sludge and derived composts produced with green residues, where biologically tested in the laboratory using soil animals (Eisenia andrei and Folsomia candida) and plants (Brassica rapa and Avena sativa). Each waste was tested mimicking a field application of 6ton/ha or 12ton/ha. Avoidance tests did not reveal any impact of sludge and composts to soil biota. Germination and growth tests showed that application of composts were beneficial for both plants. Composts did not affect earthworm's mass increase or reproduction, but the highest sludge amendment revealed negative effects on both parameters. Only the amendment of composts at the highest dose originated an impairment of springtails reproductive output. We suggest that bioassays using different test species may be an additional tool to evaluate effects of amendment of organic wastes in soil. Biological tests are sensitive to pollutants at low concentrations and to interactions undetected by routine chemical analysis.

  4. The effect of sludge recirculation rate on a UASB-digester treating domestic sewage at 15 °C

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, L.; Hendrickx, T.L.G.; Kampman, C.; Zeeman, G.; Temmink, B.G.; Weiguang Li,; Buisman, C.J.N.

    2012-01-01

    The anaerobic treatment of low strength domestic sewage at low temperature is an attractive and important topic at present. The upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB)-digester system is one of the anaerobic systems to challenge low temperature and concentrations. The effect of sludge recirculation rate

  5. Effects of disintegration on anaerobic degradation of sewage excess sludge in downflow stationary fixed film digesters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engelhart, M; Krüger, M; Kopp, J; Dichtl, N

    2000-01-01

    The effects of mechanical disintegration on anaerobic digestibility of sewage excess sludge in downflow stationary fixed film (DSFF) digesters were investigated on laboratory scale. Mechanical pretreatment using a high pressure homogenizer led to significantly enhanced concentrations of soluble proteins and carbohydrates in the feed sludge. Using DSFF digesters with two different tubular plastic media as support material it was shown that a stable digestion process could be achieved at hydraulic retention times (HRT) down to 5 days. Compared to conventional digesters at 10 d and 15 d HRT respectively, the degradation of volatile solids was enhanced up to 25%, also resulting in a higher specific biogas production. Further investigations on degradation of soluble proteins and carbohydrates showed that a slowly degradable fraction of carbohydrates was released via disintegration. Using the distribution of chain length and the concentrations of volatile fatty acids as process parameters, the dependability on the HRT and the degree of disintegration (the release of soluble COD) predominated the effects of specific surface area of the support media.

  6. Influence of pretreatment techniques on anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper mill sludge: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veluchamy, C; Kalamdhad, Ajay S

    2017-12-01

    Pulp and paper industry is one of the most polluting, energy and water intensive industries in the world. Produced pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS) faces a major problem for handling and its management. An anaerobic digestion has become an alternative source. This review provides a detailed summary of anaerobic digestion of PPMS - An overview of the developments and improvement opportunities. This paper explores the different pretreatment methods to enhance biogas production from the PPMS. First, the paper gives an overview of PPMS production, and then it reviews PPMS as a substrate for anaerobic digestion with or without pretreatment. Finally, it discuss the optimal condition and concentration of organic and inorganic compounds required for the anaerobic metabolic activity. Future research should focus on the combination of different pretreatment technologies, relationship between sludge composition, reactor design and its operation, and microbial community dynamics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Simultaneous addition of zero-valent iron and activated carbon on enhanced mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tongyu; Qin, Yujie; Cao, Yan; Han, Bin; Ren, Junyi

    2017-10-01

    The performance of biogas generation and sludge degradation was studied under different zero-valent iron/activated carbon (ZVI/AC) ratios in detail in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge. A good enhancement of methane production was obtained at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio, and the cumulative methane production was 132.1 mL/g VS, 37.6% higher than the blank. The methane content at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio reached 68.8%, which was higher than the blank (55.2%) and the sludge-added AC alone (59.6%). For sludge degradation, the removal efficiencies of total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD), proteins, and polysaccharides were all the highest at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio. The concentration of available phosphorus (AP) decreased after anaerobic digestion process. On the other hand, the concentrations of available nitrogen (AN) and available potassium (AK) increased after the anaerobic digestion process and showed a gradually decreasing trend with increasing ZVI/AC ratio. The concentrations of AN and AK were 2303.1-4200.3 and 274.7-388.3 mg/kg, showing a potential for land utilization.

  8. Converting mesophilic upflow sludge blanket (UASB) reactors to thermophilic by applying axenic methanogenic culture bioaugmentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhu, Xinyu; Treu, Laura; Kougias, Panagiotis G.

    2018-01-01

    on the microbial consortium. The adaptation of microbial community to a new environment or condition can be accelerated by a process known as “bioaugmentation” or “microbial community manipulation”, during which exogenous microorganisms harbouring specific metabolic activities are introduced to the reactor....... The aim of the current study was to rapidly convert the operational temperature of up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors from mesophilic to thermophilic conditions by applying microbial community manipulation techniques. Three different bioaugmentation strategies were compared and it was proven...... that the injection of axenic methanogenic culture was the most efficient approach leading to improved biomethanation process with 40% higher methane production rate compared to the control reactor. Microbial community analyses revealed that during bioaugmentation, the exogenous hydrogenotrophic methanogen could...

  9. Influence of two-phase anaerobic digestion on fate of selected antibiotic resistance genes and class I integrons in municipal wastewater sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wu, Ying; Cui, Erping; Zuo, Yiru

    2016-01-01

    The response of representative antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to lab-scale two-phase (acidogenic/methanogenic phase) anaerobic digestion processes under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions was explored. The associated microbial communities and bacterial pathogens were characterized by 16S ...... for ermB and blaTEM. ARGs patterns were correlated with Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria during the two-phase anaerobic digestion....

  10. How does free ammonia-based sludge pretreatment improve methane production from anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dongbo; Liu, Bowen; Liu, Xuran; Xu, Qiuxiang; Yang, Qi; Liu, Yiwen; Zeng, Guangming; Li, Xiaoming; Ni, Bing-Jie

    2018-09-01

    Previous studies reported that free ammonia (FA) pretreatment could improve methane production from anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) effectively. However, details of how FA pretreatment improves methane production are poorly understood. This study therefore aims to reveal the underlying mechanisms of FA pretreatment affecting anaerobic digestion of WAS through a series of batch tests using either real sludge or synthetic media as the digestion substrates at different pH values. At pH 8.5 level, with an increase of FA level from 18.5 to 92.5 mg/L (i.e., NH+ 4-N: 100-500 mg/L; pH 8.5) the maximum methane yield varied between 194.0 ± 3.9 and 196.9 ± 7.7 mL/g of VSS (25 °C, 1 atm). At pH 9.5 or 10 level, however, with an increase of initial FA level from 103.2 to 516.2 mg/L, the maximal methane yield increased linearly. The mechanism studies revealed that FA pretreatment at high levels not only accelerated the disintegration of WAS but also enhanced the biodegradability of WAS. Although pH in the digesters was adjusted to 7.0 ± 0.1, the high levels of NH+ 4-N added or released led to substantial levels of residual FA ranging from 4.4 to 11.6 mg/L. It was found that this level of FA inhibited homoacetogenesis and methanogenesis significantly, though hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and acetogenesis processes were unaffected largely. Further analyses showed that the inhibition constant of FA to substrate degradation was in the sequence of dextran > glucose > hydrogen > acetate, indicating the methanogenesis process was more sensitive to FA. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The use of hydrodynamic disintegration as a means to improve anaerobic digestion of activated sludge

    OpenAIRE

    Machnicka, A; Grűbel, K; Suschka, J

    2009-01-01

    Disintegration by hydrodynamic cavitation has a positive effect on the degree and rate of sludge anaerobic digestion. By applying hydrodynamic disintegration the lysis of cells occurs in minutes instead of days. The intracellular and extracellular components are set free and are immediately available for biological degradation which leads to an improvement of the subsequent anaerobic process. Hydrodynamic disintegration of the activated sludge results in organic matter and a polymer transfer ...

  12. Evolution of microorganisms in thermophilic-dry anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montero, B; Garcia-Morales, J L; Sales, D; Solera, R

    2008-05-01

    Microbial population dynamics were studied during the start-up and stabilization periods in thermophilic-dry anaerobic digestion at lab-scale. The experimental protocol was defined to quantify Eubacteria and Archaea using Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), without recycling solids. The reactor was subjected to a programme of steady-state operation over a range of the retention times from 40 to 25 days, with an organic loading rate between 4.42 and 7.50 kg volatile solid/m3/day. Changes in microbial concentrations were linked to traditional performance parameters such as biogas production and VS removal. The relations of Eubacteria:Archaea and H2-utilising methanogens:acetate-utilising methanogens were 88:12 and 11:1, respectively, during start-up stage. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens, although important in the initial phase of the reactor start-up, were displaced by acetoclastic methanogens at steady-state, thus their relation were 7:32, respectively. The methane yield coefficient, the methane content in the biogas and VS removal were stabilized around 0.30 LCH4/gCOD, 50% and 80%, respectively. Methanogenic population correlated well with performance measurements.

  13. Activated sludge mass reduction and biodegradability of the endogenous residues by digestion under different aerobic to anaerobic conditions: Comparison and modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-García, C G; Fall, C; Olguín, M T

    2016-03-01

    This study was performed to identify suitable conditions for the in-situ reduction of excess sludge production by intercalated digesters in recycle-activated sludge (RAS) flow. The objective was to compare and model biological sludge mass reduction and the biodegradation of endogenous residues (XP) by digestion under hypoxic, aerobic, anaerobic, and five intermittent-aeration conditions. A mathematical model based on the heterotrophic endogenous decay constant (bH) and including the biodegradation of XP was used to fit the long-term data from the digesters to identify and estimate the parameters. Both the bH constant (0.02-0.05 d(-1)) and the endogenous residue biodegradation constant (bP, 0.001-0.004 d(-1)) were determined across the different mediums. The digesters with intermittent aeration cycles of 12 h-12 h and 5 min-3 h (ON/OFF) were the fastest, compared to the aerobic reactor. The study provides a basis for rating RAS-digester volumes to avoid the accumulation of XP in aeration tanks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Effects of hydrogen and formate on the degradation of propionate and butyrate in thermophilic granules from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor.

    OpenAIRE

    Schmidt, J E; Ahring, B K

    1993-01-01

    Degradation of propionate and butyrate in whole and disintegrated granules from a thermophilic (55 degrees C) upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor fed with acetate, propionate, and butyrate as substrates was examined. The propionate and butyrate degradation rates in whole granules were 1.16 and 4.0 mumol/min/g of volatile solids, respectively, and the rates decreased 35 and 25%, respectively, after disintegration of the granules. The effect of adding different hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (...

  15. Evaluation of different types of anaerobic seed sludge for the high rate anaerobic digestion of pig slurry in UASB reactors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rico, Carlos; Montes, Jesús A; Rico, José Luis

    2017-08-01

    Three different types of anaerobic sludge (granular, thickened digestate and anaerobic sewage) were evaluated as seed inoculum sources for the high rate anaerobic digestion of pig slurry in UASB reactors. Granular sludge performance was optimal, allowing a high efficiency process yielding a volumetric methane production rate of 4.1LCH 4 L -1 d -1 at 1.5days HRT (0.248LCH 4 g -1 COD) at an organic loading rate of 16.4gCODL -1 d -1 . The thickened digestate sludge experimented flotation problems, thus resulting inappropriate for the UASB process. The anaerobic sewage sludge reactor experimented biomass wash-out, but allowed high process efficiency operation at 3days HRT, yielding a volumetric methane production rate of 1.7LCH 4 L -1 d -1 (0.236LCH 4 g -1 COD) at an organic loading rate of 7.2gCODL -1 d -1 . To guarantee the success of the UASB process, the settleable solids of the slurry must be previously removed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Effect of chemo-mechanical disintegration on sludge anaerobic digestion for enhanced biogas production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavitha, S; Pray, S Saji; Yogalakshmi, K N; Kumar, S Adish; Yeom, Ick-Tae; Banu, J Rajesh

    2016-02-01

    The effect of combined surfactant-dispersion pretreatment on dairy waste activated sludge (WAS) reduction in anaerobic digesters was investigated. The experiments were performed with surfactant, Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 g/g suspended solids (SS) and disperser with rpm of 5000-25,000. The COD (chemical oxygen demand) solubilization, suspended solids reduction, and biogas generation increased for an energy input of 7377 kJ/kg total solids (TS) (12,000 rpm, 0.04 g/g SS, and 30 min) and were found to be 38, 32, and 75 %, higher than that of control. The pretreated sludge improved the performance of semicontinuous anaerobic digesters of 4 L working volume operated at four different SRTs (sludge retention time). SRT of 15 days was found to be appropriate showing 49 and 51 % reduction in SS and volatile solids (VS), respectively. The methane yield of the pretreated sample was observed to be 50 mL/g VS removed which was observed to be comparatively higher than the control (12 mL/g VS removed) at optimal SRT of 15 days. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to be reported and not yet been documented in literature.

  17. Mixing effect on thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2012-08-01

    This paper examines the effect of mixing on the performance of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste during the start-up phase and in the absence of an acclimated seed. For this purpose, two digesters were used under similar starting conditions and operated for 235days with different mixing schemes. While both digesters exhibited a successful startup with comparable specific methane yield of 0.327 and 0.314l CH 4/gVS, continuous slow stirring improved stability by reducing average VFA accumulation from 2890 to 825mg HAc/l, propionate content from 2073 to 488mg/l, and VFA-to-alkalinity ratio from 0.32 to 0.07. As a result, the startup with slow mixing was faster and smoother accomplishing a higher loading capacity of 2.5gVS/l/d in comparison to 1.9gVS/l/d for non-mixing. Mixing equally improved microbial abundance from 6.6 to 10gVSS/l and enhanced solids and soluble COD removal. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  18. Mixing effect on thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.; El-Fadel, Mutasem E.; Saikaly, Pascal

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines the effect of mixing on the performance of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste during the start-up phase and in the absence of an acclimated seed. For this purpose, two digesters were used under similar starting conditions and operated for 235days with different mixing schemes. While both digesters exhibited a successful startup with comparable specific methane yield of 0.327 and 0.314l CH 4/gVS, continuous slow stirring improved stability by reducing average VFA accumulation from 2890 to 825mg HAc/l, propionate content from 2073 to 488mg/l, and VFA-to-alkalinity ratio from 0.32 to 0.07. As a result, the startup with slow mixing was faster and smoother accomplishing a higher loading capacity of 2.5gVS/l/d in comparison to 1.9gVS/l/d for non-mixing. Mixing equally improved microbial abundance from 6.6 to 10gVSS/l and enhanced solids and soluble COD removal. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

  19. Fertilizer potential of liquid and solid effluent from thermophilic anaerobic digestion of poultry waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liedl, B E; Bombardiere, J; Chaffield, J M

    2006-01-01

    Thermophilic anaerobic treatment of poultry litter produces an effluent stream of digested materials that can be separated into solid and liquid fractions for use as a crop fertilizer. The majority of the phosphorus is partitioned into the solid fraction while the majority of the nitrogen is present in the liquid fraction in the form of ammonium. These materials were tested over six years as an alternative fertilizer for the production of vegetable, fruit, and grassland crops. Application of the solids as a field crop fertilizer for vegetables and blueberries resulted in lower yields than the other fertilizer treatments, but an increase in soil phosphorus over a four-year period. Application of the digested liquids on grass and vegetable plots resulted in similar or superior yields to plots treated with commercially available nitrogen fertilizers. Hydroponic production of lettuce using liquid effluent was comparable to a commercial hydroponic fertilizer regime; however, the effluent treatment for hydroponic tomato production required supplementation and conversion of ammonium to nitrate. While not a total fertilizer solution, our research shows the effectiveness of digested effluent as part of a nutrient management program which could turn a livestock residuals problem into a crop nutrient resource.

  20. PHOSPHATES REMOVAL FROM REJECT WATER FROM DIGESTION OF SLUDGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elżbieta Sperczyńska

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the research work was to evaluate if coagulants used on technical scale are useful in phosphates removal from reject water. Effectiveness of phosphorus compounds removal from reject water from digestion of sewage sludge was examined. Selected prehydrolysed alkaline aluminium polychlorides were used. The results were compared to the ones obtained with aluminium sulphate. Reject water from digestion of sewage sludge form WWTP of 100 000 PE were examined. Commercial agents – prehydrolysed PAX 18, PAX XL10, PAX-XL1905 as well as aluminium sulphate were used. Various doses of coagulants: 0.7; 1.0; 1.5 – time higher than stoichiometric dose were applied. Stoichiometric dose was calculated based on chemical reaction of insoluble aluminium phosphate formation. Concentrations of Kiejdahl nitrogen (891 mgNKj/dm3, phosphates (125 mgPO43-/dm3 and organic compounds - COD (592 mgO2/dm3 in reject water were very high. The effectiveness of coagulation process increased as the doses of chemical agents increased. The most effective doses were the highest ones used during the experiment. The most effective agent was PAX 18 (96% removal efficiency. As the phosphates concentration decreased COD content declined simultaneously. Maximum COD removal (47% was obtained when highly alkaline PAX XL 1905 was used. Use of the lowest dose of Al2(SO43 allowed for 50% phosphates removal, whereas the lowest dose of PAX 18 decreased phosphates concentration by 83%.

  1. Effect of Addition of High Strength Food Wastes on Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge

    OpenAIRE

    Vaidya, Ramola Vinay

    2015-01-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and food wastes high in chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been an area of interest for waste water treatment facilities looking to increase methane production, and at the same time, dispose of the wastes and increase the revenue. However, addition of food wastes containing fats, oils and grease (FOG) to the conventional anaerobic digestion process can be difficult and pose challenges to utilities. Incorporating these wastes into the treatment plants c...

  2. Post-anaerobic digestion thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge and food waste: Effect on methane yields, dewaterability and solids reduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svensson, Kine; Kjørlaug, Oda; Higgins, Matthew J; Linjordet, Roar; Horn, Svein J

    2018-04-01

    Post-anaerobic digestion (PAD) treatment technologies have been suggested for anaerobic digestion (AD) to improve process efficiency and assure hygenization of organic waste. Because AD reduces the amount of organic waste, PAD can be applied to a much smaller volume of waste compared to pre-digestion treatment, thereby improving efficiency. In this study, dewatered digestate cakes from two different AD plants were thermally hydrolyzed and dewatered, and the liquid fraction was recirculated to a semi-continuous AD reactor. The thermal hydrolysis was more efficient in relation to methane yields and extent of dewaterability for the cake from a plant treating waste activated sludge, than the cake from a plant treating source separated food waste (SSFW). Temperatures above 165 °C yielded the best results. Post-treatment improved volumetric methane yields by 7% and the COD-reduction increased from 68% to 74% in a mesophilic (37 °C) semi-continuous system despite lowering the solid retention time (from 17 to 14 days) compared to a conventional system with pre-treatment of feed substrates at 70 °C. Results from thermogravimetric analysis showed an expected increase in maximum TS content of dewatered digestate cake from 34% up to 46% for the SSFW digestate cake, and from 17% up to 43% in the sludge digestate cake, after the PAD thermal hydrolysis process (PAD-THP). The increased dewatering alone accounts for a reduction in wet mass of cake leaving the plant of 60% in the case of sludge digestate cake. Additionaly, the increased VS-reduction will contribute to further reduce the mass of wet cake. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Co-digestion of food and garden waste with mixed sludge from wastewater treatment in continuously stirred tank reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fitamo, Temesgen Mathewos; Boldrin, Alessio; Boe, Kanokwan

    2016-01-01

    Co-digestions of urban organic waste were conducted to investigate the effect of the mixing ratio between sludge, food waste, grass clippings and green waste at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs). Compared to the digestion of 100% sludge, the methane yield increased by 48% and 35%, when co...... days. However, the methane yield dropped significantly to 356 (R1) and 315 (R2) NmL CH4/g VS when reducing the HRT to 10 days, indicating that the process was stressed. Since the methane production rate improved significantly with decreasing HRT, the trade-off between yield and productivity...

  4. Virological investigations on inadiated sewage sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Epp, C.

    1980-08-01

    The virusinactivating activity of a Co 60 -irradiation pilot plant at Geiselbullach/Munich was to be examined. We investigated 16 impure sewage water, 15 purified sewage water, 32 raw sladge samples, 62 digested sludge samples before irradiation, 52 digested sludge samples after irradiation and 9 raw sludge samples after irradiation. We completed these investigations by adding poliovaccinevirus type 1 to the digested sludge before irradiation and by adding suspensions of pure virus in MEM + 2% FBS packed in synthetic capsules and mixtures of virus and sludge packed in synthetic capsules to the digested sludge. After the irradiation we collected the capsules and determined the virustiter. The testviruses were poliovaccinevirus type 1, poliowildvirus type 1, echovirus type 6, coxsackie-B-virus type 5, coxsackie-A-virus type 9 and adenovirus type 1. In the field trial the irradiation results were like the laboratory results assuming that the sewage sludge was homogenized enough by digestion and the solid particle concentration was not more than 3%. The D-value was 300-400 krad for enteroviruses and 700 krad for adenovirus. (orig.) [de

  5. Effect of anaerobic digestion and liming on plant availability of phosphorus in iron- and aluminium-precipitated sewage sludge from primary wastewater treatment plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarenga, Emilio; Øgaard, Anne Falk; Vråle, Lasse

    2017-04-01

    More efficient plant utilisation of the phosphorus (P) in sewage sludge is required because rock phosphate is a limited resource. To meet environmental legislation thresholds for P removal from wastewater (WW), primary treatment with iron (Fe) or aluminium (Al) coagulants is effective. There is also a growing trend for WW treatment plants (WWTPs) to be coupled to a biogas process, in order to co-generate energy. The sludge produced, when stabilised, is used as a soil amendment in many countries. This study examined the effects of anaerobic digestion (AD), with or without liming as a post-treatment, on P release from Fe- and Al-precipitated sludges originating from primary WWTPs. Plant uptake of P from Fe- and Al-precipitated sludge after lime treatment but without AD was also compared. Chemical characterisation with sequential extraction of P and a greenhouse experiment with barley (Hordeum vulgare) were performed to assess the treatment effects on plant-available P. Liming increased the P-labile fraction in all cases. Plant P uptake increased from 18.5 mg pot -1 to 53 mg P pot -1 with liming of Fe-precipitated sludge and to 35 mg P pot -1 with liming of the digestate, while it increased from 18.7 mg pot -1 to 39 and 29 mg P pot -1 for the Al-precipitated substrate and digestate, respectively. Thus, liming of untreated Fe-precipitated sludge and its digestate resulted in higher P uptake than liming its Al-precipitated counterparts. AD had a negative impact on P mobility for both sludges.

  6. Thermophilic Dry Methane Fermentation of Distillation Residue Eluted from Ethanol Fermentation of Kitchen Waste and Dynamics of Microbial Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yu-Lian; Tan, Li; Wang, Ting-Ting; Sun, Zhao-Yong; Tang, Yue-Qin; Kida, Kenji

    2017-01-01

    Thermophilic dry methane fermentation is advantageous for feedstock with high solid content. Distillation residue with 65.1 % moisture content was eluted from ethanol fermentation of kitchen waste and subjected to thermophilic dry methane fermentation, after adjusting the moisture content to 75 %. The effect of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio on thermophilic dry methane fermentation was investigated. Results showed that thermophilic dry methane fermentation could not be stably performed for >10 weeks at a C/N ratio of 12.6 and a volatile total solid (VTS) loading rate of 1 g/kg sludge/d; however, it was stably performed at a C/N ratio of 19.8 and a VTS loading rate of 3 g/kg sludge/d with 83.4 % energy recovery efficiency. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the number of bacteria and archaea decreased by two orders of magnitude at a C/N ratio of 12.6, whereas they were not influenced at a C/N ratio of 19.8. Microbial community analysis revealed that the relative abundance of protein-degrading bacteria increased and that of organic acid-oxidizing bacteria and acetic acid-oxidizing bacteria decreased at a C/N ratio of 12.6. Therefore, there was accumulation of NH 4 + and acetic acid, which inhibited thermophilic dry methane fermentation.

  7. Performance and kinetic study of semi-dry thermophilic anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sajeena Beevi, B.; Madhu, G.; Sahoo, Deepak Kumar

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Performance of the reactor was evaluated by the degradation of volatile solids. • Biogas yield at the end of the digestion was 52.9 L/kg VS. • Value of reaction rate constant, k, obtained was 0.0249 day −1 . • During the digestion 66.7% of the volatile solid degradation was obtained. - Abstract: Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is promoted as an energy source and waste disposal. In this study semi dry anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes was conducted for 45 days in a lab-scale batch experiment for total solid concentration of 100 g/L for investigating the start-up performances under thermophilic condition (50 °C). The performance of the reactor was evaluated by measuring the daily biogas production and calculating the degradation of total solids and the total volatile solids. The biogas yield at the end of the digestion was 52.9 L/kg VS (volatile solid) for the total solid (TS) concentration of 100 g/L. About 66.7% of the volatile solid degradation was obtained during the digestion. A first order model based on the availability of substrate as the limiting factor was used to perform the kinetic studies of batch anaerobic digestion system. The value of reaction rate constant, k, obtained was 0.0249 day −1

  8. Performance and kinetic study of semi-dry thermophilic anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sajeena Beevi, B., E-mail: sajeenanazer@gmail.com [Department of Chemical Engineering, Govt. Engineering College, Thrissur, Kerala 680 009 (India); Madhu, G., E-mail: profmadhugopal@gmail.com [Division of Safety & Fire Engineering, School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala 682 022 (India); Sahoo, Deepak Kumar, E-mail: dksahoo@gmail.com [Division of Safety & Fire Engineering, School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala 682 022 (India)

    2015-02-15

    Highlights: • Performance of the reactor was evaluated by the degradation of volatile solids. • Biogas yield at the end of the digestion was 52.9 L/kg VS. • Value of reaction rate constant, k, obtained was 0.0249 day{sup −1}. • During the digestion 66.7% of the volatile solid degradation was obtained. - Abstract: Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is promoted as an energy source and waste disposal. In this study semi dry anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes was conducted for 45 days in a lab-scale batch experiment for total solid concentration of 100 g/L for investigating the start-up performances under thermophilic condition (50 °C). The performance of the reactor was evaluated by measuring the daily biogas production and calculating the degradation of total solids and the total volatile solids. The biogas yield at the end of the digestion was 52.9 L/kg VS (volatile solid) for the total solid (TS) concentration of 100 g/L. About 66.7% of the volatile solid degradation was obtained during the digestion. A first order model based on the availability of substrate as the limiting factor was used to perform the kinetic studies of batch anaerobic digestion system. The value of reaction rate constant, k, obtained was 0.0249 day{sup −1}.

  9. Thermophilic Alkaline Fermentation Followed by Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion for Efficient Hydrogen and Methane Production from Waste-Activated Sludge: Dynamics of Bacterial Pathogens as Revealed by the Combination of Metagenomic and Quantitative PCR Analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Jingjing; Jing, Yuhang; Rao, Yue; Zhang, Shicheng; Luo, Gang

    2018-03-15

    Thermophilic alkaline fermentation followed by mesophilic anaerobic digestion (TM) for hydrogen and methane production from waste-activated sludge (WAS) was investigated. The TM process was also compared to a process with mesophilic alkaline fermentation followed by a mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MM) and one-stage mesophilic anaerobic digestion (M) process. The results showed that both hydrogen yield (74.5 ml H 2 /g volatile solids [VS]) and methane yield (150.7 ml CH 4 /g VS) in the TM process were higher than those (6.7 ml H 2 /g VS and 127.8 ml CH 4 /g VS, respectively) in the MM process. The lowest methane yield (101.2 ml CH 4 /g VS) was obtained with the M process. Taxonomic results obtained from metagenomic analysis showed that different microbial community compositions were established in the hydrogen reactors of the TM and MM processes, which also significantly changed the microbial community compositions in the following methane reactors compared to that with the M process. The dynamics of bacterial pathogens were also evaluated. For the TM process, the reduced diversity and total abundance of bacterial pathogens in WAS were observed in the hydrogen reactor and were further reduced in the methane reactor, as revealed by metagenomic analysis. The results also showed not all bacterial pathogens were reduced in the reactors. For example, Collinsella aerofaciens was enriched in the hydrogen reactor, which was also confirmed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis. The study further showed that qPCR was more sensitive for detecting bacterial pathogens than metagenomic analysis. Although there were some differences in the relative abundances of bacterial pathogens calculated by metagenomic and qPCR approaches, both approaches demonstrated that the TM process was more efficient for the removal of bacterial pathogens than the MM and M processes. IMPORTANCE This study developed an efficient process for bioenergy (H 2 and CH 4 ) production from WAS and elucidates the

  10. Radiotracer study on the efficiency of a cylindrical 2-stage anaerobic sludge digester

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sung-Hee Jung; Joon-Ha Jin; Jong-Bum Kim

    2004-01-01

    Radiotracer experiments were carried out on a cylindrical 2-stage anaerobic sludge digester in order to investigate the improvement of their efficiency by means of RTD (residence time distribution) measurements before and after cleaning up the inside of the digester. The tracer was scandium in an EDTA solution which forms such a stable complex compound to keep the isotope form being adsorbed onto the surface of the pipelines or the wall. It was injected into the digester by pressurized nitrogen gas and its movement was monitored by NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors installed around the digester and recorded for a month by a 24-channel data acquisition system specially developed for radiotracer experiments by the Korea Tracer Group of KAERI. The experimental data was analysed for the MRT (mean residence time) and other parameters characterizing the flow behaviour. (author)

  11. How Does Poly(hydroxyalkanoate) Affect Methane Production from the Anaerobic Digestion of Waste-Activated Sludge?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dongbo; Zhao, Jianwei; Zeng, Guangming; Chen, Yinguang; Bond, Philip L; Li, Xiaoming

    2015-10-20

    Recent studies demonstrate that, besides being used for production of biodegradable plastics, poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA) that is accumulated in heterotrophic microorganisms during wastewater treatment has another novel application direction, i.e., being utilized for enhancing methane yield during the anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge (WAS). To date, however, the underlying mechanism of how PHA affects methane production remains largely unknown, and this limits optimization and application of the strategy. This study therefore aims to fill this knowledge gap. Experimental results showed that with the increase of sludge PHA levels from 21 to 184 mg/g of volatile suspended solids (VSS) the methane yield linearly increased from 168.0 to 246.1 mL/g of VSS (R(2) = 0.9834). Compared with protein and carbohydrate (the main components of a cell), PHA exhibited a higher biochemical methane potential on a unit VSS basis. It was also found that the increased PHA not only enhanced cell disruption of PHA cells but also benefited the soluble protein conversion of both PHA- and non-PHA cells. Moreover, the reactor fed with higher PHA sludge showed greater sludge hydrolysis and acidification than those fed with the lower PHA sludges. Further investigations using fluorescence in situ hybridization and enzyme analysis revealed that the increased PHA enhanced the abundance of methanogenic Archaea and increased the activities of protease, acetate kinase, and coenzyme F420, which were consistent with the observed methane yield. This work provides insights into PHA-involved WAS digestion systems and may have important implications for future operation of wastewater treatment plants.

  12. Co-digestion of sewage sludge with glycerol to boost biogas production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fountoulakis, M.S.; Petousi, I.; Manios, T.

    2010-01-01

    The feasibility of adding crude glycerol from the biodiesel industry to the anaerobic digesters treating sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants was studied in both batch and continuous experiments at 35 o C. Glycerol addition can boost biogas yields, if it does not exceed a limiting 1% (v/v) concentration in the feed. Any further increase of glycerol causes a high imbalance in the anaerobic digestion process. The reactor treating the sewage sludge produced 1106 ± 36 ml CH 4 /d before the addition of glycerol and 2353 ± 94 ml CH 4 /d after the addition of glycerol (1% v/v in the feed). The extra glycerol-COD added to the feed did not have a negative effect on reactor performance, but seemed to increase the active biomass (volatile solids) concentration in the system. Batch kinetic experiments showed that the maximum specific utilization rate (μ max ) and the saturation constant (K S ) of glycerol were 0.149 ± 0.015 h -1 and 0.276 ± 0.095 g/l, respectively. Comparing the estimated values with the kinetics constants for propionate reported in the literature, it can be concluded that glycerol uptake is not the rate-limiting step during the process.

  13. Effect of alkaline pretreatment on mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of a submerged macrophyte: Inhibition and recovery against dissolved lignin during semi-continuous operation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koyama, Mitsuhiko; Watanabe, Keiko; Kurosawa, Norio; Ishikawa, Kanako; Ban, Syuhei; Toda, Tatsuki

    2017-08-01

    The long-term effect of alkaline pretreatment on semi-continuous anaerobic digestion (AD) of the lignin-rich submerged macrophyte Potamogeton maackianus was investigated using mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. In pretreated reactors, dissolved lignin accumulated to high levels. CH 4 production under the pretreated condition was higher than that of the untreated condition, but decreased from Days 22 (mesophilic) and 42 (thermophilic). However, CH 4 production subsequently recovered, although dissolved lignin accumulated. Further, the change in the microbial community was observed between conditions. These results suggest that dissolved lignin temporarily inhibited AD, although acclimatization to dissolved lignin occurred during long-term operation. During the steady state period, mesophilic conditions achieved a 42% increase in the CH 4 yield using pretreatment, while thermophilic conditions yielded an 8% increment. Because volatile fatty acids accumulated even after acclimatization during the thermophilic pretreated condition and was discharged with the effluent, improvement of the methanogenic step would enable enhanced CH 4 recovery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Fermentative hydrogen production by diverse microflora

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baghchehsaraee, B.; Nakhla, G.; Karamanev, D.; Margaritis, A.

    2009-01-01

    'Full text': In this study of hydrogen production with activated sludge, a diverse bacterial source has been investigated and compared to microflora from anaerobic digester sludge, which is less diverse. Batch experiments were conducted at mesophilic (37 o C) and thermophilic (55 o C) temperatures. The hydrogen production yields with activated sludge at 37 o C and 55 o C were 0.25 and 0.93 mol H 2 /mol glucose, respectively. The maximum hydrogen production rates with activated sludge in both temperatures were 4.2 mL/h. Anaerobic digester sludge showed higher hydrogen production yields and rates at both mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures. The results of repeated batch experiments with activated sludge showed an increase in the hydrogen production during the consecutive batches. However, hydrogen production was not stable along the repeated batches. The observed instability was due to the formation of lactic acid and ethanol. (author)

  15. Retooling the ethanol industry: thermophilic anaerobic digestion of thin stillage for methane production and pollution prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaefer, Scott H; Sung, Shihwu

    2008-02-01

    Anaerobic digestion of corn ethanol thin stillage was tested at thermophilic temperature (55 degrees C) with two completely stirred tank reactors. The thin stillage wastestream was organically concentrated with 100 g/L total chemical oxygen demand and 60 g/L volatiles solids and a low pH of approximately 4.0. Steady-state was achieved at 30-, 20-, and 15-day hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and digester failure at a 12-day HRT. Significant reduction of volatile solids was achieved, with a maximum reduction (89.8%) at the 20-day HRT. Methane yield ranged from 0.6 to 0.7 L methane/g volatile solids removed during steady-state operation. Effluent volatile fatty acids below 200 mg/L as acetic acid were achieved at 20- and 30-day HRTs. Ultrasonic pretreatment was used for one digester, although no significant improvement was observed. Ethanol plant natural gas consumption could be reduced 43 to 59% with the methane produced, while saving an estimated $7 to $17 million ($10 million likely) for a facility producing 360 million L ethanol/y.

  16. High-solids anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste in comparison with mono digestions: stability and performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Xiaohu; Duan, Nina; Dong, Bin; Dai, Lingling

    2013-02-01

    System stability and performance of high-solids anaerobic co-digestion of dewatered sludge (DS) and food waste (FW) in comparison with mono digestions were investigated. System stability was improved in co-digestion systems with co-substrate acting as a diluting agent to toxic chemicals like ammonia or Na(+). For high-solids digestion of DS, the addition of FW not only improved system stability but also greatly enhanced volumetric biogas production. For high-solids digestion of FW, the addition of DS could reduce Na(+) concentration and help maintain satisfactory stability during the conversion of FW into biogas. System performances of co-digestion systems were mainly determined by the mixing ratios of DS and FW. Biogas production and volatile solids (VSs) reduction in digestion of the co-mixture of DS and FW increased linearly with higher ratios of FW. A kinetic model, which aimed to forecast the performance of co-digestion and to assist reactor design, was developed from long-term semi-continuous experiments. Maximum VS reduction for DS and FW was estimated to be 44.3% and 90.3%, respectively, and first order constant k was found to be 0.17d(-1) and 0.50 d(-1), respectively. Experimental data of co-digestion were in good conformity to the predictions of the model. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Anaerobic digestion of spent mushroom substrate under thermophilic conditions: performance and microbial community analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Zheng; Lin, Manhong; Fan, Jinlin; Chen, Yixuan; Zhao, Chao; Liu, Bin

    2018-01-01

    Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is the residue of edible mushroom production occurring in huge amounts. The SMS residue can be digested for biogas production in the mesophilic anaerobic digestion. In the present study, performance of batch thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) of SMS was investigated as well as the interconnected microbial population structure changes. The analyzed batch TAD process lasted for 12 days with the cumulative methane yields of 177.69 mL/g volatile solid (VS). Hydrolytic activities of soluble sugar, crude protein, and crude fat in SMS were conducted mainly in the initial phase, accompanied by the excessive accumulation of volatile fatty acids and low methane yield. Biogas production increased dramatically from days 4 to 6. The degradation rates of cellulose and hemicellulose were 47.53 and 55.08%, respectively. The high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons revealed that Proteobacteria (56.7%-62.8%) was the dominant phylum in different fermentative stages, which was highly specific compared with other anaerobic processes of lignocellulosic materials reported in the literature. Crenarchaeota was abundant in the archaea. The most dominant genera of archaea were retrieved as Methanothermobacter and Methanobacterium, but the latter decreased sharply with time. This study shows that TAD is a feasible method to handle the waste SMS.

  18. Farm-scale thermophilic co-digestion of dairy manure with a biodiesel byproduct in cold regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andriamanohiarisoamanana, Fetra J.; Yamashiro, Takaki; Ihara, Ikko; Iwasaki, Masahiro; Nishida, Takehiro; Umetsu, Kazutaka

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Co-digestion of dairy manure and crude glycerin was conducted using a 60 m"3 reactor. • The highest methane yield was 0.323 m"3/kgVS obtained at 4.2% (v/v) of crude glycerin. • The optimum organic loading rate for crude glycerol was 1.32 kgVS_C_G/m"3 d. • Reactor energy self-sufficiency was observed with net energy output of 25 kW h/d. - Abstract: Conversion of organic wastes into applicable energy sources is the best way to improve organic waste management. In this study, the performance of thermophilic co-digestion of dairy manure (DM) and crude glycerol (CG) in a 60-m"3 farm-scale biogas digester located in a cold region was investigated during the winter. Compared to the anaerobic digestion of DM alone, the methane production increased by approximately twofold during co-digestion of DM and CG. The highest methane yield was 0.323 m"3/kgVS obtained at 4.2% (v/v) of CG. Despite the increase in methane production with organic loading rate, the methane yield of CG reduced remarkably at 2.64 kgVS_C_G/m"3 d, while the highest was at 1.32 kgVS_C_G/m"3 d. During the co-digestion, a net energy at an average of 25 kWh/d was obtained for farm operation, whereas a supply of kerosene and electricity from national grid were required for the digester and farm operations during anaerobic digestion of DM. During winter, the improvement of biogas yield through the addition of CG enabled the sustainability of a farm-scale biogas production system and reduced its environmental impact.

  19. Kinetic parameter estimation model for anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and microalgae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Eunyoung; Cumberbatch, Jewel; Wang, Meng; Zhang, Qiong

    2017-03-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion has a potential to improve biogas production, but limited kinetic information is available for co-digestion. This study introduced regression-based models to estimate the kinetic parameters for the co-digestion of microalgae and Waste Activated Sludge (WAS). The models were developed using the ratios of co-substrates and the kinetic parameters for the single substrate as indicators. The models were applied to the modified first-order kinetics and Monod model to determine the rate of hydrolysis and methanogenesis for the co-digestion. The results showed that the model using a hyperbola function was better for the estimation of the first-order kinetic coefficients, while the model using inverse tangent function closely estimated the Monod kinetic parameters. The models can be used for estimating kinetic parameters for not only microalgae-WAS co-digestion but also other substrates' co-digestion such as microalgae-swine manure and WAS-aquatic plants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Investigation into the effect of high concentrations of volatile fatty acids in anaerobic digestion on methanogenic communities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franke-Whittle, Ingrid H., E-mail: ingrid.whittle@uibk.ac.at [Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria); Walter, Andreas [Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria); Ebner, Christian [Abwasserverband Zirl und Umgebung, Meilbrunnen 5, 6170 Zirl (Austria); Insam, Heribert [Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria)

    2014-11-15

    Highlights: • Different methanogenic communities in mesophilic and thermophilic reactors. • High VFA levels do not cause major changes in archaeal communities. • Real-time PCR indicated greater diversity than ANAEROCHIP microarray. - Abstract: A study was conducted to determine whether differences in the levels of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in anaerobic digester plants could result in variations in the indigenous methanogenic communities. Two digesters (one operated under mesophilic conditions, the other under thermophilic conditions) were monitored, and sampled at points where VFA levels were high, as well as when VFA levels were low. Physical and chemical parameters were measured, and the methanogenic diversity was screened using the phylogenetic microarray ANAEROCHIP. In addition, real-time PCR was used to quantify the presence of the different methanogenic genera in the sludge samples. Array results indicated that the archaeal communities in the different reactors were stable, and that changes in the VFA levels of the anaerobic digesters did not greatly alter the dominating methanogenic organisms. In contrast, the two digesters were found to harbour different dominating methanogenic communities, which appeared to remain stable over time. Real-time PCR results were inline with those of microarray analysis indicating only minimal changes in methanogen numbers during periods of high VFAs, however, revealed a greater diversity in methanogens than found with the array.

  1. Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket-hollow centered packed bed (UASB-HCPB) reactor for thermophilic palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poh, P.E.; Chong, M.F.

    2014-01-01

    Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket-hollow centered packed bed (UASB-HCPB) reactor was developed with the aim to minimize operational problems in the anaerobic treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) under thermophilic conditions. The performance of UASB-HCPB reactor on POME treatment was investigated at 55 °C. Subsequent to start-up, the performance of the UASB-HCPB reactor was evaluated in terms of i) effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT); ii) effect of organic loading rate (OLR); and iii) effect of mixed liquor volatile suspended solid (MLVSS) concentration on thermophilic POME treatment. Start-up up of the UASB-HCPB reactor was completed in 36 days, removing 88% COD and 90% BOD respectively at an OLR of 28.12 g L −1  d −1 , producing biogas with 52% of methane. Results from the performance study of the UASB-HCPB reactor on thermophilic POME treatment indicated that HRT of 2 days, OLR of 27.65 g L −1  d −1 and MLVSS concentration of 14.7 g L −1 was required to remove 90% of COD and BOD, 80% of suspended solid and at the same time produce 60% of methane. - Highlights: • UASB-HCPB was proposed for POME treatment under thermophilic conditions. • Start-up up of the UASB-HCPB reactor was completed in 36 days. • 88% COD and 90% BOD were removed at an OLR of 28.12 g COD/L.day during start-up. • HRT of 2 days and OLR of 27.65 g COD/L.day was required to produce 60% methane. • Methanosarcina sp. forms the majority of microbial population in the UASB section

  2. Mass and Energy Balances of Dry Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion Treating Swine Manure Mixed with Rice Straw.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Sheng; Zhang, Jining; Zou, Guoyan; Riya, Shohei; Hosomi, Masaaki

    2015-01-01

    To evaluate the feasibility of swine manure treatment by a proposed Dry Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion (DT-AD) system, we evaluated the methane yield of swine manure treated using a DT-AD method with rice straw under different C/N ratios and solid retention time (SRT) and calculated the mass and energy balances when the DT-AD system is used for swine manure treatment from a model farm with 1000 pigs and the digested residue is used for forage rice production. A traditional swine manure treatment Oxidation Ditch system was used as the study control. The results suggest that methane yield using the proposed DT-AD system increased with a higher C/N ratio and shorter SRT. Correspondently, for the DT-AD system running with SRT of 80 days, the net energy yields for all treatments were negative, due to low biogas production and high heat loss of digestion tank. However, the biogas yield increased when the SRT was shortened to 40 days, and the generated energy was greater than consumed energy when C/N ratio was 20 : 1 and 30 : 1. The results suggest that with the correct optimization of C/N ratio and SRT, the proposed DT-AD system, followed by using digestate for forage rice production, can attain energy self-sufficiency.

  3. Uses of biogas produced by digestion of wastewater sludge. The SIAAP's experience feedback and projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amosse, S.; Nedelec, R.

    2010-01-01

    The SIAAP, in charge of the purification of the Great Paris wastewaters (8 M inhabitants), handles 2.7 Mm 3 /day. Five wastewater treatment plants permit to dean these wastewaters before they are discharged into the receiving environment: 'Seine Aval' (Acheres, 1,7 Mm 3 /day), 'Seine Amont' (Valenton, 600 000 m 3 /day), 'Seine Centre' (Colombes, 240 000 m 3 /day), 'Seine Gresillons' (Triel-sur-Seine, 100 000 m 3 /day) and 'Marne Aval' (Noisy-Le-Grand, 40 000 m 3 /day). Biogas produced by digestion of sludge provides a part of the energy required by the five sewage treatment works. Energy recovered from biogas have been used by the SAV site since 1940. As soon as the first part of this plant started up, biogas was used as fuel to heat digester, to produce power through biogas engines and to drive blowers. In the 60's and 70's, dual-fuel engines were brought into service, and then in 1992, a gas turbine was installed. Nowadays, a combined heat and power (cogeneration) project is in progress with the installation of two gas turbines, each generating 5 MW. All of these installations had allowed a 70% energetic autonomy ratio on 'Seine Aval' site. Then, new treatment units were introduced. Thus, energy consumption has increased, with only 60 % of energy demands being covered. By 2020, a complete make-over of the 'Seine Aval' plant will be done. This should allow to cover about 70% of energy demands, partly thanks to biogas reuse. New plants are currently being constructed. All of them will include sludge digestion process providing biogas. With the 'Seine Gresillons' plant upgrading, digestion process will occur on site. Biogas will be used in a cogeneration system to produce both electricity (that would be either used on site or sold commercially, this has not been decided by now) and heat for digesters heating. The new 'Seine Moree' plant will be built in the city of Blanc-Mesnil. A partnership with the Syctom (an association in charge of treatment and reuse of the

  4. An innovative intermittent-vacuum assisted thermophilic anaerobic digestion process for effective animal manure utilization and treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Renchuan; Anderson, Erik; Addy, Min; Deng, Xiangyuan; Kabir, Fayal; Lu, Qian; Ma, Yiwei; Cheng, Yanling; Liu, Yuhuan; Chen, Paul; Ruan, Roger

    2017-11-01

    Intermittent-vacuum stripping (IVS) was developed as a pretreatment for thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) to improve methanogenesis and hydrolysis activity through preventing free ammonia and hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) inhibition from liquid swine manure (LSM). Over 98% of ammonia and 38% organic nitrogen were removed in 60min from 55°C to 85°C with vacuum pressure (from 100.63±3.79mmHg to 360.91±7.39mmHg) at initial pH 10.0 by IVS. Thermophilic methanogenesis and hydrolysis activity of pretreated LSM increased 52.25% (from 11.56±1.75% to 17.60±0.49%) in 25days and 40% (from 10days to 6days) in bio-methane potential assay. Over 80% H 2 S and total nitrogen were removed by IVS assistance, while around 70% nitrogen was recycled as ammonium sulfate. Therefore, IVS-TAD combination could be an effective strategy to improve TAD efficiency, whose elution is more easily utilized in algae cultivation and/or hydroponic system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Comprehensive monitoring and management of a long-term thermophilic CSTR treating coffee grounds, coffee liquid, milk waste, and municipal sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shofie, Mohammad; Qiao, Wei; Li, Qian; Takayanagi, Kazuyuki; Li, Yu-You

    2015-09-01

    The CSTR process has previously not been successfully applied to treat coffee residues under thermophilic temperature and long term operation. In this experiment, the CSTR was fed with mixture substrate (TS ∼ 70 g/L) of coffee grounds, coffee wastewater, milk waste and municipal sludge and it was operated under 55 °C for 225 days. A steady state was achieved under HRT 30 days and OLR 4.0 kg-COD/m(3)/d. However, there was an 35 days inhibition with VFA accumulation (propionic acid 700-1900 mg/L) when doubling the OLR by shortening HRT to 15 days. But, an addition of microelements and sulfate (0.5 g/L) in feedstock increased reactor resilience and stability under high loading rate and propionic acid stress. Continuous monitoring of hydrogen in biogas indicated the imbalance of acetogenesis. The effectiveness of comprehensive parameters (total VFA, propionic acid, IA/PA, IA/TA and CH4 content) was proved to manage the thermophilic system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Boosting methane generation by co-digestion of sludge with fruit and vegetable waste: Internal environment of digester and methanogenic pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Maria, Francesco; Barratta, Martino

    2015-09-01

    The effects of anaerobic co-digestion of waste-mixed sludge with fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) on the methane generation of a mesophilic digester was investigated. Organic loading rates (OLR) were 1.46kgVS/m(3)day, 2.1kgVS/m(3)day and 2.8kgVS/m(3)day. Increase in the OLR due to FVW co-digestion caused modification of the internal environment of the digester, mainly in terms of N-NH4 (mg/L). Corresponding microbial populations were investigated by metagenomic high-throughput sequencing. Maximum specific bio-methane generation of 435 NLCH4 per kgVS feed was achieved for an OLR of 2.1kgVS/m(3)day, which corresponded to a biomethane generation per kgVS removed of about 1700 NLCH4. In these conditions the methanogenic pathway was dominated by aceticlastic Methanosaeta and hydrogenotrophic/aceticlastic Methanoscarcinae. Ammonia concentration in the digester resulted a key parameter for enhancing syntrophic acetate oxidation, enabling a balanced aceticlastic and hydrogenotrophic/aceticlastic methanogenic pathway. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Bicarbonate dosing: a tool to performance recovery of a thermophilic methanol-fed UASB reactor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Paulo, P.L.; Lier, van J.B.; Lettinga, G.

    2003-01-01

    The thermophilic-anaerobic treatment of methanol-containing wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, was found to be quite sensitive to pH shocks, both acid and alkaline. The results of the recovery experiments of sludge exposed to an alkaline shock, indicated that the

  8. Microbial electrolysis contribution to anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge, leading to accelerated methane production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Wenzong; Cai, Weiwei; Guo, Zechong

    2016-01-01

    Methane production rate (MPR) in waste activated sludge (WAS) digestion processes is typically limitedby the initial steps of complex organic matter degradation, leading to a limited MPR due to sludgefermentation speed of solid particles. In this study, a novel microbial electrolysis AD reactor (ME...

  9. Intensification of anaerobic digestion efficiency with use of mechanical excess sludge disintegration in the context of increased energy production in wastewater treatment plants

    OpenAIRE

    Żubrowska-Sudoł Monika; Podedworna Jolanta; Bisak Agnieszka; Sytek-Szmeichel Katarzyna; Krawczyk Piotr; Garlicka Agnieszka

    2017-01-01

    The main goal of the study was to evaluate the effects of mechanical sludge disintegration for enhancing full scale anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge. Batch disintegration tests and lab dewatering tests were also performed aiming at determining the release of organic compounds and assessing the impact of disintegration of excess sludge before the fermentation process of mixed sludge on the dewaterability of post-fermented sludge, respectively. In the study a disc disintegrator driven by...

  10. Mechanism and Effect of Temperature on Variations in Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wei; Qian, Xun; Gu, Jie; Wang, Xiao-Juan; Duan, Man-Li

    2016-07-01

    Animal manure comprises an important reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but the variation in ARGs during anaerobic digestion at various temperatures and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. Thus, we performed anaerobic digestion using dairy manure at three temperature levels (moderate: 20 °C, mesophilic: 35 °C, and thermophilic: 55 °C), to analyze the dynamics of ARGs and bacterial communities by quantitative PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that 8/10 detected ARGs declined and 5/10 decreased more than 1.0 log during thermophilic digestion, whereas only four and five ARGs decreased during moderate and mesophilic digestion, respectively. The changes in ARGs and bacterial communities were similar under the moderate and mesophilic treatments, but distinct from those in the thermophilic system. Potential pathogens such as Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Corynebacterium were removed by thermophilic digestion but not by moderate and mesophilic digestion. The bacterial community succession was the dominant mechanism that influenced the variation in ARGs and integrons during anaerobic digestion. Thermophilic digestion decreased the amount of mesophilic bacteria (Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria) carrying ARGs. Anaerobic digestion generally decreased the abundance of integrons by eliminating the aerobic hosts of integrons (Actinomycetales and Bacilli). Thermophilic anaerobic digestion is recommended for the treatment and reuse of animal manure.

  11. Mechanism and Effect of Temperature on Variations in Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wei; Qian, Xun; Gu, Jie; Wang, Xiao-Juan; Duan, Man-Li

    2016-07-22

    Animal manure comprises an important reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but the variation in ARGs during anaerobic digestion at various temperatures and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. Thus, we performed anaerobic digestion using dairy manure at three temperature levels (moderate: 20 °C, mesophilic: 35 °C, and thermophilic: 55 °C), to analyze the dynamics of ARGs and bacterial communities by quantitative PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that 8/10 detected ARGs declined and 5/10 decreased more than 1.0 log during thermophilic digestion, whereas only four and five ARGs decreased during moderate and mesophilic digestion, respectively. The changes in ARGs and bacterial communities were similar under the moderate and mesophilic treatments, but distinct from those in the thermophilic system. Potential pathogens such as Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Corynebacterium were removed by thermophilic digestion but not by moderate and mesophilic digestion. The bacterial community succession was the dominant mechanism that influenced the variation in ARGs and integrons during anaerobic digestion. Thermophilic digestion decreased the amount of mesophilic bacteria (Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria) carrying ARGs. Anaerobic digestion generally decreased the abundance of integrons by eliminating the aerobic hosts of integrons (Actinomycetales and Bacilli). Thermophilic anaerobic digestion is recommended for the treatment and reuse of animal manure.

  12. Seeking key microorganisms for enhancing methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste sewage sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mustapha, Nurul Asyifah; Hu, Anyi; Yu, Chang-Ping; Sharuddin, Siti Suhailah; Ramli, Norhayati; Shirai, Yoshihito; Maeda, Toshinari

    2018-04-25

    Efficient approaches for the utilization of waste sewage sludge have been widely studied. One of them is to use it for the bioenergy production, specifically methane gas which is well-known to be driven by complex bacterial interactions during the anaerobic digestion process. Therefore, it is important to understand not only microorganisms for producing methane but also those for controlling or regulating the process. In this study, azithromycin analogs belonging to macrolide, ketolide, and lincosamide groups were applied to investigate the mechanisms and dynamics of bacterial community in waste sewage sludge for methane production. The stages of anaerobic digestion process were evaluated by measuring the production of intermediate substrates, such as protease activity, organic acids, the quantification of bacteria and archaea, and its community dynamics. All azithromycin analogs used in this study achieved a high methane production compared to the control sample without any antibiotic due to the efficient hydrolysis process and the presence of important fermentative bacteria and archaea responsible in the methanogenesis stage. The key microorganisms contributing to the methane production may be Clostridia, Cladilinea, Planctomycetes, and Alphaproteobacteria as an accelerator whereas Nitrosomonadaceae and Nitrospiraceae may be suppressors for methane production. In conclusion, the utilization of antibiotic analogs of macrolide, ketolide, and lincosamide groups has a promising ability in finding the essential microorganisms and improving the methane production using waste sewage sludge.

  13. Bacteria and archaea communities in full-scale thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digesters treating food wastewater: Key process parameters and microbial indicators of process instability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Joonyeob; Shin, Seung Gu; Han, Gyuseong; Koo, Taewoan; Hwang, Seokhwan

    2017-12-01

    In this study, four different mesophilic and thermophilic full-scale anaerobic digesters treating food wastewater (FWW) were monitored for 1-2years in order to investigate: 1) microbial communities underpinning anaerobic digestion of FWW, 2) significant factors shaping microbial community structures, and 3) potential microbial indicators of process instability. Twenty-seven bacterial genera were identified as abundant bacteria underpinning the anaerobic digestion of FWW. Methanosaeta harundinacea, M. concilii, Methanoculleus bourgensis, M. thermophilus, and Methanobacterium beijingense were revealed as dominant methanogens. Bacterial community structures were clearly differentiated by digesters; archaeal community structures of each digester were dominated by one or two methanogen species. Temperature, ammonia, propionate, Na + , and acetate in the digester were significant factors shaping microbial community structures. The total microbial populations, microbial diversity, and specific bacteria genera showed potential as indicators of process instability in the anaerobic digestion of FWW. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Implementation and process analysis of pilot scale multi-phase anaerobic fermentation and digestion of faecal sludge in Ghana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Justin; Fanyin-Martin, Ato; Taher, Edris; Chandran, Kartik

    2017-11-06

    Background.  In Ghana, faecal sludge (FS) from on-site sanitation facilities is often discharged untreated into the environment, leading to significant insults to environmental and human health. Anaerobic digestion offers an attractive pathway for FS treatment with the concomitant production of energy in the form of methane. Another innovative option includes separating digestion into acidogenesis (production of volatile fatty acids (VFA)) and methanogenesis (production of methane), which could ultimately facilitate the production of an array of biofuels and biochemicals from the VFA. This work describes the development, implementation and modeling based analysis of a novel multiphase anaerobic fermentation-digestion process aimed at FS treatment in Kumasi, Ghana.  Methods.  A pilot-scale anaerobic fermentation process was implemented at the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly's Oti Sanitary Landfill Site at Adanse Dompoase.  The process consisted of six 10 m reactors in series, which were inoculated with bovine rumen and fed with fecal sludge obtained from public toilets.  The performance of the fermentation process was characterized in terms of both aqueous and gaseous variables representing the conversion of influent organic carbon to VFA as well as CH 4 .  Using the operating data, the first-ever process model for FS fermentation and digestion was developed and calibrated, based on the activated sludge model framework. Results and Conclusions.  This work represents one of the first systematic efforts at integrated FS characterization and process modeling to enable anaerobic fermentation and digestion of FS. It is shown that owing to pre-fermentation of FS in public septage holding tanks, one could employ significantly smaller digesters (lower capital costs) or increased loading capabilities for FS conversion to biogas or VFA. Further, using the first-ever calibrated process model for FS fermentation and digestion presented herein, we expect improved and more

  15. The effect of different mesophilic temperatures during anaerobic digestion of sludge on the overall performance of a WWTP in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moestedt, J; Rönnberg, J; Nordell, E

    2017-12-01

    This project was initiated to evaluate the effect of alternative process temperatures to 38 °C at the anaerobic digestion step in a Swedish wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) treating mixed sludge. The efficiency of the different temperatures was evaluated with respect to biogas production, volume of sludge produced and nutrient content in the reject water to find the optimum temperature for the WWTP as a whole. Three temperatures, 34 °C, 38 °C and 42 °C, were compared in laboratory scale. Increasing the process temperature to 42 °C resulted in process instability, reduced methane yield, accumulation of volatile fatty acids and higher treatment costs of the reject water. By decreasing the temperature to 34 °C, slightly higher sludge mass was observed and a lower gas production rate, while the specific methane produced remained unchanged compared to 38 °C but foaming was observed at several occasions. In summary 38 °C was proved to be the most favourable temperature for the anaerobic digestion process treating mixed sludge when the evaluation included effects such as foaming, sludge mass and quality of the reject water.

  16. Methanomethylovorans thermophila sp. nov., a thermophilic, methylotrophic methanogen form an anaerobic reactor fed with methanol

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jiang, B.; Parshina, S.N.; Doesburg, van W.C.J.; Lomans, B.P.; Stams, A.J.M.

    2005-01-01

    A novel thermophilic, obligately methylotrophic, methanogenic archaeon, strain L2FAWT, was isolated from a thermophilic laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor fed with methanol as the carbon and energy source. Cells of strain L2FAWT were non-motile, irregular cocci, 0·7¿1·5 µm in

  17. Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Bacterial and Archaeal Lipid Biomarkers from Anaerobically Digested Sludge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koichi Fujie

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE was used in the analysis of bacterial respiratory quinone (RQ, bacterial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA, and archaeal phospholipid ether lipid (PLEL from anaerobically digested sludge. Bacterial RQ were determined using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC. Determination of bacterial PLFA and archaeal PLEL was simultaneously performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS. The effects of pressure, temperature, and modifier concentration on the total amounts of RQ, PLFA, and PLEL were investigated by 23 experiments with five settings chosen for each variable. The optimal extraction conditions that were obtained through a multiple-response optimization included a pressure of 23.6 MPa, temperature of 77.6 °C, and 10.6% (v/v of methanol as the modifier. Thirty nine components of microbial lipid biomarkers were identified in the anaerobically digested sludge. Overall, the SFE method proved to be more effective, rapid, and quantitative for simultaneously extracting bacterial and archaeal lipid biomarkers, compared to conventional organic solvent extraction. This work shows the potential application of SFE as a routine method for the comprehensive analysis of microbial community structures in environmental assessments using the lipid biomarkers profile.

  18. Assessment of the potential for biogas production from wheat straw leachate in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digesters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Idrus, S; Banks, C J; Heaven, S

    2012-01-01

    Wheat straw is a major potential source of waste biomass for renewable energy production, but its high salt content causes problems in combustion. The salts can be removed by washing, but this process also removes a proportion of the organic material which could potentially be recovered by anaerobic digestion of the washwater leachate. This approach would maximise the overall energy yield in an integrated process in which washwater could be recycled after further desalting. Leachate from cold water washing with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 1.2 g l⁻¹ was fed to mesophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) digesters at a loading rate of 1 g COD l⁻¹ day⁻¹ to determine the energy yield and any detrimental effects of the leached salts on the process. The specific methane production was 0.29 l CH₄ g⁻¹ COD(added), corresponding to a COD removal rate of 84%. Light metal cations in the leachate, especially potassium, were found to accumulate in the digesters and appeared to have a synergistic effect up to a concentration of ∼6.5 mg K g⁻¹ wet weight of the granular sludge, but further accumulation caused inhibition of methanogenesis. It was shown that gas production in the inhibited digesters could be restored within 12 days by switching the feed to a synthetic sewage, which washed the accumulated K out of the digesters.

  19. Influence of initial pH on thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of swine manure and maize stalk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tong; Mao, Chunlan; Zhai, Ningning; Wang, Xiaojiao; Yang, Gaihe

    2015-01-01

    The contradictions between the increasing energy demand and decreasing fossil fuels are making the use of renewable energy the key to the sustainable development of energy in the future. Biogas, a renewable clean energy, can be obtained by the anaerobic fermentation of manure waste and agricultural straw. This study examined the initial pH value had obvious effect on methane production and the process in the thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion. Five different initial pH levels with three different manure ratios were tested. All digesters in different initial pH showed a diverse methane production after 35 days. The VFA/alkalinity ratio of the optimum reaction condition for methanogens activity was in the range of 0.1-0.3 and the optimal condition that at the 70% dung ratio and initial pH 6.81, was expected to achieve maximum total biogas production (146.32 mL/g VS). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The effects of micro-aeration on the phylogenetic diversity of microorganisms in a thermophilic anaerobic municipal solid-waste digester.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Yueqin; Shigematsu, Toru; Ikbal; Morimura, Shigeru; Kida, Kenji

    2004-05-01

    We demonstrated previously that micro-aeration allows construction of an effective thermophilic methane-fermentation system for treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) without production of H(2)S. In the present study, we compared the microbial communities in a thermophilic MSW digester without aeration and with micro-aeration by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), phylogenetic analysis of libraries of 16S rRNA gene clones and quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, we studied the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) by analysis of the transcription of the gene for dissimilatory sulfite reductase (dsr). Experiments using FISH revealed that microorganisms belonging to the domain Bacteria dominated in the digester both without aeration and with micro-aeration. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene and analysis of bacteria by DGGE did not reveal any obvious difference within the microbial communities under the two aeration conditions, and bacteria affiliated with the phylum Firmicutes were dominant. In Archaea, the population of Methanosarcina decreased while the population of Methanoculleus increased as a result of micro-aerations as revealed by the analysis of 16S rRNA gene clones and quantitative real-time PCR. Reverse transcription and PCR (RT-PCR) demonstrated the transcription of dsrA not only in the absence of aeration but also in the presence of micro-aeration, even under conditions where no H(2)S was detected in the biogas. In conclusion, micro-aeration has no obvious effects on the phylogenetic diversity of microorganisms. Furthermore, the activity of SRBs in the digester was not repressed even though the concentration of H(2)S in the biogas was very low under the micro-aeration conditions.

  1. Anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure and potato waste

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yadanaparthi, Sai Krishna Reddy

    Dairy and potato are two important agricultural commodities in Idaho. Both the dairy and potato processing industries produce a huge amount of waste which could cause environmental pollution. To minimize the impact of potential pollution associated with dairy manure (DM) and potato waste (PW), anaerobic co-digestion has been considered as one of the best treatment process. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure and potato waste in terms of process stability, biogas generation, construction and operating costs, and potential revenue. For this purpose, I conducted 1) a literature review, 2) a lab study on anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure and potato waste at three different temperature ranges (ambient (20-25°C), mesophilic (35-37°C) and thermophilic (55-57°C) with five mixing ratios (DM:PW-100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60), and 3) a financial analysis for anaerobic digesters based on assumed different capital costs and the results from the lab co-digestion study. The literature review indicates that several types of organic waste were co-digested with DM. Dairy manure is a suitable base matter for the co-digestion process in terms of digestion process stability and methane (CH4) production (Chapter 2). The lab tests showed that co-digestion of DM with PW was better than digestion of DM alone in terms of biogas and CH4 productions (Chapter 3). The financial analysis reveals DM and PW can be used as substrate for full size anaerobic digesters to generate positive cash flow within a ten year time period. Based on this research, the following conclusions and recommendations were made: ▸ The ratio of DM:PW-80:20 is recommended at thermophilic temperatures and the ratio of DM:PW-90:10 was recommended at mesophilic temperatures for optimum biogas and CH4 productions. ▸ In cases of anaerobic digesters operated with electricity generation equipment (generators), low cost plug flow digesters (capital cost of 600/cow

  2. Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge: French inventory and state of the art; La methanisation des boues d'epuration urbaines. Etat des lieux en France et etat de l'art

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reverdy, A.L.; Dieude-Fauvel, E.; Baudez, J.C. [Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l' environnement et l' agriculture - Irstea, Centre de Clermont-Ferrand, Unite de recherches TSCF, Les Palaquins, 03150 Montoldre (France); Ferstler, V. [MEEDDM - DEB, Grande Arche, Paroi Sud, 92055 La Defense Cedex (France)

    2012-07-01

    Following the Kyoto Protocol and the 'Grenelle de l'environnement', France committed itself to develop renewable energies. Methanization is a process which falls within this objective. Anaerobic digestion of organic material generates biogas made of methane (CH{sub 4}), carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and water (H{sub 2}O). In 2009, electricity generation from biogas represented only 0, 93% of the renewable electricity production in France. An inventory of facilities and a state of the art of the methanization of sewage sludge on wastewater treatment plants with the inhabitant equivalent of more than 30.000 were realized. They were done with bibliography and surveys. In France, 68 installations of sewage sludge methanization were counted. The primary technology used is a mix reactor in which sewage sludge, heated at deg. C 37, are introduced. Biogas is mainly valued to warm those sludges. Electrical valorization is poor, especially on old installations. Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is generally accepted by managers, mainly because of its capacity to reduce sewage sludge quantity and odors. Methanization as listed in France is quite basic. It is performed with digestion series modification, with pretreatments or with co-digestion. Given the quantity of sewage sludge which could be digested, France could increase renewable energies via biogas. However this technology is perfectible in many units because biogas is burned in flares. (authors)

  3. Mechanism and Effect of Temperature on Variations in Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wei; Qian, Xun; Gu, Jie; Wang, Xiao-Juan; Duan, Man-Li

    2016-01-01

    Animal manure comprises an important reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but the variation in ARGs during anaerobic digestion at various temperatures and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. Thus, we performed anaerobic digestion using dairy manure at three temperature levels (moderate: 20 °C, mesophilic: 35 °C, and thermophilic: 55 °C), to analyze the dynamics of ARGs and bacterial communities by quantitative PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that 8/10 detected ARGs declined and 5/10 decreased more than 1.0 log during thermophilic digestion, whereas only four and five ARGs decreased during moderate and mesophilic digestion, respectively. The changes in ARGs and bacterial communities were similar under the moderate and mesophilic treatments, but distinct from those in the thermophilic system. Potential pathogens such as Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Corynebacterium were removed by thermophilic digestion but not by moderate and mesophilic digestion. The bacterial community succession was the dominant mechanism that influenced the variation in ARGs and integrons during anaerobic digestion. Thermophilic digestion decreased the amount of mesophilic bacteria (Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria) carrying ARGs. Anaerobic digestion generally decreased the abundance of integrons by eliminating the aerobic hosts of integrons (Actinomycetales and Bacilli). Thermophilic anaerobic digestion is recommended for the treatment and reuse of animal manure. PMID:27444518

  4. Effluent and gamma-irradiated digested sludge additions on calcareous soils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee-Rodriguez, V.

    1978-01-01

    The long-term use of sewage effluent and the use of gamma-irradiated treated digested sewage sludge (RDSS) were studied under field and greenhouse conditions, respectively. The purpose of this investigation was to: (1) study the effect of long and short-term application of secondary sewage effluent and RDSS, respectively, on the buildup of iron and phytotoxicity problems on calcareous soils; (2) study the potential phytotoxicity of RDSS and observe the micronutrient fertilizer value of RDSS through three successive plantings on calcareous soil; (3) evaluate RDSS as a source of iron in a soil known to be severely iron-deficient

  5. Microbiological and molecular characterization of an isolated strain of digested sludge from a wastewater treatment plant and processed by gamma rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tekaya, Amina

    2015-01-01

    In this work, it was so particularly interested in exploring cultivable bacteria isolated from a digested sludge of an anaerobic digester. The characterization of the bacteria is determined by: The classic microbiology and molecular biology, with a study of radio-resistance profile of these bacteria.

  6. Evaluation of pretreatment methods on mixed inoculum for both batch and continuous thermophilic biohydrogen production from cassava stillage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Gang; Xie, Li; Zou, Zhonghai; Wang, Wen; Zhou, Qi

    2010-02-01

    Anaerobic sludges, pretreated by chloroform, base, acid, heat and loading-shock, as well as untreated sludge were evaluated for their thermophilic fermentative hydrogen-producing characters from cassava stillage in both batch and continuous experiments. Results showed that the highest hydrogen production was obtained by untreated sludge and there were significant differences (pstillage.

  7. Predicting the degradability of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Richard; Parker, Wayne; Zhu, Henry; Houweling, Dwight; Murthy, Sudhir

    2009-08-01

    The objective of this study was to identify methods for estimating anaerobic digestibility of waste activated sludge (WAS). The WAS streams were generated in three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) treating municipal wastewater. The wastewater and WAS properties were initially determined through simulation of SBR operation with BioWin (EnviroSim Associates Ltd., Flamborough, Ontario, Canada). Samples of WAS from the SBRs were subsequently characterized through respirometry and batch anaerobic digestion. Respirometry was an effective tool for characterizing the active fraction of WAS and could be a suitable technique for determining sludge composition for input to anaerobic models. Anaerobic digestion of the WAS revealed decreasing methane production and lower chemical oxygen demand removals as the SRT of the sludge increased. BioWin was capable of accurately describing the digestion of the WAS samples for typical digester SRTs. For extended digestion times (i.e., greater than 30 days), some degradation of the endogenous decay products was assumed to achieve accurate simulations for all sludge SRTs.

  8. Optimising the anaerobic co-digestion of urban organic waste using dynamic bioconversion mathematical modelling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fitamo, Temesgen Mathewos; Boldrin, Alessio; Dorini, G.

    2016-01-01

    Mathematical anaerobic bioconversion models are often used as a convenient way to simulate the conversion of organic materials to biogas. The aim of the study was to apply a mathematical model for simulating the anaerobic co-digestion of various types of urban organic waste, in order to develop...... in a continuously stirred tank reactor. The model's outputs were validated with experimental results obtained in thermophilic conditions, with mixed sludge as a single substrate and urban organic waste as a co-substrate at hydraulic retention times of 30, 20, 15 and 10 days. The predicted performance parameter...... (methane productivity and yield) and operational parameter (concentration of ammonia and volatile fatty acid) values were reasonable and displayed good correlation and accuracy. The model was later applied to identify optimal scenarios for an urban organic waste co-digestion process. The simulation...

  9. Quantitative Metaproteomics Highlight the Metabolic Contributions of Uncultured Phylotypes in a Thermophilic Anaerobic Digester.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagen, Live H; Frank, Jeremy A; Zamanzadeh, Mirzaman; Eijsink, Vincent G H; Pope, Phillip B; Horn, Svein J; Arntzen, Magnus Ø

    2017-01-15

    In this study, we used multiple meta-omic approaches to characterize the microbial community and the active metabolic pathways of a stable industrial biogas reactor with food waste as the dominant feedstock, operating at thermophilic temperatures (60°C) and elevated levels of free ammonia (367 mg/liter NH 3 -N). The microbial community was strongly dominated (76% of all 16S rRNA amplicon sequences) by populations closely related to the proteolytic bacterium Coprothermobacter proteolyticus. Multiple Coprothermobacter-affiliated strains were detected, introducing an additional level of complexity seldom explored in biogas studies. Genome reconstructions provided metabolic insight into the microbes that performed biomass deconstruction and fermentation, including the deeply branching phyla Dictyoglomi and Planctomycetes and the candidate phylum "Atribacteria" These biomass degraders were complemented by a synergistic network of microorganisms that convert key fermentation intermediates (fatty acids) via syntrophic interactions with hydrogenotrophic methanogens to ultimately produce methane. Interpretation of the proteomics data also suggested activity of a Methanosaeta phylotype acclimatized to high ammonia levels. In particular, we report multiple novel phylotypes proposed as syntrophic acetate oxidizers, which also exert expression of enzymes needed for both the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway and β-oxidation of fatty acids to acetyl coenzyme A. Such an arrangement differs from known syntrophic oxidizing bacteria and presents an interesting hypothesis for future studies. Collectively, these findings provide increased insight into active metabolic roles of uncultured phylotypes and presents new synergistic relationships, both of which may contribute to the stability of the biogas reactor. Biogas production through anaerobic digestion of organic waste provides an attractive source of renewable energy and a sustainable waste management strategy. A comprehensive understanding

  10. Effect of thermal pretreatment on the biogas production and microbial communities balance during anaerobic digestion of urban and industrial waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ennouri, Hajer; Miladi, Baligh; Diaz, Soraya Zahedi; Güelfo, Luis Alberto Fernández; Solera, Rosario; Hamdi, Moktar; Bouallagui, Hassib

    2016-08-01

    The effect of thermal pre-treatment on the microbial populations balance and biogas production was studied during anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) coming from urban (US: urban sludge) and industrial (IS: industrial sludge) wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The highest biogas yields of 0.42l/gvolatile solid (VS) removed and 0.37l/gVS removed were obtained with urban and industrial sludge pre-treated at 120°C, respectively. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to quantify the major Bacteria and Archaea groups. Compared to control trails without pretreatment, Archaea content increased from 34% to 86% and from 46% to 83% for pretreated IS and US, respectively. In fact, the thermal pre-treatment of WAS enhanced the growth of hydrogen-using methanogens (HUMs), which consume rapidly the H2 generated to allow the acetogenesis. Therefore, the stable and better performance of digesters was observed involving the balance and syntrophic associations between the different microbial populations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Monitoring of microbial communities in anaerobic digestion sludge for biogas optimisation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Jun Wei; Ge, Tianshu; Tong, Yen Wah

    2018-01-01

    This study characterised and compared the microbial communities of anaerobic digestion (AD) sludge using three different methods - (1) Clone library; (2) Pyrosequencing; and (3) Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Although high-throughput sequencing techniques are becoming increasingly popular and affordable, the reliance of such techniques for frequent monitoring of microbial communities may be a financial burden for some. Furthermore, the depth of microbial analysis revealed by high-throughput sequencing may not be required for monitoring purposes. This study aims to develop a rapid, reliable and economical approach for the monitoring of microbial communities in AD sludge. A combined approach where genetic information of sequences from clone library was used to assign phylogeny to T-RFs determined experimentally was developed in this study. In order to assess the effectiveness of the combined approach, microbial communities determined by the combined approach was compared to that characterised by pyrosequencing. Results showed that both pyrosequencing and clone library methods determined the dominant bacteria phyla to be Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Thermotogae. Both methods also found that sludge A and B were predominantly dominated by acetogenic methanogens followed by hydrogenotrophic methanogens. The number of OTUs detected by T-RFLP was significantly lesser than that detected by the clone library. In this study, T-RFLP analysis identified majority of the dominant species of the archaeal consortia. However, many of the more highly diverse bacteria consortia were missed. Nevertheless, the combined approach developed in this study where clone sequences from the clone library were used to assign phylogeny to T-RFs determined experimentally managed to accurately predict the same dominant microbial groups for both sludge A and sludge B, as compared to the pyrosequencing results. Results showed that the combined approach of

  12. Hydrogen and methane production from desugared molasses using a two‐stage thermophilic anaerobic process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kongjan, Prawit; O-Thong, Sompong; Angelidaki, Irini

    2013-01-01

    Hydrogen and methane production from desugared molasses by a two‐stage thermophilic anaerobic process was investigated in a series of two up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors. The first reactor that was dominated with hydrogen‐producing bacteria of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharo......Hydrogen and methane production from desugared molasses by a two‐stage thermophilic anaerobic process was investigated in a series of two up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors. The first reactor that was dominated with hydrogen‐producing bacteria of Thermoanaerobacterium...... molasses. Furthermore, the mixed gas with a volumetric content of 16.5% H2, 38.7% CO2, and 44.8% CH4, containing approximately 15% energy by hydrogen is viable to be bio‐hythane....

  13. Impact of food industrial waste on anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and pig manure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murto, M; Björnsson, L; Mattiasson, B

    2004-02-01

    The performance of an anaerobic digestion process is much dependent on the type and the composition of the material to be digested. The effects on the degradation process of co-digesting different types of waste were examined in two laboratory-scale studies. In the first investigation, sewage sludge was co-digested with industrial waste from potato processing. The co-digestion resulted in a low buffered system and when the fraction of starch-rich waste was increased, the result was a more sensitive process, with process overload occurring at a lower organic loading rate (OLR). In the second investigation, pig manure, slaughterhouse waste, vegetable waste and various kinds of industrial waste were digested. This resulted in a highly buffered system as the manure contributed to high amounts of ammonia. However, it is important to note that ammonia might be toxic to the micro-organisms. Although the conversion of volatile fatty acids was incomplete the processes worked well with high gas yields, 0.8-1.0 m3 kg(-1) VS.

  14. Performance and microbial community analysis of two-stage process with extreme thermophilic hydrogen and thermophilic methane production from hydrolysate in UASB reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kongjan, Prawit; O-Thong, Sompong; Angelidaki, Irini

    2011-01-01

    The two-stage process for extreme thermophilic hydrogen and thermophilic methane production from wheat straw hydrolysate was investigated in up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors. Specific hydrogen and methane yields of 89ml-H2/g-VS (190ml-H2/g-sugars) and 307ml-CH4/g-VS, respectively were...... energy of 13.4kJ/g-VS. Dominant hydrogen-producing bacteria in the H2-UASB reactor were Thermoanaerobacter wiegelii, Caldanaerobacter subteraneus, and Caloramator fervidus. Meanwhile, the CH4-UASB reactor was dominated with methanogens of Methanosarcina mazei and Methanothermobacter defluvii. The results...

  15. 454 pyrosequencing analyses of bacterial and archaeal richness in 21 full-scale biogas digesters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundberg, Carina; Al-Soud, Waleed A; Larsson, Madeleine; Alm, Erik; Yekta, Sepehr S; Svensson, Bo H; Sørensen, Søren J; Karlsson, Anna

    2013-09-01

    The microbial community of 21 full-scale biogas reactors was examined using 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene sequences. These reactors included seven (six mesophilic and one thermophilic) digesting sewage sludge (SS) and 14 (ten mesophilic and four thermophilic) codigesting (CD) various combinations of wastes from slaughterhouses, restaurants, households, etc. The pyrosequencing generated more than 160,000 sequences representing 11 phyla, 23 classes, and 95 genera of Bacteria and Archaea. The bacterial community was always both more abundant and more diverse than the archaeal community. At the phylum level, the foremost populations in the SS reactors included Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Spirochetes, and Euryarchaeota, while Firmicutes was the most prevalent in the CD reactors. The main bacterial class in all reactors was Clostridia. Acetoclastic methanogens were detected in the SS, but not in the CD reactors. Their absence suggests that methane formation from acetate takes place mainly via syntrophic acetate oxidation in the CD reactors. A principal component analysis of the communities at genus level revealed three clusters: SS reactors, mesophilic CD reactors (including one thermophilic CD and one SS), and thermophilic CD reactors. Thus, the microbial composition was mainly governed by the substrate differences and the process temperature. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Effect of CaO2 addition on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at different temperatures and the promotion of valuable carbon source production under ambient condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ping, Qian; Lu, Xiao; Zheng, Ming; Li, Yongmei

    2018-06-06

    The effect of calcium peroxide (CaO 2 ) addition on anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) at different temperatures (20 °C, 35 °C, and 55 °C) were investigated. The results show that CaO 2 addition had significant positive effect on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production under ambient and mesophilic conditions. Polysaccharides and proteins embedded in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were effectively released from inner fraction to outer fraction, and non-biodegradable humic-like substances were decreased while easily biodegradable tryptophan-like proteins increased. These effects were most remarkable under ambient conditions. However, CaO 2 addition was unfavorable to thermophilic AD because of high free ammonia concentrations and the accumulation of humic-like substances. Temperature showed a stronger effect than CaO 2 on microbial community structure, but CaO 2 addition was more effective than temperature in enhancing hydrolytic and acidifying microorganisms. Predictive functional profiling indicated that microbial hydrolysis, metabolism and acidification were promoted by CaO 2 under ambient conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Identification of a novel acetate-utilizing bacterium belonging to Synergistes group 4 in anaerobic digester sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Tsukasa; Yoshiguchi, Kazumi; Ariesyady, Herto Dwi; Okabe, Satoshi

    2011-12-01

    Major acetate-utilizing bacterial and archaeal populations in methanogenic anaerobic digester sludge were identified and quantified by radioisotope- and stable-isotope-based functional analyses, microautoradiography-fluorescence in situ hybridization (MAR-FISH) and stable-isotope probing of 16S rRNA (RNA-SIP) that can directly link 16S rRNA phylogeny with in situ metabolic function. First, MAR-FISH with (14)C-acetate indicated the significant utilization of acetate by only two major groups, unidentified bacterial cells and Methanosaeta-like filamentous archaeal cells, in the digester sludge. To identify the acetate-utilizing unidentified bacteria, RNA-SIP was conducted with (13)C(6)-glucose and (13)C(3)-propionate as sole carbon source, which were followed by phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA. We found that bacteria belonging to Synergistes group 4 were commonly detected in both 16S rRNA clone libraries derived from the sludge incubated with (13)C-glucose and (13)C-propionate. To confirm that this bacterial group can utilize acetate, specific FISH probe targeting for Synergistes group 4 was newly designed and applied to the sludge incubated with (14)C-acetate for MAR-FISH. The MAR-FISH result showed that bacteria belonging to Synergistes group 4 significantly took up acetate and their active population size was comparable to that of Methanosaeta in this sludge. In addition, as bacteria belonging to Synergistes group 4 had high K(m) for acetate and maximum utilization rate, they are more competitive for acetate over Methanosaeta at high acetate concentrations (2.5-10  mM). To our knowledge, it is the first time to report the acetate-utilizing activity of uncultured bacteria belonging to Synergistes group 4 and its competitive significance to acetoclastic methanogen, Methanosaeta.

  18. Proceedings of the 10. world congress on anaerobic digestion 2004 : anaerobic bioconversion, answer for sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    This conference reviewed the broad scope of anaerobic process-related activities taking place globally and confirmed the possibilities of using anaerobic processes to add value to industrial wastewaters, municipal solid wastes and organic wastes while minimizing pollution and greenhouse gases. It focused on biomolecular tools, instrumentation of anaerobic digestion processes, anaerobic bioremediation of chlorinated organics, and thermophilic and mesophilic digestion. Several papers focused on the feasibility of using waste products to produce hydrogen and methane for electricity generation. The sessions of the conference were entitled acidogenesis; microbial ecology; process control; sulfur content; technical development; domestic wastewater; agricultural waste; organic municipal solid wastes; instrumentation; molecular biology; sludges; agricultural feedstock; bioremediation; industrial wastewater; hydrogen production; pretreatments; sustainability; and integrated systems. The conference featured 387 posters and 192 oral presentations, of which 111 have been indexed separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

  19. Effect of Cambi Thermal Hydrolysis Process-Anaerobic digestion treatment on concentrations on phthalate plasticisers in wastewater sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    The impact of the recently implemented Cambi Thermal Hydrolysis Process™-Anaerobic Digestion (TH-AD) solids treatment method on concentrations of 4 phthalate plasticisers in wastewater sludge samples was explored in this study. Samples were analysed for diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), diisodecyl phthal...

  20. Fate of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles during Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater and Post-Treatment Processing of Sewage Sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lombi, Enzo; Donner, Erica; Tavakkoli, Ehsan; Turney, Terence W.; Naidu, Ravi; Miller, Bradley W.; Scheckel, Kirk G. (U. South Australia); (EPA); (Monash)

    2013-01-14

    The rapid development and commercialization of nanomaterials will inevitably result in the release of nanoparticles (NPs) to the environment. As NPs often exhibit physical and chemical properties significantly different from those of their molecular or macrosize analogs, concern has been growing regarding their fate and toxicity in environmental compartments. The wastewater-sewage sludge pathway has been identified as a key release pathway leading to environmental exposure to NPs. In this study, we investigated the chemical transformation of two ZnO-NPs and one hydrophobic ZnO-NP commercial formulation (used in personal care products), during anaerobic digestion of wastewater. Changes in Zn speciation as a result of postprocessing of the sewage sludge, mimicking composting/stockpiling, were also assessed. The results indicated that 'native' Zn and Zn added either as a soluble salt or as NPs was rapidly converted to sulfides in all treatments. The hydrophobicity of the commercial formulation retarded the conversion of ZnO-NP. However, at the end of the anaerobic digestion process and after postprocessing of the sewage sludge (which caused a significant change in Zn speciation), the speciation of Zn was similar across all treatments. This indicates that, at least for the material tested, the risk assessment of ZnO-NP through this exposure pathway can rely on the significant knowledge already available in regard to other 'conventional' forms of Zn present in sewage sludge.

  1. Biogas production as affected by heavy metals in the anaerobic digestion of sludge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hussein I. Abdel-Shafy

    2014-12-01

    The sewage sludge samples were separated from the sewage water of the pilot plant at the National Research Centre, TDC site. The effect of heavy metals on the biogas production of the anaerobic digester was studied. The inhibitory effect on the biogas production and toxic level of metals was determined in this study. The general ranking of heavy metal toxicity appears to be Hg > Cd > Cr (III. The present investigation reveals that heavy metals in addition to the anaerobic digester decreased the biogas production as an indication of efficiency of the process. A significant decrease in gas production and volatile organic matter removal was obtained. It was also noted that an accumulation of organic acid intermediates was obtained as a result of methanogenic bacterial inhibition. This accumulation was limited during the pulse feed of metals. This is due to the rapid poisoning of the active bacterial forms in the digester.

  2. Anaerobic Digestion. Student Manual. Biological Treatment Process Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnegie, John W., Ed.

    This student manual contains the textual material for a four-lesson unit on anaerobic digestion control. Areas addressed include: (1) anaerobic sludge digestion (considering the nature of raw sludge, purposes of anaerobic digestion, the results of digestion, types of equipment, and other topics); (2) digester process control (considering feeding…

  3. Fate of antibiotic resistance bacteria and genes during enhanced anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge by microwave pretreatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Juan; Liu, Jibao; Zheng, Xiang; Zhang, Junya; Ni, Xiaotang; Chen, Meixue; Wei, Yuansong

    2016-10-01

    The fate of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were investigated during the sludge anaerobic digestion (AD) with microwave-acid (MW-H), microwave (MW) and microwave-H2O2-alkaline (MW-H2O2) pretreatments. Results showed that combined MW pretreatment especially for the MW-H pretreatment could efficiently reduce the ARB concentration, and most ARG concentrations tended to attenuate during the pretreatment. The subsequent AD showed evident removal of the ARB, but most ARGs were enriched after AD. Only the concentration of tetX kept continuous declination during the whole sludge treatment. The total ARGs concentration showed significant correlation with 16S rRNA during the pretreatment and AD. Compared with unpretreated sludge, the AD of MW and MW-H2O2 pretreated sludge presented slightly better ARB and ARGs reduction efficiency. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Removal of siloxanes in sewage sludge by thermal treatment with gas stripping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oshita, Kazuyuki; Omori, Keigo; Takaoka, Masaki; Mizuno, Tadao

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A new treatment of sewage sludge were studied to reduce siloxanes in biogas. • D5 of cyclic siloxane concentrations were the highest in sewage sludge. • Under optimal conditions, most of siloxanes in the sludge were removed previously. • By this treatment, CH 4 was 1.6-fold larger and siloxane in biogas 95% lower. - Abstract: In this study, thermal treatment with gas stripping of sewage sludge before anaerobic digestion to reduce siloxanes in the sludge and accelerate the anaerobic digestion was studied experimentally. Regarding siloxanes in the sludge, D5 concentrations were the highest. Siloxane concentrations in the digested sludge were decreased, versus those in thickened sludge, because siloxanes in the sludge are moved to the biogas during the anaerobic digestion. Thermal treatment and gas stripping experiments were conducted. The optimum conditions for siloxane removal from sludge were found to be thermal treatment with gas stripping at 80 °C with 0.5 L/min of air flow for 48 h. Under these conditions, approximately 90% of all siloxanes in the sludge were removed. Next, anaerobic digestion experiments were conducted with the optimally treated sludge and untreated sludge. The biogas volume of the optimally treated sludge was 1.6-fold larger than that of the untreated sludge. Furthermore, D5 contents in biogas from the optimally treated sludge were 95% lower than in biogas from untreated sludge. Thus, thermal treatment with gas stripping of sludge before anaerobic digestion was effective in increasing biogas amounts, decreasing siloxane concentrations in the biogas, and reducing the need for a siloxane removal process from the biogas

  5. Synergistic pretreatment of waste activated sludge using CaO_2 in combination with microwave irradiation to enhance methane production during anaerobic digestion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Jie; Li, Yongmei

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • CaO_2/MW pretreatment synergistically enhanced WAS solubilization and CH_4 production. • MW irradiation facilitated more "·OH generation from CaO_2. • The optimal pretreatment condition for methane production was determined. • The growths of both hydrogenotrophic and acetate-utilizing methanogens were promoted. • The dewaterability of WAS was improved considerably by CaO_2/MW treatment. - Abstract: To investigate the effects of combined calcium peroxide (CaO_2) and microwave pretreatment on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge, lab-scale experiments were conducted to measure the solubilization, biodegradation, and dewaterability of the waste activated sludge. Additionally, the synergistic effects between CaO_2 and microwave were studied, and the microbial activity and methanogenic archaea community structure were analyzed. Combined pretreatment considerably facilitated the solubilization and subsequent anaerobic digestion of the waste activated sludge. The optimal pretreatment condition was CaO_2 (0.1 g/gVSS)/microwave (480 W, 2 min) for methane production during the subsequent anaerobic digestion process. Under this condition, 80.2% higher CH_4 accumulation yield was achieved after 16 d of anaerobic digestion when compared with the control. The synergistic effects of CaO_2/microwave pretreatment resulted from the different mechanisms of CaO_2 and microwave treatments. Further, microwave irradiation increased "·OH generation from CaO_2 and significantly alleviated the inhibitory effect of CaO_2 on methanogens. The activities of hydrolytic enzymes and acid-forming enzymes in the waste activated sludge were improved after CaO_2 (0.1 g/gVSS)/microwave (480 W, 2 min) pretreatment. Methanogenesis enzyme activity was also higher after CaO_2 treatment (0.1 g/gVSS)/microwave (480 W, 2 min) following a lag period. Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis indicated that acetate-utilizing methanogen (Methanosaeta sp.) and H_2/CO_2-utilizing

  6. Simultaneous Production of Hydrogen and Methane from Sugar Beet Molasses in a Two Phase Anaerobic Digestion System in UASB Reactors under Thermophilic Temperature (55 Deg C)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kongjan, P.; Villafa, S.; Beltran, P.; Min, B.; Angelidaki, I. (Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Technical Univ. of Denmark, DK-2800, Lyngby (Denmark)). e-mail: pak@env.dtu.dk

    2008-10-15

    Simultaneous production of hydrogen and methane in two sequential stages of acidogenic and methanogenic step was investigated in two serial operated up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors at thermophilic temperature (55 deg C). Hydrogen production from molasses was carried out in the first reactor at the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1 day. Molasses were converted into hydrogen with the yield of 1.3 mole-H{sub 2}/mole-hexose{sub added} or 82.7 ml- H{sub 2}/g-VS{sub added} of molasses, and the hydrogen productivity was 2696 ml-H{sub 2}/dxl{sub reactor}. The effluent (mainly butyrate, acetate and lactate) after the acidogenic process was subsequently fed to the second reactor for methane production at HRT of 3 days. Methane production yield of 255 ml-H{sub 2}/g-VS{sub added} of influent or 130.1 ml-H{sub 2}/g-VS{sub added} of molasses and methane production rate of 1056 ml/dxl{sub reactor} were obtained. Significant decrease of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was also observed in the effluent of the second reactor. A two phase anaerobic digestion was successfully demonstrated for molasses as a potential substrate to produce hydrogen and subsequent methane in the UASB reactors

  7. Growing Chlorella vulgaris on thermophilic anaerobic digestion swine manure for nutrient removal and biomass production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Xiang-Yuan; Gao, Kun; Zhang, Ren-Chuan; Addy, Min; Lu, Qian; Ren, Hong-Yan; Chen, Paul; Liu, Yu-Huan; Ruan, Roger

    2017-11-01

    Liquid swine manure was subjected to thermophilic anaerobic digestion, ammonia stripping and centrifugation in order to increase the available carbon sources and decrease the ammonia concentration and turbidity. Chlorella vulgaris (UTEX 2714) was grown on minimally diluted (2×, 3× and 4×) autoclaved and non-autoclaved pretreated anaerobic digestion swine manure (PADSM) in a batch-culture system for 7days. Results showed that C. vulgaris (UTEX 2714) grew best on 3× PADSM media, and effectively removed NH 4 + -N, TN, TP and COD by 98.5-99.8%, 49.2-55.4%, 20.0-29.7%, 31.2-34.0% and 99.8-99.9%, 67.4-70.8%, 49.3-54.4%, 73.6-78.7% in differently diluted autoclaved and non-autoclaved PADSM, respectively. Results of chemical compositions indicated that contents of pigment, carbohydrate, protein and lipid in C. vulgaris (UTEX 2714) changed with the culture conditions. Moreover, its fatty acid profiles suggested that this alga could be used as animal feed if cultivated in autoclaved PADSM or as good-quality biodiesel feedstock if cultivated in non-autoclaved PADSM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Rapid startup and high rate nitrogen removal from anaerobic sludge digester liquor using a SNAP process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Sen; Nishiyama, Takashi; Fujii, Tatsuo; Bhatti, Zafar; Furukawa, Kenji

    2012-02-01

    In this study, a single-stage autotrophic nitrogen removal reactor, packed with a novel acrylic fiber biomass carrier material (Biofix), was applied for nitrogen removal from sludge digester liquor. For rapid start-up, conventional activated sludge was added to the reactor soon after the attachment of anammox biomass on the Biofix carriers, which allowed conventional activated sludge to form a protective layer of biofilm around the anammox biomass. The Nitrogen removal efficiency reached 75% within 1 week at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.46 kg-N/m(3)/day for synthetic wastewater treatment. By the end of the synthetic wastewater treatment period, the maximum nitrogen removal rate had increased to 0.92 kg-N/m(3)/day at a nitrogen loading rate of 1.0 kg-N/m(3)/day. High nitrogen removal rate was also achieved during the actual raw digester liquor treatment with the highest nitrogen removal rate being 0.83 kg-N/m(3)/day at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.93 kg-N/m(3)/day. The thick biofilm on Biofix carriers allowed anammox bacteria to survive under high DO concentration of 5-6 mg/l resulting in stable and high nitrogen removal performance. FISH and CLSM analysis demonstrated that anammox bacteria coexisted and surrounded by ammonium oxidizing bacteria.

  9. Nitrogen removal from sludge digester liquids by nitrification/denitrification or partial nitritation/anammox: environmental and economical considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fux, C; Siegrist, H

    2004-01-01

    In wastewater treatment plants with anaerobic sludge digestion, 15-20% of the nitrogen load is recirculated to the main stream with the return liquors from dewatering. Separate treatment of this ammonium-rich digester supernatant significantly reduces the nitrogen load of the activated sludge system. Two biological applications are considered for nitrogen elimination: (i) classical autotrophic nitrification/heterotrophic denitrification and (ii) partial nitritation/autotrophic anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). With both applications 85-90% nitrogen removal can be achieved, but there are considerable differences in terms of sustainability and costs. The final gaseous products for heterotrophic denitrification are generally not measured and are assumed to be nitrogen gas (N2). However, significant nitrous oxide (N2O) production can occur at elevated nitrite concentrations in the reactor. Denitrification via nitrite instead of nitrate has been promoted in recent years in order to reduce the oxygen and the organic carbon requirements. Obviously this "achievement" turns out to be rather disadvantageous from an overall environmental point of view. On the other hand no unfavorable intermediates are emitted during anaerobic ammonium oxidation. A cost estimate for both applications demonstrates that partial nitritation/anammox is also more economical than classical nitrification/denitrification. Therefore autotrophic nitrogen elimination should be used in future to treat ammonium-rich sludge liquors.

  10. Increased biogas production in a wastewater treatment plant by anaerobic co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste and sewer sludge - a full scale study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Nathan D; Thring, Ronald W; Garton, Randy P; Rutherford, Michael P; Helle, Steve S

    2011-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion is a well established technology for the reduction of organic matter and stabilization of wastewater. Biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, is produced as a useful by-product of the process. Current solid waste management at the city of Prince George is focused on disposal of waste and not on energy recovery. Co-digestion of fresh fruit and vegetable waste with sewer sludge can improve biogas yield by increasing the load of biodegradable material. A six week full-scale project co-digesting almost 15,000 kg of supermarket waste was completed. Average daily biogas production was found to be significantly higher than in previous years. Digester operation remained stable over the course of the study as indicated by the consistently low volatile acids-to-alkalinity ratio. Undigested organic material was visible in centrifuged sludge suggesting that the waste should have been added to the primary digester to prevent short circuiting and to increase the hydraulic retention time of the freshly added waste.

  11. A Unique Autothermal Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion Process Showing a Dynamic Transition of Physicochemical and Bacterial Characteristics from the Mesophilic to the Thermophilic Phase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tashiro, Yukihiro; Kanda, Kosuke; Asakura, Yuya; Kii, Toshihiko; Cheng, Huijun; Poudel, Pramod; Okugawa, Yuki; Tashiro, Kosuke; Sakai, Kenji

    2018-03-15

    A unique autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) process has been used to convert human excreta to liquid fertilizer in Japan. This study investigated the changes in physicochemical and bacterial community characteristics during the full-scale ATAD process operated for approximately 3 weeks in 2 different years. After initiating simultaneous aeration and mixing using an air-inducing circulator (aerator), the temperature autothermally increased rapidly in the first 1 to 2 days with exhaustive oxygen consumption, leading to a drastic decrease and gradual increase in oxidation-reduction potential in the first 2 days, reached >50°C in the middle 4 to 6 days, and remained steady in the final phase. Volatile fatty acids were rapidly consumed and diminished in the first 2 days, whereas the ammonia nitrogen concentration was relatively stable during the process, despite a gradual pH increase to 9.3. Principal-coordinate analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons using next-generation sequencing divided the bacterial community structures into distinct clusters corresponding to three phases, and they were similar in the final phase in both years despite different transitions in the middle phase. The predominant phyla (closest species, dominancy) in the initial, middle, and final phases were Proteobacteria ( Arcobacter trophiarum , 19 to 43%; Acinetobacter towneri , 6.3 to 30%), Bacteroidetes ( Moheibacter sediminis , 43 to 54%), and Firmicutes ( Thermaerobacter composti , 11 to 28%; Heliorestis baculata , 2.1 to 16%), respectively. Two predominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the final phase showed very low similarities to the closest species, indicating that the process is unique compared with previously published ones. This unique process with three distinctive phases would be caused by the aerator with complete aeration. IMPORTANCE Although the autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) process has several advantages, such as a high degradation

  12. Long-term adaptation of methanol-fed thermophilic (55°C) sulfate-reducing reactors to NaCl

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vallero, M.V.G.; Lettinga, G.; Lens, P.N.L.

    2003-01-01

    A laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was operated during 273 days at increasing NaCl concentrations (0.5-12.5 g NaCl l(-1)) to assess whether the stepwise addition of the salt NaCl results in the acclimation of that sludge. The 6.5-1 thermophilic (55 degreesC), sulfidogenic

  13. Some effects of aeration on anaerobic digestion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bhywapathanapun, S

    1972-01-01

    The anaerobic digestion of meat works waste water is made possible by separating the sludge solids, after which necessary amounts of the concentrated sludge are returned to the digester. Sludge recirculation prolongs solid retention time in the digester. However, sludge separation by gravitational sedimentation is almost impossible because the sludge tends to rise with the continuous gassing. Therefore treatment of the sludge suspension prior to sedimentation is necessary for effective solid separation. The present study examined aeration degasification as a method for sludge suspension pretreatment and found that the rates of aeration of 0.75 to 1.0 VVM (0.12 to 0.16 cubic foot of air per gallon of mixed liquor per minute) were optimal for aeration degasification. The toxic effects on the anaerobic bacteria were small, daily gas production being reduced by only 5%.

  14. Effect of feed to microbe ratios on anaerobic digestion of Chinese cabbage waste under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions: biogas potential and kinetic study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kafle, Gopi Krishna; Bhattarai, Sujala; Kim, Sang Hun; Chen, Lide

    2014-01-15

    The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the feed-to-microbe (F/M) ratios on anaerobic digestion of Chinese cabbage waste (CCW) generated from a kimchi factory. The batch test was conducted for 96 days under mesophilic (36.5 °C) (Experiment I) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions (Experiment II) at F/M ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. The first-order kinetic model was evaluated for methane yield. The biogas yield in terms of volatile solids (VS) added increased from 591 to 677 mL/g VS under mesophilic conditions and 434 to 639 mL/g VS under thermophilic conditions when the F/M ratio increased from 0.5 to 2.0. Similarly, the volumetric biogas production increased from 1.479 to 6.771 L/L under mesophilic conditions and from 1.086 to 6.384 L/L under thermophilic conditions when F/M ratio increased from 0.5 to 2.0. The VS removal increased from 59.4 to 75.6% under mesophilic conditions and from 63.5 to 78.3% under thermophilic conditions when the F/M ratio increased from 0.5 to 2.0. The first-order kinetic constant (k, 1/day) decreased under the mesophilic temperature conditions and increased under thermophilic conditions when the F/M ratio increased from 0.5 to 2.0. The difference between the experimental and predicted methane yield was in the range of 3.4-14.5% under mesophilic conditions and in the range of 1.1-3.0% under thermophilic conditions. The predicted methane yield derived from the first-order kinetic model was in good agreement with the experimental results. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. Hydrogen production from paper sludge hydrolysate

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kádár, Z.; Vrije, de G.J.; Budde, M.A.W.; Szengyel, Z.; Reczey, K.; Claassen, P.A.M.

    2003-01-01

    The main objective of this study was to develop a system for the production of 'renewable' hydrogen. Paper sludge is a solid industrial waste yielding mainly cellulose, which can be used, after hydrolysis, as a feedstock in anaerobic fermentation by (hyper)thermophilic organisms, such as Thermotoga

  16. Moisture variation associated with water input and evaporation during sewage sludge bio-drying.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Lu; Gao, Ding; Chen, Tong-Bin; Liu, Hong-Tao; Zheng, Guo-Di; Yang, Qi-Wei

    2012-08-01

    The variation of moisture during sewage sludge bio-drying was investigated. In situ measurements were conducted to monitor the bulk moisture and water vapor, while the moisture content, water generation, water evaporation and aeration water input of the bio-drying bulk were calculated based on the water mass balance. The moisture in the sewage sludge bio-drying material decreased from 66% to 54% in response to control technology for bio-drying. During the temperature increasing and thermophilic phases of sewage sludge bio-drying, the moisture content, water generation and water evaporation of the bulk initially increased and then decreased. The peak water generation and evaporation occurred during the thermophilic phase. During the bio-drying, water evaporation was much greater than water generation, and aeration facilitated the water evaporation. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. Culture-independent analyses reveal novel Anaerolineaceae as abundant primary fermenters in anaerobic digesters treating waste activated sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McIlroy, Simon Jon; Kirkegaard, Rasmus Hansen; Dueholm, Morten Simonsen

    2017-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion for biogas production is reliant on the tightly coupled synergistic activities of complex microbial consortia. Members of the uncultured A6 phylotype, within the phylum Chloroflexi, are among the most abundant genus-level-taxa of mesophilic anaerobic digester systems treating...... primary and surplus sludge from wastewater treatment plants, yet are known only by their 16S rRNA gene sequence. This study applied metagenomics to obtain a complete circular genome (2.57 Mbp) from a representative of the A6 taxon. Preliminary annotation of the genome indicates these organisms...

  18. Exploring optimal conditions for thermophilic fermentative hydrogen production from cassava stillage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luo, Gang; Zou, Zhonghai; Wang, Wen [Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry(Tongji University), Siping Road no 1239, Shanghai 200092 (China); Xie, Li; Zhou, Qi [Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry(Tongji University), Siping Road no 1239, Shanghai 200092 (China); UNEP-Tongji University Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, Siping Road no 1239, Shanghai 200092 (China)

    2010-06-15

    This study investigated the effects of seed sludges, alkalinity and HRT on the thermophilic fermentative hydrogen production from cassava stillage. Five different kinds of sludges were used as inocula without any pretreatment. Though batch experiments showed that mesophilic anaerobic sludge was the best inoculum, the hydrogen yields with different seed sludges were quite similar in continuous experiments in the range of 82.9-92.3 ml H{sub 2}/gVS without significant differences which could be attributed to the establishment of Uncultured Thermoanaerobacteriaceae bacterium-dominant microbial communities in all reactors. It is indicated that results obtained from batch experiments are not consistent with those from continuous experiments and all the tested seed sludges are good sources for continuous thermophilic hydrogen production from cassava stillage. The influent alkalinity of 6 g NaHCO{sub 3}/L and HRT 24 h were optimal for hydrogen production with hydrogen yield of 76 ml H{sub 2}/gVS and hydrogen production rate of 3215 ml H{sub 2}/L/d. Butyrate was the predominant metabolite in all experiments. With the increase in alkalinity of more than 6 g/L, the concentration of VFA/ethanol increased while hydrogen yield decreased due to the higher concentration of acetate and propionate. The decrease in HRT resulted in the higher hydrogen production rate but lower hydrogen yield. Variation of hydrogen yields were quite correlated with butyrate/acetate (B/A) ratio with different influent alkalinities, however, butyrate was important parameter to justify the hydrogen yields with various HRTs. (author)

  19. Sludge pre-treatment with pulsed electric fields

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kopplow, O.; Barjenbruch, M.; Heinz, V.

    2003-07-01

    The anaerobic stabilization process depends - among others - on the bio-availability of organic carbon. Through pre-treatment of the sludge which leads to the destruction of micro-organisms and to the setting-free of cell content substances (disintegration), the carbon can be microbially converted better and faster. Moreover, effects on the digestion are likely. However, only little experience is available in the sludge treatment with pulsed electric fields. Laboratory-scale digestion tests have been run to analyse the influence of pulsed electric fields on the properties of sludge, anaerobic degradation, sludge water reload and foaming of digesters. The results will be compared with those of other disintegration methods (high pressure homogenise, thermal treatment). The effect of pre-treatment on the sludge is shown by the COD release. Degrees of disintegration have been achieved up to 20%. The specific energy input was high. The energy consumption has been decreased by initial improvements (pre-heating to 55{sup o}C). The filament bacteria were partially destroyed. The foam reduction in the digesters was marginal. The anaerobic degradation performance has been improved in every case. The degradation rate of organic matter increased about 9%. Due to the increase of degradation, there is a higher reload of the sludge-water with COD and nitrogen compounds. (author)

  20. Electrochemical pretreatment of waste activated sludge: effect of process conditions on sludge disintegration degree and methane production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Caihong; Yuan, Haiping; Dai, Xiaohu; Lou, Ziyang; Zhu, Nanwen

    2016-11-01

    Waste activated sludge (WAS) requires a long digestion time because of a rate-limiting hydrolysis step - the first phase of anaerobic digestion (AD). Pretreatment can be used prior to AD to facilitate the hydrolysis step and improve the efficiency of WAS digestion. This study evaluated a novel application of electrochemical (EC) technology employed as the pretreatment method prior to AD of WAS, focusing on the effect of process conditions on sludge disintegration and subsequent AD process. A superior process condition of EC pretreatment was obtained by reaction time of 30 min, electrolysis voltage of 20 V, and electrode distance of 5 cm, under which the disintegration degree of WAS ranged between 9.02% and 9.72%. In the subsequent batch AD tests, 206 mL/g volatile solid (VS) methane production in EC pretreated sludge was obtained, which was 20.47% higher than that of unpretreated sludge. The AD time was 19 days shorter for EC pretreated sludge compared to the unpretreated sludge. Additionally, the EC + AD reactor achieved 41.84% of VS removal at the end of AD. The analysis of energy consumption showed that EC pretreatment could be effective in enhancing sludge AD with reduced energy consumption when compared to other pretreatment methods.

  1. Toxicity of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on the anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alatriste-Mondragon, Felipe; Iranpour, R.; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    2003-01-01

    Previous studies on the microbial degradation of individual phthalic acid esters (PAEs) have demonstrated that the compounds with short ester hydrocarbon chains are easily biodegraded and mineralized, but PAEs with long ester chains are less susceptible to degradation and some of them...... Bureau of Sanitation's Hyperion Treatment Plant. Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), the most common persistent PAE found in wastewater, and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), a common PAE with short ester chains, were sorbed into the sludge fed to a bench-scale digester for a period of 12 weeks. DEHP...... degradation was always poor, and accumulation of DEHP was correlated with inhibition of the microbial degradation of DBP and with process instability of the test digester. Inhibition of the DBP removal was completely reversed after DEHP addition was discontinued, but biogas production never recovered...

  2. A Combination of Stable Isotope Probing, Illumina Sequencing, and Co-occurrence Network to Investigate Thermophilic Acetate- and Lactate-Utilizing Bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Weimin; Krumins, Valdis; Dong, Yiran; Gao, Pin; Ma, Chunyan; Hu, Min; Li, Baoqin; Xia, Bingqing; He, Zijun; Xiong, Shangling

    2018-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion is a complicated microbiological process that involves a wide diversity of microorganisms. Acetate is one of the most important intermediates, and interactions between acetate-oxidizing bacteria and archaea could play an important role in the formation of methane in anoxic environments. Anaerobic digestion at thermophilic temperatures is known to increase methane production, but the effects on the microbial community are largely unknown. In the current study, stable isotope probing was used to characterize acetate- and lactate-oxidizing bacteria in thermophilic anaerobic digestion. In microcosms fed 13 C-acetate, bacteria related to members of Clostridium, Hydrogenophaga, Fervidobacterium, Spirochaeta, Limnohabitans, and Rhodococcus demonstrated elevated abundances of 13 C-DNA fractions, suggesting their activities in acetate oxidation. In the treatments fed 13 C-lactate, Anaeromyxobacter, Desulfobulbus, Syntrophus, Cystobacterineae, and Azospira were found to be the potential thermophilic lactate utilizers. PICRUSt predicted that enzymes related to nitrate and nitrite reduction would be enriched in 13 C-DNA fractions, suggesting that the acetate and lactate oxidation may be coupled with nitrate and/or nitrite reduction. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated bacterial taxa not enriched in 13 C-DNA fractions that may also play a critical role in thermophilic anaerobic digestion.

  3. Thermophilic co-digestion feasibility of distillers grains and swine manure: effect of C/N ratio and organic loading rate during high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sensai, P; Thangamani, A; Visvanathan, C

    2014-01-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion of high solids containing distillers grains and swine manure (total solids, 27 +/- 2% and 18 +/- 2%, respectively) was evaluated in this study to assess the effect of C/N ratio and organic loading rate (OLR). Feed mixture was balanced to achieve a C/N ratio of 30/1 by mixing distillers grains and swine manure. Pilot-scale co-digestion of distillers grains and swine manure was carried out under thermophilic conditions in the continuous mode for seven different OLRs from R1 to R7 (3.5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 kg VS/m3 day) under high solid anaerobic digestion. The methane yield and volatile solid (VS) removal were consistent; ranging from 0.33 to 0.34 m3CH4/kg VS day and 50-53%, respectively, until OLR 8 kg VS/m3 day. After which methane yield and VS removal significantly decreased to 0.26 m3 CH4/kg VS day and 42%, respectively, when OLR was increased to 14 kg VS/m3 day. However, during operation, at OLR of 10 kg VS/m3 day, the methane yield and VS removal increased after the 19th day to 0.33 m3 CH4/kg VS day and 46%, respectively, indicating that a longer acclimatization period is required by methanogens at a higher loading rate.

  4. Cassava Stillage Treatment by Thermophilic Anaerobic Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Gang; Xie, Li; Zou, Zhonghai; Zhou, Qi

    2010-11-01

    This paper assesses the performance of a thermophilic anaerobic Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) in the treatment of cassava stillage under various organic loading rates (OLRs) without suspended solids (SS) separation. The reactor was seeded with mesophilic anaerobic granular sludge, and the OLR increased by increments to 13.80 kg COD/m3/d (HRT 5d) over 80 days. Total COD removal efficiency remained stable at 90%, with biogas production at 18 L/d (60% methane). Increase in the OLR to 19.30 kg COD/m3/d (HRT 3d), however, led to a decrease in TCOD removal efficiency to 79% due to accumulation of suspended solids and incomplete degradation after shortened retention time. Reactor performance subsequently increased after OLR reduction. Alkalinity, VFA and pH levels were not significantly affected by OLR variation, indicating that no additional alkaline or pH adjustment is required. More than half of the SS in the cassava stillage could be digested in the process when HRT was 5 days, which demonstrated the suitability of anaerobic treatment of cassava stillage without SS separation.

  5. Impact of sludge stabilization processes and sludge origin (urban or hospital) on the mobility of pharmaceutical compounds following sludge landspreading in laboratory soil-column experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lachassagne, Delphine; Soubrand, Marilyne; Casellas, Magali; Gonzalez-Ospina, Adriana; Dagot, Christophe

    2015-11-01

    This study aimed to determine the effect of sludge stabilization treatments (liming and anaerobic digestion) on the mobility of different pharmaceutical compounds in soil amended by landspreading of treated sludge from different sources (urban and hospital). The sorption and desorption potential of the following pharmaceutical compounds: carbamazepine (CBZ), ciprofloxacin (CIP), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), salicylic acid (SAL), ibuprofen (IBU), paracetamol (PAR), diclofenac (DIC), ketoprofen (KTP), econazole (ECZ), atenolol (ATN), and their solid-liquid distribution during sludge treatment (from thickening to stabilization) were investigated in the course of batch testing. The different sludge samples were then landspread at laboratory scale and leached with an artificial rain simulating 1 year of precipitation adapted to the surface area of the soil column used. The quality of the resulting leachate was investigated. Results showed that ibuprofen had the highest desorption potential for limed and digested urban and hospital sludge. Ibuprofen, salicylic acid, diclofenac, and paracetamol were the only compounds found in amended soil leachates. Moreover, the leaching potential of these compounds and therefore the risk of groundwater contamination depend mainly on the origin of the sludge because ibuprofen and diclofenac were present in the leachates of soils amended with urban sludge, whereas paracetamol and salicylic acid were found only in the leachates of soils amended with hospital sludge. Although carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, ketoprofen, econazole, and atenolol were detected in some sludge, they were not present in any leachate. This reflects either an accumulation and/or (bio)degradation of these compounds (CBZ, CIP, SMX, KTP, ECZ, and ATN ), thus resulting in very low mobility in soil. Ecotoxicological risk assessment, evaluated by calculating the risk quotients for each studied pharmaceutical compound, revealed no high risk due to the

  6. Economic importance and application options of some industrial ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2008-07-18

    Jul 18, 2008 ... local authorities and industry. ... sludge is a significant part of wastewater treatment pro- gramme. ... duct collected through the normal sewage system. ..... Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Coffee Waste Containing Coffee.

  7. Enhancement of sludge reduction and methane production by removing extracellular polymeric substances from waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Minh Tuan; Mohd Yasin, Nazlina Haiza; Miyazaki, Toshiki; Maeda, Toshinari

    2014-12-01

    The management of waste activated sludge (WAS) recycling is a concern that affects the development of the future low-carbon society, particularly sludge reduction and biomass utilization. In this study, we investigated the effect of removing extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which play important roles in the adhesion and flocculation of WAS, on increased sludge disintegration, thereby enhancing sludge reduction and methane production by anaerobic digestion. EPS removal from WAS by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) significantly enhanced sludge reduction, i.e., 49 ± 5% compared with 27 ± 1% of the control at the end the digestion process. Methane production was also improved in WAS without EPS by 8881 ± 109 CH4 μmol g(-1) dry-weight of sludge. Microbial activity was determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and real-time polymerase chain reaction, which showed that the hydrolysis and acetogenesis stages were enhanced by pretreatment with 2% EDTA, with a larger methanogenic community and better methane production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Microbial community changes in methanogenic granules during the transition from mesophilic to thermophilic conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhu, Xinyu; Kougias, Panagiotis; Treu, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor is one of the most applied technologies for various high-strength wastewater treatments. The present study analysed the microbial community changes in UASB granules during the transition from mesophilic to thermophilic conditions. Dynamicity...

  9. Phosphate removal from digested sludge supernatant using modified fly ash.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ke; Deng, Tong; Liu, Juntan; Peng, Weigong

    2012-05-01

    The removal of phosphate in digested sludge supernatant by modified coal fly ash was investigated in this study. Modification of the fly ash by the addition of sulfuric acid could significantly enhance its immobilization ability. The experimental results also showed that adsorption of phosphate by the modified fly ash was rapid with the removal percentage of phosphate reaching an equilibrium of 98.62% in less than 5 minutes. The optimum pH for phosphate removal was 9 and the removal percentage increased with increasing adsorbent dosage. The effect of temperature on phosphate removal efficiency was not significant from 20 to 40 degrees C. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope analyses showed that phosphate formed an amorphous precipitate with water-soluble calcium, aluminum, and iron ions in the modified fly ash.

  10. Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

    KAUST Repository

    Meulepas, Roel J W

    2015-05-01

    Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342μgg-1 of copper, 487μgg-1 of lead, 793μgg-1 of zinc, 27μgg-1 of nickel and 2.3μgg-1 of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3gdry weightL-1 waste activated sludge, 80-85% of the copper, 66-69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94-99% of the nickel and 73-83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead.

  11. Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meulepas, Roel J.W.; Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela; Teshager, Fitfety Melese; Witharana, Ayoma; Saikaly, Pascal E.; Lens, Piet N.L.

    2015-01-01

    Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342 μg g −1 of copper, 487 μg g −1 of lead, 793 μg g −1 of zinc, 27 μg g −1 of nickel and 2.3 μg g −1 of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3 g dry weight L −1 waste activated sludge, 80–85% of the copper, 66–69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94–99% of the nickel and 73–83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead. - Highlights: • Heavy metals were leached during anaerobic acidification of waste activated sludge. • The process does not require the addition of chelating or oxidizing agents. • The metal leaching efficiencies (66 to 99%) were comparable to chemical leaching. • The produced leachate may be used for metal recovery and biogas production. • The produced digested sludge may be used as soil conditioner

  12. Enzyme treatment to decrease solids and improve digestion of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The aim of anaerobic digestion of primary sewage sludge is to convert the carbonaceous material contained in the solids into methane and carbon dioxide. The products of digestion are therefore gases, stabilised sludge solids which are subsequently dewatered and disposed of, and sludge liquor which is generally further ...

  13. Anaerobic digestion of nitrogen rich poultry manure: Impact of thermophilic biogas process on metal release and microbial resistances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anjum, Reshma; Grohmann, Elisabeth; Krakat, Niclas

    2017-02-01

    Poultry manure is a nitrogen rich fertilizer, which is usually recycled and spread on agricultural fields. Due to its high nutrient content, chicken manure is considered to be one of the most valuable animal wastes as organic fertilizer. However, when chicken litter is applied in its native form, concerns are raised as such fertilizers also include high amounts of antibiotic resistant pathogenic Bacteria and heavy metals. We studied the impact of an anaerobic thermophilic digestion process on poultry manure. Particularly, microbial antibiotic resistance profiles, mobile genetic elements promoting the resistance dissemination in the environment as well as the presence of heavy metals were focused in this study. The initiated heat treatment fostered a community shift from pathogenic to less pathogenic bacterial groups. Phenotypic and molecular studies demonstrated a clear reduction of multiple resistant pathogens and self-transmissible plasmids in the heat treated manure. That treatment also induced a higher release of metals and macroelements. Especially, Zn and Cu exceeded toxic thresholds. Although the concentrations of a few metals reached toxic levels after the anaerobic thermophilic treatment, the quality of poultry manure as organic fertilizer may raise significantly due to the elimination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) and self-transmissible plasmids. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Fermentative Hydrogen Production from Combination of Tofu processing and anaerobic digester sludge wastes using a microbial consortium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    You-Kwan, O.; Mi-Sun, K.

    2009-01-01

    The combination of Tofu manufacturing waste and anaerobic digester sludge was studied for fermentative H 2 production in batch and continuous modes using a mixed culture originated from sewage. In order to increase the solubilization of organic substrates from Tofu waste, various pretreatments including heat-treatment, acid/alkali treatment, and sonication were examined alone or in combination with others. (Author)

  15. Sludge storage lagoon biogas recovery and use

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muller, D.; Norville, C. (Memphis and Shelby County Div. of Planning and Development, TN (United States))

    1991-07-01

    The City of Memphis has two wastewater treatment plants. The SWTP employs two large anaerobic digestion sludge lagoons as part of the overall sludge treatment system. Although these lagoons are effective in concentrating and digesting sludge, they can generate offensive odors. The SWTP uses aerobic digesters to partially stabilize the sludge and help reduce objectionable odors before it enters the lagoons. The anaerobic digestion of sludge in the lagoons results in the dispersion of a large quantity of biogas into the atmosphere. The City realized that if the lagoons could be covered, the odor problem could be resolved, and at the same, time, biogas could be recovered and utilized as a source of energy. In 1987, the City commissioned ADI International to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate alternative methods of covering the lagoons and recovering and utilizing the biogas. The study recommended that the project be developed in two phases: (1) recovery of the biogas and (2) utilization of the biogas. Phase 1 consists of covering the two lagoons with an insulated membrane to control odor and temperature and collect the biogas. Phase 1 was found to be economically feasible and offered a unique opportunity for the City to save substantial operating costs at the treatment facility. The Memphis biogas recovery project is the only application in the world where a membrane cover has been used on a municipal wastewater sludge lagoon. It is also the largest lagoon cover system in the world.

  16. From municipal/industrial wastewater sludge and FOG to fertilizer: A proposal for economic sustainable sludge management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bratina, Božidar; Šorgo, Andrej; Kramberger, Janez; Ajdnik, Urban; Zemljič, Lidija Fras; Ekart, Janez; Šafarič, Riko

    2016-12-01

    After a ban on the depositing of untreated sludge in landfills, the sludge from municipal and industrial water-treatment plants can be regarded as a problem. Waste products of the water treatment process can be a problem or an opportunity - a source for obtaining raw materials. In the European Union, raw sludge and fats, oil and grease (FOG) from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) cannot be deposited in any natural or controlled environment. For this reason, it must be processed (stabilized, dried) to be used later as a fertilizer, building material, or alternative fuel source suitable for co-incineration in high temperature furnaces (power plants or concrete plants). The processes of drying sludge, where heat and electricity are used, are energy consuming and economically unattractive. Beside energy efficiency, the main problem of sludge drying is in its variability of quality as a raw material. In addition to this, sludge can be contaminated by a number of organic and inorganic pollutants and organisms. Due to the presence or absence of pollutants, different end products can be economically interesting. For example, if the dried sludge contains coliform bacteria, viruses, helminths eggs or smaller quantities of heavy metals, it cannot be used as a fertilizer but can still be used as a fuel. The objectives of the current article is to present a batch-processing pilot device of sludge or digestate that allows the following: (1) low pressure and low temperature energy effective drying of from 10 to 40% remaining water content, (2) disinfection of pathogen (micro)organisms, (3) heavy metal reduction, (4) production of products of predetermined quality (e.g. containing different quantities of water; it can be used as a fertilizer, or if the percentage of water in the dry sludge is decreased to 10%, then the dried sludge can be used as a fuel with a calorific value similar to coal). An important feature is also the utilization of low

  17. Effects of size and thermophilic pre-hydrolysis of banana peel during anaerobic digestion, and biomethanation potential of key tropical fruit wastes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odedina, Mary Jesuyemi; Charnnok, Boonya; Saritpongteeraka, Kanyarat; Chaiprapat, Sumate

    2017-10-01

    Methane production potential of tropical fruit wastes, namely lady-finger banana peel, rambutan waste and longan waste were compared using BMP assay and stoichiometric modified Buswell and Mueller equation. Methane yields based on volatile solid (VS) were in the order of ground banana peel, chopped banana peel, chopped longan waste, and chopped rambutan waste (330.6, 268.3, 234.6 and 193.2 mLCH 4 /gVS) that corresponded to their calculated biodegradability. In continuous operations of banana peel digestion at feed concentrations based on total solid (TS) 1-2%, mesophilic single stage digester run at 20-day hydraulic retention time (20-day HRT) failed at 2%TS, but successfully recovered at 1.5%TS. Pre-hydrolysis thermophilic reactor (4-d HRT) was placed as pre-treatment to mesophilic reactor (20-d HRT). Higher biogas (with an evolution of H 2 ) and energy yields were obtained and greater system stability was achieved over the single stage digestion, particularly at higher solid feedstock. The best performance of two stage digestion was 68.5% VS destruction and energy yield of 2510.9kJ/kgVS added at a feed concentration of 2%TS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Chronic impacts of oxytetracycline on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of excess sludge: Inhibition of hydrolytic acidification and enrichment of antibiotic resistome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Zhe; Zhang, Yu; Yang, Min

    2018-07-01

    We evaluated the chronic impact of oxytetracycline (OTC) on performance and antibiotic resistance development during the mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) of antibiotic-containing biomass. Mesophilic AD was conducted in a completely stirred tank reactor by constantly feeding municipal excess sludge spiked with increasing concentrations of OTC (0-1000 mg L -1 ) under a solid retention time of 20 days over a period of 265 days. Results showed that methane generation of mesophilic AD was inhibited when the OTC concentration in digested sludge was increased to around 18,000 mg kg -1 (OTC dose, 1000 mg L -1 ), due to the inhibition of fermenting and acidogenic bacteria. Metagenomic sequencing and high-throughput quantitative PCR analysis demonstrated that tetracycline resistance genes were the most dominant type (38.47-43.76%) in the resistome, with tetG, tetX, tetM, tetR, tetQ, tetO, and tetL as the dominant resistant subtypes throughout the whole experimental period. The relative abundance of these tet genes increased from 2.10 × 10 -1 before spiking OTC (OTC concentration in digested sludge, 8.97 mg kg -1 ) to 2.83 × 10 -1 (p resistome variation were 29.35% and 21.51%, respectively. Thus, considering the inhibition of hydrolytic acidification and enrichment of antibiotic resistome, mesophilic AD is not suggested to directly treat the biomass containing OTC concentration higher than 200 mg L -1 . Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Use of a water treatment sludge in a sewage sludge dewatering process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Górka, Justyna; Cimochowicz-Rybicka, Małgorzata; Kryłów, Małgorzata

    2018-02-01

    The objective of the research study was to determine whether a sewage sludge conditioning had any impact on sludge dewaterability. As a conditioning agent a water treatment sludge was used, which was mixed with a sewage sludge before a digestion process. The capillary suction time (CST) and the specific filtration resistance (SRF) were the measures used to determine the effects of a water sludge addition on a dewatering process. Based on the CST curves the water sludge dose of 0.3 g total volatile solids (TVS) per 1.0 g TVS of a sewage sludge was selected. Once the water treatment sludge dose was accepted, disintegration of the water treatment sludge was performed and its dewaterability was determined. The studies have shown that sludge dewaterability was much better after its conditioning with a water sludge as well as after disintegration and conditioning, if comparing to sludge with no conditioning. Nevertheless, these findings are of preliminary nature and future studies will be needed to investigate this topic.

  20. Synergistic co-digestion of solid-organic-waste and municipal-sewage-sludge: 1 plus 1 equals more than 2 in terms of biogas production and solids reduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aichinger, Peter; Wadhawan, Tanush; Kuprian, Martin; Higgins, Matthew; Ebner, Christian; Fimml, Christian; Murthy, Sudhir; Wett, Bernhard

    2015-12-15

    Making good use of existing water infrastructure by adding organic wastes to anaerobic digesters improves the energy balance of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) substantially. This paper explores co-digestion load limits targeting a good trade-off for boosting methane production, and limiting process-drawbacks on nitrogen-return loads, cake-production, solids-viscosity and polymer demand. Bio-methane potential tests using whey as a model co-substrate showed diversification and intensification of the anaerobic digestion process resulting in a synergistical enhancement in sewage sludge methanization. Full-scale case-studies demonstrate organic co-substrate addition of up to 94% of the organic sludge load resulted in tripling of the biogas production. At organic co-substrate addition of up to 25% no significant increase in cake production and only a minor increase in ammonia release of ca. 20% have been observed. Similar impacts were measured at a high-solids digester pilot with up-stream thermal hydrolyses where the organic loading rate was increased by 25% using co-substrate. Dynamic simulations were used to validate the synergistic impact of co-substrate addition on sludge methanization, and an increase in hydrolysis rate from 1.5 d(-1) to 2.5 d(-1) was identified for simulating measured gas production rate. This study demonstrates co-digestion for maximizing synergy as a step towards energy efficiency and ultimately towards carbon neutrality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Biological treatment of sludge digester liquids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Loosdrecht, M C M; Salem, S

    2006-01-01

    Nitrogen removal in side stream processes offers a good potential for upgrading wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that need to meet stricter effluent standards. Removing nutrients from these internal process flows significantly reduces the N-load to the main treatment plant. These internal flows mainly result from the sludge processing and have a high temperature and a high concentration of ammonia. Therefore, the required reactor volumes as well as the required aerobic SRT are small. Generally, biological treatment processes are more economical and preferred over physical-chemical processes. Recently, several biological treatment processes have been introduced for sludge water treatment. These processes are available now on the activated sludge market (e.g. SHARON, ANAMMOX and BABE processes). The technologies differ in concept and in the limitations guiding the application of these processes for upgrading WWTPs. This paper reviews and compares different biological alternatives for nitrogen removal in side streams. The limitations for selecting a technology from the available ones in the activated sludge market are noted and analysed. It is stressed that the choice for a certain process is based on more aspects than pure process engineering arguments.

  2. Disintegration of excess activated sludge--evaluation and experience of full-scale applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zábranská, J; Dohányos, M; Jenícek, P; Kutil, J

    2006-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can be improved by introducing a disintegration of excess activated sludge as a pretreatment process. The disintegration brings a deeper degradation of organic matter and less amount of output sludge for disposal, a higher production of biogas and consequently energy yield, in some cases suppression of digesters foaming and better dewaterability. The full-scale application of disintegration by a lysate-thickening centrifuge was monitored long term in three different WWTPs. The evaluation of contribution of disintegration to biogas production and digested sludge quality was assessed and operational experience is discussed. Increment of specific biogas production was evaluated in the range of 15-26%, organic matter in digested sludge significantly decreased to 48-49%. Results proved that the installation of a disintegrating centrifuge in WWTPs of different sizes and conditions would be useful and beneficial.

  3. Hemicellulose conversion by anaerobic digestion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ghosh, S; Honry, M P; Christopher, R W

    1985-01-01

    This research was undertaken to study the digestibility of the hemicellulose fractions of an aquatic biomass, a land-based biomass and a biomass-waste blend under various fermentation conditions. The conversion of hemicellulose was higher than those of cellulose and protein under the mesophilic condition. Hemicellulose was converted at a much lower efficency than cellulose during thermophilic digestion. In contrast, cellulose conversion was about the same under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Cellulose was utilized in preference to hemicellulose during mesophilic fermentation of nitrogen-supplemented Bermuda grass. It was speculated that Bermuda grass cellulose was converted at a higher efficiency than hemicellulose in the pressure of external nitrogen because the metabolism of the breakdown product (glucose) of cellulose required the least investment of enzymes and energy. 4 references.

  4. Comparison of bacterial community structure and dynamics during the thermophilic composting of different types of solid wastes: anaerobic digestion residue, pig manure and chicken manure

    OpenAIRE

    Song, Caihong; Li, Mingxiao; Jia, Xuan; Wei, Zimin; Zhao, Yue; Xi, Beidou; Zhu, Chaowei; Liu, Dongming

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of composting substrate types on the bacterial community structure and dynamics during composting processes. To this end, pig manure (PM), chicken manure (CM), a mixture of PM and CM (PM + CM), and a mixture of PM, CM and anaerobic digestion residue (ADR) (PM + CM + ADR) were selected for thermophilic composting. The bacterial community structure and dynamics during the composting process were detected and analysed by polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gra...

  5. Intensification of anaerobic digestion efficiency with use of mechanical excess sludge disintegration in the context of increased energy production in wastewater treatment plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Żubrowska-Sudoł Monika

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of the study was to evaluate the effects of mechanical sludge disintegration for enhancing full scale anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge. Batch disintegration tests and lab dewatering tests were also performed aiming at determining the release of organic compounds and assessing the impact of disintegration of excess sludge before the fermentation process of mixed sludge on the dewaterability of post-fermented sludge, respectively. In the study a disc disintegrator driven by a motor with a power of 30 kW, revolutions n = 2950 rpm has been used. It was shown that with increase of energy consumed in the disintegration, the increased amounts of organic compounds were released from the sludge. It was also documented that the introduction of the excess sludge disintegration prior to fermentation tank, resulted in a significant increase in biogas production (by an average of 33.9% and in increase in volatile total solids reduction in the fermented sludge (by an average of 22.7%. Moreover, the obtained results indicate the possibility of obtaining a higher degree of sludge dewatering, which was subjected to anaerobic stabilization with using disintegrated excess sludge.

  6. Intensification of anaerobic digestion efficiency with use of mechanical excess sludge disintegration in the context of increased energy production in wastewater treatment plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Żubrowska-Sudoł, Monika; Podedworna, Jolanta; Bisak, Agnieszka; Sytek-Szmeichel, Katarzyna; Krawczyk, Piotr; Garlicka, Agnieszka

    2017-11-01

    The main goal of the study was to evaluate the effects of mechanical sludge disintegration for enhancing full scale anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge. Batch disintegration tests and lab dewatering tests were also performed aiming at determining the release of organic compounds and assessing the impact of disintegration of excess sludge before the fermentation process of mixed sludge on the dewaterability of post-fermented sludge, respectively. In the study a disc disintegrator driven by a motor with a power of 30 kW, revolutions n = 2950 rpm has been used. It was shown that with increase of energy consumed in the disintegration, the increased amounts of organic compounds were released from the sludge. It was also documented that the introduction of the excess sludge disintegration prior to fermentation tank, resulted in a significant increase in biogas production (by an average of 33.9%) and in increase in volatile total solids reduction in the fermented sludge (by an average of 22.7%). Moreover, the obtained results indicate the possibility of obtaining a higher degree of sludge dewatering, which was subjected to anaerobic stabilization with using disintegrated excess sludge.

  7. Correlation between system performance and bacterial composition under varied mixing intensity in thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.; Al-Sanioura, Dana N.; Saikaly, Pascal; El-Fadel, Mutasem

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the stability and efficiency of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste under various mixing velocities (50–160 rpm). The results showed that high velocities (120 and 160 rpm) were harmful to the digestion process with 18–30% reduction in methane generation and 1.8 to 3.8 times increase in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, compared to mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). Also, the removal rate of soluble COD dropped from 75 to 85% (at 50–80 rpm) to 20–59% (at 120–160 rpm). Similarly, interrupted mixing caused adverse impacts and led to near-failure conditions with excessive VFA accumulation (15.6 g l), negative removal rate of soluble COD and low methane generation (132 ml gVS). The best efficiency and stability were achieved under mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). In particular, the 50 rpm stirring speed resulted in the highest methane generation (573 ml gVS). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the digesters were dominated by one bacterial genus (Petrotoga; phylym Thermotogae) at all mixing velocities except at 0 rpm, where the community was dominated by one bacterial genus (Anaerobaculum; phylum Synergistetes). The Petrotoga genus seems to have played a major role in the degradation of organic matter.

  8. Correlation between system performance and bacterial composition under varied mixing intensity in thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2017-12-07

    This study examines the stability and efficiency of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste under various mixing velocities (50–160 rpm). The results showed that high velocities (120 and 160 rpm) were harmful to the digestion process with 18–30% reduction in methane generation and 1.8 to 3.8 times increase in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, compared to mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). Also, the removal rate of soluble COD dropped from 75 to 85% (at 50–80 rpm) to 20–59% (at 120–160 rpm). Similarly, interrupted mixing caused adverse impacts and led to near-failure conditions with excessive VFA accumulation (15.6 g l), negative removal rate of soluble COD and low methane generation (132 ml gVS). The best efficiency and stability were achieved under mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). In particular, the 50 rpm stirring speed resulted in the highest methane generation (573 ml gVS). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the digesters were dominated by one bacterial genus (Petrotoga; phylym Thermotogae) at all mixing velocities except at 0 rpm, where the community was dominated by one bacterial genus (Anaerobaculum; phylum Synergistetes). The Petrotoga genus seems to have played a major role in the degradation of organic matter.

  9. Exploiting the energy potential of waste activated sludge with MicroSludge[Manure, biosolids, and organic industrial/commercial residuals in land applications programs : improving beneficial reuse and protection of water quality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stephenson, R.; Laliberte, S. [Paradigm Environmental Technologies, Vancouver, BC (Canada); Nemeth, L. [Earth Tech Canada Inc., Burnaby, BC (Canada)

    2007-07-01

    When waste activated sludge (WAS) is efficiently converted to biogas through anaerobic digestion, the energy potential and economic value of WAS can be exploited. This paper discussed the chemical and pressure pre-treatment process using MicroSludge. MicroSludge uses alkaline pre-treatment to weaken cell membranes and a high-pressure homogenizer to liquefy the cells, enabling the anaerobic digester to work at a higher rate and more efficiently, destroying pathogens and generating less biosolids for disposal, with corresponding higher volumes of methane from which to generate added electrical power and/or produce added heat. MicroSludge was demonstrated at the Chilliwack waste water treatment plant (WWTP), located 115 km east of Vancouver. The paper provided a description of the Chilliwack WWTP and discussed the application of MicroSludge at a full-scale prototype plant. The MicroSludge plant was capable of pre-treating all of the waste secondary sludge generated at the Chilliwack WWTP prior to anaerobic digestion. The paper also discussed digester hydraulic retention time; scanning electron microscope images; temperature; pH; mass loading of primary sludge and waste activated sludge; total volatile solids concentrations; and digester gas composition. Operating and maintenance costs were also outlined along with electrical power costs, maintenance costs and chemical costs. Last, the paper presented the energy benefits for WWTPs when using MicroSludge. It was concluded that the economic benefits of MicroSludge are greater for plants with higher biosolids disposal costs and higher electrical utility costs. 6 refs., 8 tabs., 10 figs.

  10. Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meulepas, Roel J.W., E-mail: roel.meulepas@wetsus.nl [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Thuwal 13955-69000 (Saudi Arabia); Teshager, Fitfety Melese; Witharana, Ayoma [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); Saikaly, Pascal E. [King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Thuwal 13955-69000 (Saudi Arabia); Lens, Piet N.L. [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands)

    2015-05-01

    Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342 μg g{sup −1} of copper, 487 μg g{sup −1} of lead, 793 μg g{sup −1} of zinc, 27 μg g{sup −1} of nickel and 2.3 μg g{sup −1} of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3 g{sub dry} {sub weight} L{sup −1} waste activated sludge, 80–85% of the copper, 66–69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94–99% of the nickel and 73–83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead. - Highlights: • Heavy metals were leached during anaerobic acidification of waste activated sludge. • The process does not require the addition of chelating or oxidizing agents. • The metal leaching efficiencies (66 to 99%) were comparable to chemical leaching. • The produced leachate may be used for metal recovery and biogas production. • The produced digested sludge may be used as soil conditioner.

  11. Use of respirometer in evaluation of process and toxicity of thermophilic anaerobic digestion for treating kitchen waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Wen-Chien; Cheng, Kae-Yiin

    2007-07-01

    A thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAnD, 55 degrees C) system was adopted to hydrolyze the kitchen waste for 3 days, which was then fermented for a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 days. The TAnD system performed much better than a similar system without thermal pre-treatment. A bubble respirometer was employed to study the effects of thermal pre-treatment, which showed that pre-treatment at 60 degrees C yielded the highest Total COD (TCOD) removal efficiency (79.2%) after 300h reaction. Respirometer results also indicated that oil and grease (O and G) began to inhibit the TAnD system at a concentration of approximately 1000mg/L and the gas production was inhibited by 50% at a concentration of approximately 7500mg/L of sodium.

  12. Improved anaerobic biodegradation of biosolids by the addition of food waste as a co-substrate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, H.-W.; Han, S.-K.; Song, Y.-C.; Baek, B.-C.; Yoo, K.-S.; Lee, J.-J.; Shin, H.-S.

    2003-07-01

    The temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) process was applied to increase the performance of anaerobic treatment of biosolids. Previously obtained results indicate that this system showed the advantages of thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion process. By comparing the performance of each reactor of the system, it was illustrated that the main stage of methane production was the thermophilic reactor which has faster microbial metabolism. However, the result revealed that substrate characteristics of low VS/TS limited the system performance. Therefore, to evaluate the effect of food waste as a co-substrate for improving anaerobic biodegradability, biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were conducted in thermophilic conditions with biomass of thermophilic reactor. It was confirmed that the co-digestion of sewage sludge mixed with food waste had a distinct improvement on biodegradability. The most significant advantages were the preferable environment provided by food waste for the growth and activity of anaerobes and the mutual assistance between biosolids and food waste. (author)

  13. Characteristics of residues from thermally treated anaerobic sludges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Friedman, A.A.; Smith, J.E.; De Santis, J.; Ptak, T.; Ganley, R.C.

    1988-01-01

    Sludge management and disposal are probably the most difficult and expensive operations involved in wastewater treatment today. To minimize final disposal costs many waste treatment facilities practice some form of anaerobic digestion and dewatering to reduce the volume and offensiveness of their by-product sludges. One potential alternative for reducing sludge volumes consists of high temperature, partial oxidation of these previously digested sludges (PDS) and subsequent anaerobic biological conversion of resulting soluble organics to methane. This paper describes solids destruction, residue characteristics and biodegradability factors that should be considered in the design of liquid thermal treatment processes for the management of anaerobic sludges. To date only very limited information is available concerning the suitability of thermally treated PDS to serve as a substrate for the generation of methane. The primary objective of this research was to determine the feasibility of producing methane efficiently from the residual VSS in anaerobically digested sludges. Secondary goals were to establish the ''best'' conditions for thermal treatment for solubilizing PDS, to observe the effect of the soluble products on methanogenesis and to evaluate process sidestreams for dewaterability and anaerobic biodegradability

  14. Energy uses and recovery in sludge disposal, Part 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, J L [Stanford Research Inst., Menlo Park, CA; Bomberger, D C; Lewis, F M

    1977-08-01

    Capital and operating costs were compared for 3 plant capacities having average dry weather flows of 10, 100, and 500 mgd. Five sludge handling options were considered. They were chemical conditioning with vacuum filtration, low pressure wet air oxidation, high pressure wet air oxidation aerobic and anaerobic digestion, and chemical oxidation with filter press dewatering. The plant sizes considered generated 11.5, 77, and 384 TPD of sludge. High pressure wet air oxidation and aerobic digestion operating costs were the most sensitive to electrical power costs, while the 2 incineration options without heat treatment were the least sensitive. Sludge drying and incineration of a 20% solids cake were the most sensitive to fuel costs, while aerobic and anaerobic digestion were not directly affected. Heat treatment of sludge and dewatering to a 40% cake had the lowest fuel requirements of the 3 incineration options but increased the total plant electric power consumption by >25%. The net Btus consumed were compared. The net consumption was lowest for anaerobic digestion, filter press plus incineration, and heat treatment plus incineration. Excluding heat recovery credit except for steam required in sludge heat treating, these 3 options are still lowest in net Btus consumed.

  15. Identification of a novel acetate-utilizing bacterium belonging to Synergistes group 4 in anaerobic digester sludge

    OpenAIRE

    Ito, Tsukasa; Yoshiguchi, Kazumi; Ariesyady, Herto Dwi; Okabe, Satoshi

    2011-01-01

    Major acetate-utilizing bacterial and archaeal populations in methanogenic anaerobic digester sludge were identified and quantified by radioisotope- and stable-isotope-based functional analyses, microautoradiography-fluorescence in situ hybridization (MAR-FISH) and stable-isotope probing of 16S rRNA (RNA-SIP) that can directly link 16S rRNA phylogeny with in situ metabolic function. First, MAR-FISH with 14C-acetate indicated the significant utilization of acetate by only two major groups, uni...

  16. Model calibration and validation for OFMSW and sewage sludge co-digestion reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esposito, G.; Frunzo, L.; Panico, A.; Pirozzi, F.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Disintegration is the limiting step of the anaerobic co-digestion process. → Disintegration kinetic constant does not depend on the waste particle size. → Disintegration kinetic constant depends only on the waste nature and composition. → The model calibration can be performed on organic waste of any particle size. - Abstract: A mathematical model has recently been proposed by the authors to simulate the biochemical processes that prevail in a co-digestion reactor fed with sewage sludge and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. This model is based on the Anaerobic Digestion Model no. 1 of the International Water Association, which has been extended to include the co-digestion processes, using surface-based kinetics to model the organic waste disintegration and conversion to carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. When organic waste solids are present in the reactor influent, the disintegration process is the rate-limiting step of the overall co-digestion process. The main advantage of the proposed modeling approach is that the kinetic constant of such a process does not depend on the waste particle size distribution (PSD) and rather depends only on the nature and composition of the waste particles. The model calibration aimed to assess the kinetic constant of the disintegration process can therefore be conducted using organic waste samples of any PSD, and the resulting value will be suitable for all the organic wastes of the same nature as the investigated samples, independently of their PSD. This assumption was proven in this study by biomethane potential experiments that were conducted on organic waste samples with different particle sizes. The results of these experiments were used to calibrate and validate the mathematical model, resulting in a good agreement between the simulated and observed data for any investigated particle size of the solid waste. This study confirms the strength of the proposed model and calibration procedure

  17. Establishment of thermophilic anaerobic terephthalic acid degradation system through one-step temperature increase startup strategy - Revealed by Illumina Miseq Sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Kai-Li; Li, Xiang-Kun; Wang, Ke; Meng, Ling-Wei; Liu, Gai-Ge; Zhang, Jie

    2017-10-01

    Over recent years, thermophilic digestion was constantly focused owing to its various advantage over mesophilic digestion. Notably, the startup approach of thermophilic digester needs to be seriously considered as unsuitable startup ways may result in system inefficiency. In this study, one-step temperature increase startup strategy from 37 °C to 55 °C was applied to establish a thermophilic anaerobic system treating terephthalic acid (TA) contained wastewater, meanwhile, the archaeal and bacterial community compositions at steady periods of 37 °C and 55 °C during the experimental process was also compared using Illumina Miseq Sequencing. The process operation demonstrated that the thermophilic TA degradation system was successfully established at 55 °C with over 95% COD reduction. For archaea community, the elevation of operational temperature from 37 °C to 55 °C accordingly increase the enrichment of hydrogenotrophic methanogens but decrease the abundance of the acetotrophic ones. While for bacterial community, the taxonomic analysis suggested that Syntrophorhabdus (27.40%) was the dominant genus promoting the efficient TA degradation under mesophilic condition, whereas OPB95 (24.99%) and TA06 (14.01%) related populations were largely observed and probably take some crucial role in TA degradation under thermophilic condition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Carbon capture and biogas enhancement by carbon dioxide enrichment of anaerobic digesters treating sewage sludge or food waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajón Fernández, Y; Soares, A; Villa, R; Vale, P; Cartmell, E

    2014-05-01

    The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and the stringent greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction targets, require the development of CO2 sequestration technologies applicable for the waste and wastewater sector. This study addressed the reduction of CO2 emissions and enhancement of biogas production associated with CO2 enrichment of anaerobic digesters (ADs). The benefits of CO2 enrichment were examined by injecting CO2 at 0, 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 M fractions into batch ADs treating food waste or sewage sludge. Daily specific methane (CH4) production increased 11-16% for food waste and 96-138% for sewage sludge over the first 24h. Potential CO2 reductions of 8-34% for sewage sludge and 3-11% for food waste were estimated. The capacity of ADs to utilise additional CO2 was demonstrated, which could provide a potential solution for onsite sequestration of CO2 streams while enhancing renewable energy production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Impact of trace element additives on anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge with in-situ carbon dioxide sequestration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linville, Jessica L.; Shen, Yanwen; Schoene, Robin P.; Nguyen, Maximilian; Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem; Snyder, Seth W.

    2016-09-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AD) of sludge at wastewater treatment plants can benefit from addition of essential trace metals such as iron, nickel and cobalt to increase biogas production for utilization in combined heat and power systems, fed into natural gas pipelines or as a vehicle fuel. This study evaluated the impact and benefits of Ni/Co and olivine addition to the digester at mesophilic temperatures. These additions supplement previously reported research in which iron-rich olivine (MgSiO4) was added to sequester CO2 in-situ during batch AD of sludge. Trace element addition has been shown to stimulate and stabilize biogas production and have a synergistic effect on the mineral carbonation process. AD with 5% w/v olivine and 1.5 mg/L Ni/Co addition had a 17.3% increase in methane volume, a 6% increase in initial exponential methane production rate and a 56% increase in methane yield (mL CH4/g CODdegraded) compared to the control due to synergistic trace element and olivine addition while maintaining 17.7% CO2 sequestration from olivine addition. Both first-order kinetic modeling and response surface methodology modeling confirmed the combined benefit of the trace elements and olivine addition. These results were significantly higher than previously reported results with olivine addition alone [1].

  20. Co-digestion to support low temperature anaerobic pretreatment of municipal sewage in a UASB-digester.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lei; Hendrickx, Tim L G; Kampman, Christel; Temmink, Hardy; Zeeman, Grietje

    2013-11-01

    The aim of this work was to demonstrate that co-digestion improves soluble sewage COD removal efficiency in treatment of low temperature municipal sewage by a UASB-digester system. A pilot scale UASB-digester system was applied to treat real municipal sewage, and glucose was chosen as a model co-substrate. Co-substrate was added in the sludge digester to produce additional methanogenic biomass, which was continuously recycled to inoculate the UASB reactor. Soluble sewage COD removal efficiency increased from 6 to 23%, which was similar to its biological methane potential (BMP). Specific methanogenic activity of the UASB and of the digester sludge at 15°C tripled to a value respectively of 43 and 39 mg CH4-COD/(g VSS d). Methane production in the UASB reactor increased by more than 90% due to its doubled methanogenic capacity. Therefore, co-digestion is a suitable approach to support a UASB-digester for pretreatment of low temperature municipal sewage. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Analysis of sludge using Proton induced X-ray emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aspiazu, J.; Moreno, E.; Andrade, E.; Miranda, J.; Citalan, S.; Moeller, G.; Soler, F.

    1996-01-01

    Regulations to control the huge amounts of sludge produced by wastewater are needed. Sludge generated in conventional sedimentators or anaerobic digesters were characterized by Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). It was possible to determine the presence of macro nutrient elements, such as P and K, and secondary nutrients like Ca, S, and Mg. Moreover, heavy elements like Cu, Zn, and Pb were also found. The sludge treatment in anaerobic digesters increased the amount of certain elements Al, Si, S, Cl, and K; decrease in Ca, Ti, and Cu, and no change in V, Cr, and Zn. Possible uses of this sludge are also suggested

  2. Sewage sludge as a biomass energy source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel Kolat

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The major part of the dry matter content of sewage sludge consists of nontoxic organic compounds, in general a combination of primary sludge and secondary microbiological sludge. The sludge also contains a substantive amount of inorganic material and a small amount of toxic components. There are many sludge-management options in which production of energy is one of the key treatment steps. The most important options are anaerobic digestion, co-digestion, incineration in combination with energy recovery and co-incineration in coal-fired power plants. The goal of our applied research is to verify, if the sludge from waste water treatment plants may be used as a biomass energy source in respect of the EU legislation, which would comply with emission limits or the proposal of energy process optimizing the preparation of coal/sludge mixture for combustion in the existing fluid bed boilers in the Czech Republic. The paper discusses the questions of thermal usage of mechanically drained stabilized sewage sludge from the waste water treatment plants in the boiler with circulated fluid layer. The paper describes methods of thermal analysis of coal, sewage sludge and its mixtures, mud transport to the circulating fluidised bed boiler, effects on efficiency, operational reliability of the combustion equipment, emissions and solid combustion residues.

  3. Influence of feed characteristics on the removal of micropollutants during the anaerobic digestion of contaminated sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barret, M.; Barcia, G. Cea; Guillon, A.; Carrere, H.; Patureau, D.

    2010-01-01

    The removal of 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 7 polychlorobiphenyls and nonylphenol was measured during the continuous anaerobic digestion of five different sludge samples. The reactors were fed with one of the following: primary/secondary sludge (PS/SS), thermally treated PS, cellulose-added SS, or SS augmented with dissolved and colloidal matter (DCM). These various feeding conditions induced variable levels of micropollutant bioavailability (assumed to limit their biodegradation) and overall metabolism (supposed to be linked to micropollutant metabolism throughout co-metabolism). On the one hand, overall metabolism was higher with secondary sludge than with primary and the same was observed for micropollutant removal. However, when overall metabolism was enhanced thanks to cellulose addition, a negative influence on micropollutant removal was observed. This suggests that either the co-metabolic synergy would be linked to a specific metabolism or co-metabolism was not the limiting factor in this case. On the other hand, micropollutant bioavailability was presumably diminished by thermal treatment and increased by DCM addition. In both cases, micropollutant removal was reduced. These results suggest that neither overall metabolism nor bioavailability would absolutely limit micropollutant removal. Each phenomenon might alternatively predominate depending on the feed characteristics.

  4. Comparison of ozone and thermal hydrolysis combined with anaerobic digestion for municipal and pharmaceutical waste sludge with tetracycline resistance genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pei, Jin; Yao, Hong; Wang, Hui; Ren, Jia; Yu, Xiaohua

    2016-08-01

    Biosolids from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) are environmental reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes, which attract great concerns on their efficient treatments. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is widely used for sewage sludge treatment but its effectiveness is limited due to the slow hydrolysis. Ozone and thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment were employed to improve AD efficiency and reduce antibiotic-resistant genes in municipal and pharmaceutical waste sludge (MWS and PWS, respectively) in this study. Sludge solubilization achieved 15.75-25.09% and 14.85-33.92% after ozone and thermal hydrolysis, respectively. Both pre-treatments improved cumulative methane production and the enhancements were greater on PWS than MWS. Five tetracycline-resistant genes (tet(A), tet(G), tet(Q), tet(W), tet(X)) and one mobile element (intI1) were qPCR to assess pre-treatments. AD of pre-treated sludge reduced more tet genes than raw sludge for both ozonation and thermal hydrolysis in PWS and MWS. Thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment was more efficient than ozone for reduction after AD. Results of this study help support management options for reducing the spread of antibiotic resistance from biosolids. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Long-term thermophilic mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion with potato pulp

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayr, S.; Ojanperä, M.; Kaparaju, P.; Rintala, J.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Rendering wastes’ mono-digestion and co-digestion with potato pulp were studied. • CSTR process with OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m 3 d, HRT of 50 d was unstable in mono-digestion. • Free NH 3 inhibited mono-digestion of rendering wastes. • CSTR process with OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m 3 d, HRT of 50 d was stable in co-digestion. • Co-digestion increased methane yield somewhat compared to mono-digestion. - Abstract: In this study, mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp were studied for the first time in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) experiments at 55 °C. Rendering wastes have high protein and lipid contents and are considered good substrates for methane production. However, accumulation of digestion intermediate products viz., volatile fatty acids (VFAs), long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 -N and/or free NH 3 ) can cause process imbalance during the digestion. Mono-digestion of rendering wastes at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.5 kg volatile solids (VS)/m 3 d and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d was unstable and resulted in methane yields of 450 dm 3 /kg VS fed . On the other hand, co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp (60% wet weight, WW) at the same OLR and HRT improved the process stability and increased methane yields (500–680 dm 3 /kg VS fed ). Thus, it can be concluded that co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp could improve the process stability and methane yields from these difficult to treat industrial waste materials

  6. Radiation hygienization of raw sewage sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah, M.R.; Lavale, D.S.; Rawat, P.; Benny, P.G.; Sharma, A.K.; Dey, G.R.; Bhave, V.

    2001-01-01

    'Radiation treatment of municipal sewage sludge can achieve resource conservation and recovery objectives. The liquid sludge irradiator of Sludge Hygienization Research Irradiator at Baroda (India) was operated for generating data on treatment of raw sludge containing 3-4 % solids. The plant system was modified for irradiating raw sludge without affecting basic irradiator initially designed to treat digested sludge. Hourly samples were analysed for estimation of disinfection dose requirement. Sand separated from the sludge was used as in-situ dosimeter by making use of its thermoluminescence property. Investigations are being carried out for regrowth of Total Coliforms in the sludge samples from this irradiator. Possibility of inadequate treatment due to geometric configuration of irradiator is being checked. (author)

  7. Analysing the mechanisms of sludge digestion enhanced by iron.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Xiaodi; Wei, Jing; van Loosdrecht, Mark C M; Cao, Daqi

    2017-06-15

    Carbon-neutral operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) requires enhancing anaerobic digestion (AD) of excess sludge for a higher energy conversion efficiency. Among others, iron has been identified to function on enhancing methane production in AD. As an industrial residual, waste iron scraps (WISs) have been reported as potentially enhancing CH 4 production in AD. With this study, the mechanisms of AD enhanced by WISs are analysed in a two-phase process: acidogenic phase (AP) and methanogenic phase (MP). Semi-continuous tests substantially excluded ORP reduction and hydrogen-evolution corrosion induced by WISs in enhancing CH 4 production, although WISs (10 g Fe/L) could indeed increase CH 4 production by 10.1% and 21.4% when added in AP and MP respectively. Detection on both FISH and enzymatic activities of involved microorganisms revealed that the stimulating effects of WISs on anaerobes (both catabolism and anabolism) could play an important (96.3%) role in enhancing CH 4 production, which would facilitate hydrolysis of refractory organics and improvement of electron transport rate (ETR). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Process performance assessment of advanced anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge including sequential ultrasound-thermal (55 °C) pre-treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neumann, Patricio; Barriga, Felipe; Álvarez, Claudia; González, Zenón; Vidal, Gladys

    2018-03-15

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance and digestate quality of advanced anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge including sequential ultrasound-thermal (55 °C) pre-treatment. Both stages of pre-treatment contributed to chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilization, with an overall factor of 11.4 ± 2.2%. Pre-treatment led to 19.1, 24.0 and 29.9% increased methane yields at 30, 15 and 7.5 days solid retention times (SRT), respectively, without affecting process stability or accumulation of intermediates. Pre-treatment decreased up to 4.2% water recovery from the digestate, but SRT was a more relevant factor controlling dewatering. Advanced digestion showed 2.4-3.1 and 1.5 logarithmic removals of coliforms and coliphages, respectively, and up to a 58% increase in the concentration of inorganics in the digestate solids compared to conventional digestion. The COD balance of the process showed that the observed increase in methane production was proportional to the pre-treatment solubilization efficiency. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Enhancement mechanisms of short-time aerobic digestion for waste activated sludge in the presence of cocoamidopropyl betaine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Siqing; Zhou, Yun; Eustance, Everett; Zhang, Zhiqiang

    2017-10-18

    Cocoamidopropyl betaine (CAPB), which is a biodegradable ampholytic surfactant, has recently been found to dramatically enhance the aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) in short-time aerobic digestion (STAD) systems. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms in which CAPB enhances WAS aerobic digestion performance. Results showed that CAPB could dramatically enhance the solubilization of soluble proteins (PN), polysaccharides (PS), nucleic acids (NA) and humic-like substances (HS) in the STAD system within the initial 2 h. Then PN, PS and NA gradually decreased, while HS showed only minor decease. In addition, CAPB increased the proportion of low MW fractions (biodegradable. Specific oxygen uptake rates and dehydrogenase enzyme activity results indicated that CAPB markedly improved the aerobic microorganism activities. Microbial community analyses and principle coordinate analyses (PCoA) revealed that CAPB increased the proportion of some functional microorganisms, including Proteobacteria, Planctomycetales, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and Aeromonas. The changes driven by CAPB could explain the enhanced performance of the STAD system for WAS aerobic treatment.

  10. Long-term thermophilic mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion with potato pulp

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bayr, S., E-mail: suvi.bayr@jyu.fi; Ojanperä, M.; Kaparaju, P.; Rintala, J.

    2014-10-15

    Highlights: • Rendering wastes’ mono-digestion and co-digestion with potato pulp were studied. • CSTR process with OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m{sup 3} d, HRT of 50 d was unstable in mono-digestion. • Free NH{sub 3} inhibited mono-digestion of rendering wastes. • CSTR process with OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m{sup 3} d, HRT of 50 d was stable in co-digestion. • Co-digestion increased methane yield somewhat compared to mono-digestion. - Abstract: In this study, mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp were studied for the first time in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) experiments at 55 °C. Rendering wastes have high protein and lipid contents and are considered good substrates for methane production. However, accumulation of digestion intermediate products viz., volatile fatty acids (VFAs), long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and ammonia nitrogen (NH{sub 4}-N and/or free NH{sub 3}) can cause process imbalance during the digestion. Mono-digestion of rendering wastes at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.5 kg volatile solids (VS)/m{sup 3} d and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d was unstable and resulted in methane yields of 450 dm{sup 3}/kg VS{sub fed}. On the other hand, co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp (60% wet weight, WW) at the same OLR and HRT improved the process stability and increased methane yields (500–680 dm{sup 3}/kg VS{sub fed}). Thus, it can be concluded that co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp could improve the process stability and methane yields from these difficult to treat industrial waste materials.

  11. Sludge storage lagoon biogas recovery and use. Volume 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muller, D.; Norville, C. [Memphis and Shelby County Div. of Planning and Development, TN (United States)

    1991-07-01

    The City of Memphis has two wastewater treatment plants. The SWTP employs two large anaerobic digestion sludge lagoons as part of the overall sludge treatment system. Although these lagoons are effective in concentrating and digesting sludge, they can generate offensive odors. The SWTP uses aerobic digesters to partially stabilize the sludge and help reduce objectionable odors before it enters the lagoons. The anaerobic digestion of sludge in the lagoons results in the dispersion of a large quantity of biogas into the atmosphere. The City realized that if the lagoons could be covered, the odor problem could be resolved, and at the same, time, biogas could be recovered and utilized as a source of energy. In 1987, the City commissioned ADI International to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate alternative methods of covering the lagoons and recovering and utilizing the biogas. The study recommended that the project be developed in two phases: (1) recovery of the biogas and (2) utilization of the biogas. Phase 1 consists of covering the two lagoons with an insulated membrane to control odor and temperature and collect the biogas. Phase 1 was found to be economically feasible and offered a unique opportunity for the City to save substantial operating costs at the treatment facility. The Memphis biogas recovery project is the only application in the world where a membrane cover has been used on a municipal wastewater sludge lagoon. It is also the largest lagoon cover system in the world.

  12. A thermophilic membrane bioreactor for treating and re-using paper mill effluent; Biorreactor de membrana termofilico para el tratamiento y reutilizacion de efluentes de papelera

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopetegui Garnika, J.; Sancho Seuma, L.; Abad Oliva, A.

    2002-07-01

    Thermophilic operation of a membrane bioreactor offers many advantages; biodegradation rates increase with temperature and flux is higher because of water viscosity decrease. Therefore,poor sttleability related to thermophilic sludges is solved by ultrafiltration and a suspended solids and turbidity free effluent is obtained. That suppose a wider range of applications interns of water reuse. (Author) 18 refs.

  13. Influence of forced air volume on water evaporation during sewage sludge bio-drying.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Lu; Chen, Tong-Bin; Gao, Ding; Zheng, Guo-Di; Liu, Hong-Tao; Pan, Tian-Hao

    2013-09-01

    Mechanical aeration is critical to sewage sludge bio-drying, and the actual water loss caused by aeration can be better understood from investigations of the relationship between aeration and water evaporation from the sewage sludge bio-drying pile based on in situ measurements. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of forced air volume on the evaporation of water from a sewage sludge bio-drying pile. Dewatered sewage sludge was bio-dried using control technology for bio-drying, during which time the temperature, superficial air velocity and water evaporation were measured and calculated. The results indicated that the peak air velocity and water evaporation occurred in the thermophilic phase and second temperature-increasing phase, with the highest values of 0.063 ± 0.027 m s(-1) and 28.9 kg ton(-1) matrix d(-1), respectively, being observed on day 4. Air velocity above the pile during aeration was 43-100% higher than when there was no aeration, and there was a significantly positive correlation between air volume and water evaporation from day 1 to 15. The order of daily means of water evaporation was thermophilic phase > second temperature-increasing phase > temperature-increasing phase > cooling phase. Forced aeration controlled the pile temperature and improved evaporation, making it the key factor influencing water loss during the process of sewage sludge bio-drying. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Hydrolytic activities of extracellular enzymes in thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic sequencing-batch reactors treating organic fractions of municipal solid wastes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun-Woo; Nam, Joo-Youn; Kang, Seok-Tae; Kim, Dong-Hoon; Jung, Kyung-Won; Shin, Hang-Sik

    2012-04-01

    Extracellular enzymes offer active catalysis for hydrolysis of organic solid wastes in anaerobic digestion. To evidence the quantitative significance of hydrolytic enzyme activities for major waste components, track studies of thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic sequencing-batch reactors (TASBR and MASBR) were conducted using a co-substrate of real organic wastes. During 1day batch cycle, TASBR showed higher amylase activity for carbohydrate (46%), protease activity for proteins (270%), and lipase activity for lipids (19%) than MASBR. In particular, the track study of protease identified that thermophilic anaerobes degraded protein polymers much more rapidly. Results revealed that differences in enzyme activities eventually affected acidogenic and methanogenic performances. It was demonstrated that the superior nature of enzymatic capability at thermophilic condition led to successive high-rate acidogenesis and 32% higher CH(4) recovery. Consequently, these results evidence that the coupling thermophilic digestion with sequencing-batch operation is a viable option to promote enzymatic hydrolysis of organic particulates. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Co-digestion of sewage sludge and sterilized solid slaughterhouse waste: methane production efficiency and process limitations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitk, Peep; Kaparaju, Prasad; Palatsi, Jordi; Affes, Rim; Vilu, Raivo

    2013-04-01

    The rendering product of Category 2 and 3 Animal By-Products is known as sterilized mass (SM) and it is mainly composed of fat and proteins, making it interesting substrate for anaerobic digestion. Batch and semi-continuous laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of SM addition in co-digestion with sewage sludge on methane production and possible process limitations. Results showed that SM addition in the feed mixture up to 5% (w/w), corresponding to 68.1% of the organic loading, increased methane production 5.7 times, without any indication of process inhibition. Further increase of SM addition at 7.5% (w/w) caused methane production decrease and volatile solids removal reduction, that was mainly related to remarkably increased free ammonia concentration in the digester of 596.5±68.6 gNH3 L(-1). Sterilized mass addition of 10% (w/w) caused intensive foaming, LCFA accumulation of 9172±701.2 mgCOD-LCFA g(-1) sample and termination of the experiment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Two-stage pretreatment of excess sludge for electricity generation in microbial fuel cell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yi; Zhao, Yang-Guo; Guo, Liang; Gao, Mengchun

    2018-01-12

    Thermophiles hydrolysis and acidogens fermentation were sequentially adopted to pretreat excess sludge for microbial fuel cell (MFC) electricity production. The results indicated that MFC fed with the thermophiles-acidogens pretreated sludge (MFC AB), reached a higher removal of ammonia nitrogen than the MFC fed with the heating hydrolysis and acidogens fermentation pretreated sludge (MFC NB). However, compared with the MFC AB, MFC NB presented a better performance for removal of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) (90.08%) and protein (82.42%). As for the electricity production, MFC NB obtained higher voltage of 0.632 V and maximum power density with 1.05 W/m 3 while MFC AB reached maximum voltage of 0.373 V and maximum power density of 0.58 W/m 3 . Bacterial 16S rRNA-based molecular microbial techniques showed that microbial communities on both MFC anode biofilms was diverse and different. The cooperation of fermentation bacteria and electricigen Shewanella baltica in the MFC NB may have contributed towards the improvement of electricity generation.

  17. Dewatering properties of differently treated sewage sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zehnder, H.J.

    1977-01-01

    A study on dewatering properties of radiosterilized sewage sludge of different type and origin was carried out. For comparison, also heat-treated (pasteurized) sludge was investigated. The specific filtration resistance of irradiated sewage sludge was lowered in all types of sludge examined. In general, pasteurization increased this parameter. The settling properties of irradiated digested sewage sludge was slightly improved, mainly in the first hours after treatment. Microbial effects may mask the real sedimentation relations especcially in aerobically stabilized sludges. A pasteurization treatment of sewage sludge caused an increased content of soluble substances and suspended particles in the supernatant water. The supernatant water from irradiated sludge showed a smaller increase

  18. Anaerobic was co-digestion with OMW and glycerol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Athanasoulia, E.; Melidis, P.; Aivasidis, A.

    2009-01-01

    The main by-product of any biological wastewater treatment is waste activated sludge (WAS). Anaerobic digestion is the most common treatment technique for sludge stabilization, resulting in a reduction in the amount of volatile solids (VS) with biogas production, at the same time. On the other hand, many agro-industrial organic wastes are readily biodegradable and as a result, anaerobic co-digestion of sludge with agro-industrial wastes is being developed potential advantages such as increased biogas production and improved nutrience balance. (Author)

  19. Ecology and biotechnological potential of the thermophilic fermentative Coprothermobacter spp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagliano, M C; Braguglia, C M; Petruccioli, M; Rossetti, S

    2015-05-01

    Thermophilic bacteria have been isolated from several terrestrial, marine and industrial environments. Anaerobic digesters treating organic wastes are often an important source of these microorganisms, which catalyze a wide array of metabolic processes. Moreover, organic wastes are primarily composed of proteins, whose degradation is often incomplete. Coprothermobacter spp. are proteolytic anaerobic thermophilic microbes identified in several studies focused on the analysis of the microbial community structure in anaerobic thermophilic reactors. They are currently classified in the phylum Firmicutes; nevertheless, several authors showed that the Coprothermobacter group is most closely related to the phyla Dictyoglomi and Thermotoga. Since only a few proteolytic anaerobic thermophiles have been characterized so far, this microorganism has attracted the attention of researchers for its potential applications with high-temperature environments. In addition to proteolysis, Coprothermobacter spp. showed several metabolic abilities and may have a biotechnological application either as source of thermostable enzymes or as inoculum in anaerobic processes. Moreover, they can improve protein degradation by establishing a syntrophy with hydrogenotrophic archaea. To gain a better understanding of the phylogenesis, metabolic capabilities and adaptations of these microorganisms, it is of importance to better define the role in thermophilic environments and to disclose properties not yet investigated. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Thermal behaviour of chrome shavings and of sludges recovered after digestion of tanned solid wastes with calcium hydroxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tahiri, S.; Albizane, A.; Messaoudi, A.; Azzi, M.; Bennazha, J.; Younssi, S. Alami; Bouhria, M.

    2007-01-01

    The thermal behaviour of chrome shavings and of sludges recovered after digestion of tanned wastes with Ca(OH) 2 was studied. Ashes obtained after incineration of wastes at various temperatures were analysed by X-ray diffraction and EDX method. The main crystallized phases present in the ash obtained at 600 deg. C are Cr 2 O 3 and NaCl. The diffractograms revealed an increase in the intensities of the chromium oxide peaks and a very notable decrease of the amount of sodium chloride at 1100 deg. C. EDX analysis revealed a total disappearance of the chlorine peak at this temperature. Scanning electron micrographs show that the waste lost its fibrous aspect when the temperature increases. Formation of aggregates was noted after 550 deg. C. Combustion of organic matters and decarbonation phenomenon are the main stages observed on GTA and DTA curves of sludges. These phenomena are, respectively, exothermic and endothermic. The diffractogram of sludges recorded at 550 deg. C, in the presence of a constant oxygen surplus, revealed the presence of CaCrO 4 and CaCO 3

  1. Operational strategies for thermophilic anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste in continuously stirred tank reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Angelidaki, Irini; Cui, J.; Chen, X.

    2006-01-01

    Three operational strategies to reduce inhibition due to ammonia during thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) rich in proteins were investigated. Feed was prepared by diluting SS-OFMSW (ratio of 1:4) with tap water or reactor process...... ammonium bicarbonate additions. Dilution of SS-OFMSW with fresh water showed a stable performance with volatile fatty acids of solids (VS). Use of recirculated process water after stripping ammonia showed even better performance with a methane yield...... of 0.43 m(3) kg(-1)VS. Recirculation of process water alone on the other hand, resulted in process inhibition at both TAN levels of 3.5 and 5.5 g-N l(-1). However, after a short period, the process recovered and adapted to the tested TAN levels. Thus, use of recirculated process water after stripping...

  2. Evaluation of the rotary drum reactor process as pretreatment technology of municipal solid waste for thermophilic anaerobic digestion and biogas production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gikas, Petros; Zhu, Baoning; Batistatos, Nicolas Ion; Zhang, Ruihong

    2018-06-15

    Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains a large fraction of biodegradable organic materials. When disposed in landfills, these materials can cause adverse environmental impact due to gaseous emissions and leachate generation. This study was performed with an aim of effectively separating the biodegradable materials from a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility and treating them in well-controlled anaerobic digesters for biogas production. The rotary drum reactor (RDR) process (a sub-process of the MBT facilities studied in the present work) was evaluated as an MSW pretreatment technology for separating and preparing the biodegradable materials in MSW to be used as feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The RDR processes used in six commercial MSW treatment plants located in the USA were surveyed and sampled. The samples of the biodegradable materials produced by the RDR process were analyzed for chemical and physical characteristics as well as anaerobically digested in the laboratory using batch reactors under thermophilic conditions. The moisture content, TS, VS and C/N of the samples varied between 64.7 and 44.4%, 55.6 to 35.3%, 27.0 to 41.3% and 24.5 to 42.7, respectively. The biogas yield was measured to be between 533.0 and 675.6 mL g -1 VS after 20 days of digestion. Approximately 90% of the biogas was produced during the first 13 days. The average methane content of the biogas was between 58.0 and 59.9%. The results indicated that the biodegradable materials separated from MSW using the RDR processes could be used as an excellent feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The digester residues may be further processed for compost production or further energy recovery by using thermal conversion processes such as combustion or gasification. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  3. Toluene in sewage and sludge in wastewater treatment plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrowiec, Bozena

    2014-01-01

    Toluene is a compound that often occurs in municipal wastewater ranging from detectable levels up to 237 μg/L. Before the year 2000, the presence of the aromatic hydrocarbons was assigned only to external sources. The Enhanced Biological Nutrients Removal Processes (EBNRP) work according to many different schemes and technologies. For high-efficiency biological denitrification and dephosphatation processes, the presence of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in sewage is required. VFAs are the main product of organic matter hydrolysis from sewage sludge. However, no attention has been given to other products of the process. It has been found that in parallel to VFA production, toluene formation occurred. The formation of toluene in municipal anaerobic sludge digestion processes was investigated. Experiments were performed on a laboratory scale using sludge from primary and secondary settling tanks of municipal treatment plants. The concentration of toluene in the digested sludge from primary settling tanks was found to be about 42,000 μg/L. The digested sludge supernatant liquor returned to the biological dephosphatation and denitrification processes for sewage enrichment can contain up to 16,500 μg/L of toluene.

  4. Occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements in enterococci and genomic DNA during anaerobic digestion of pharmaceutical waste sludge with different pretreatments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Juan; Lu, XueTing; Zhang, JunYa; Sui, Qianwen; Wang, Rui; Chen, Meixue; Wei, Yuansong

    2017-07-01

    Pharmaceutical waste sludge harbors large amounts of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and it is necessary to study the reduction of ARGs and MGEs during sludge treatment. Therefore, the antibiotic resistance phenotypes and genotypes of enterococci, and the ARGs and MGEs in genomic DNA were investigated during anaerobic digestion (AD) with microwave (MW), thermal hydrolysis (TH) and ozone pretreatment. Results showed that sludge pretreatment increased the occurrence of the resistance phenotypes and genotypes of enterococci. During AD, the resistance of enterococci to macrolides decreased, except for in the MW-pretreated sludge. Horizontal gene transfer and co-occurrence of ermB and tetM in enterococci resulted in increased tetracycline resistance of enterococci throughout the sludge treatment. MGEs such as intI1, ISCR1 and Tn916/1545 had a significant effect on the distribution of ARGs. AD with pretreatment, especially TH pretreatment, resulted in greater ARGs and MGEs reduction and improved methane production. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Sludge disinfection using gamma radiation: a sound option for Albuquerque

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noland, P.D.; Khera, A.K.

    1980-01-01

    The City of Albuquerque has disposed of its anaerobically digested dried sludge cake on City and county parks for many years. If the City is to continue such beneficial use of sludge, it must now provide a supplementary disinfection process in order to meet the recent EPA regulations governing land application of sewage sludges. In light of these recent regulations and soaring costs of electrical energy, the City of Albuquerque recently completed a comprehensive sludge management study. This study is intended to supplement the areawide facilities plan completed in 1976. Among the various alternatives evaluated, the most feasible was the continued use of dried sludge cake on City parks and sale of excess sludge cake as an unlimited use soil conditioner and fertilizer. This sludge would be disinfected by gamma irradiation. The proposed solids management system would consist of two-stage anaerobic digestion and pipeline transfer to dewatering, disinfection, and stockpiling facilities at a remote tract approximately 5 miles from the treatment plant

  6. Enrichment and detection of microorganisms involved in direct and indirect methanogenesis from methanol in an anaerobic thermophilic bioreactor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roest, de K.; Altinbas, M.; Paulo, P.L.; Heilig, H.G.H.J.; Akkermans, A.D.L.; Smidt, H.; Vos, de W.M.; Stams, A.J.M.

    2005-01-01

    To gain insight into the microorganisms involved in direct and indirect methane formation from methanol in a laboratory-scale thermophilic (55°C) methanogenic bioreactor, reactor sludge was disrupted and serial dilutions were incubated in specific growth media containing methanol and possible

  7. Effect of low solids retention time and focused pulsed pre-treatment on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Il-Su; Rittmann, Bruce E

    2011-02-01

    The interacting effects of Focused Pulsed (FP) treatment and solids retention time (SRT) were evaluated in laboratory-scale digesters operated at SRTs of 2-20 days. Anaerobic digestion and methanogenesis of waste activated sludge (WAS) were stable for SRT ≥ 5 days, but the effluent soluble organic compounds increased significantly for SRT=2 days due to a combination of faster hydrolysis kinetics and washout of methanogens. FP treatment increased the CH(4) production rate and TCOD removal efficiency by up to 33% and 18%, respectively, at a SRT of 20 days. These effects were the result of an increase in the hydrolysis rate, since the concentrations of soluble components remained low for SRT ≥ 5 days. Alternately, FP pre-treatment of WAS allowed the same conversion of TCOD to CH(4) with a smaller SRT and digester size: e.g., 40% size savings with a CH(4) conversion of 0.23 g CH(4)-COD/g COD(in). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. A bacterial population analysis of granular sludge from an anaerobic digester treating a maize-processing waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Howgrave-Graham, A.R.; Wallis, F.M. (Natal Univ., Pietermaritzburg (ZA). Dept. of Microbiology and Plant Pathology); Steyn, P.L. (Pretoria Univ. (South Africa))

    1991-01-01

    Microbial population studies were conducted on a dense granular sludge, with excellent settling, thickening and nutrient removal properties, from a South African clarigester treating effluent from a factory producing glucose and other carbohydrates from maize. The bacterial population comprised a heterogeneous group including acetogens, enterobacteria, sulphate-reducers, spirochaetes, heterofermentative lactobacilli and methanogens. The presence of these bacteria and lack of propionic acid and butyric acid bacteria suggests that the microbial activity of this anaerobic digester involved acetate and lactate metabolism rather than propionate or butyrate catabolism as a source of precursors for methane production. (author).

  9. Enhanced reduction of excess sludge and nutrient removal in a pilot-scale A2O-MBR-TAD system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ventura, J S; Seo, S; Chung, I; Yeom, I; Kim, H; Oh, Y; Jahng, D

    2011-01-01

    In this study, a pilot scale anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2O) process with submerged membrane (MBR) in the oxic tank was coupled with thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) reactor and was operated for longer than 600 days to treat real domestic wastewater. Regardless of the varying conditions of the system, the A2O-MBR-TAD process removed MLSS, TCOD, BOD, TN, TP, and E. coli about 99%, 96%, 96%, 70%, 83%, and 99%, respectively. The additional TP removal of the system was due to the precipitating agent directly added in the oxic reactor, without which TP removal was about 56%. In the TAD reactor, receiving MLSS from the oxic tank (MBR), about 25% of TSS and VSS were solubilized during 2 days of retention. The effluent of the TAD reactor was recycled into the anoxic tank of A2O-MBR to provide organic carbon for denitrification and cryptic growth. By controlling the flowrate of wasting stream from the MBR, sludge production decreased to almost zero. From these results, it was concluded that the A2O-MBR-TAD process could be a reliable option for excellent effluent quality and near zero-sludge production.

  10. Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse by-products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hejnfelt, Anette; Angelidaki, Irini

    2009-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion of animal by-products was investigated in batch and semi-continuously fed, reactor experiments at 55 o C and for some experiments also at 37 o C. Separate or mixed by-products from pigs were tested. The methane potential measured by batch assays for meat- and bone flour, fat, blood, hair, meat, ribs, raw waste were: 225, 497, 487, 561, 582, 575, 359, 619 dm 3 kg -1 respectively, corresponding to 50-100% of the calculated theoretical methane potential. Dilution of the by-products had a positive effect on the specific methane yield with the highest dilutions giving the best results. High concentrations of long-chain fatty acids and ammonia in the by-products were found to inhibit the biogas process at concentrations higher than 5 g lipids dm -3 and 7 g N dm -3 respectively. Pretreatment (pasteurization: 70 o C, sterilization: 133 o C, and alkali hydrolysis (NaOH) had no effect on achieved methane yields. Mesophilic digestion was more stable than thermophilic digestion, and higher methane yield was noticed at high waste concentrations. The lower yield at thermophilic temperature and high waste concentration was due to ammonia inhibition. Co-digestion of 5% pork by-products mixed with pig manure at 37 o C showed 40% higher methane production compared to digestion of manure alone.

  11. Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse by-products

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hejnfelt, Anette; Angelidaki, Irini [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DTU, Building 113, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark)

    2009-08-15

    Anaerobic digestion of animal by-products was investigated in batch and semi-continuously fed, reactor experiments at 55 C and for some experiments also at 37 C. Separate or mixed by-products from pigs were tested. The methane potential measured by batch assays for meat- and bone flour, fat, blood, hair, meat, ribs, raw waste were: 225, 497, 487, 561, 582, 575, 359, 619 dm{sup 3} kg{sup -1} respectively, corresponding to 50-100% of the calculated theoretical methane potential. Dilution of the by-products had a positive effect on the specific methane yield with the highest dilutions giving the best results. High concentrations of long-chain fatty acids and ammonia in the by-products were found to inhibit the biogas process at concentrations higher than 5 g lipids dm{sup -3} and 7 g N dm{sup -3} respectively. Pretreatment (pasteurization: 70 C, sterilization: 133 C), and alkali hydrolysis (NaOH) had no effect on achieved methane yields. Mesophilic digestion was more stable than thermophilic digestion, and higher methane yield was noticed at high waste concentrations. The lower yield at thermophilic temperature and high waste concentration was due to ammonia inhibition. Co-digestion of 5% pork by-products mixed with pig manure at 37 C showed 40% higher methane production compared to digestion of manure alone. (author)

  12. Enhancing anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by the combined use of NaOH and Mg(OH)2: Performance evaluation and mechanism study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Cheng; Lai, Jia; Sun, Xiuyun; Li, Jiansheng; Shen, Jinyou; Han, Weiqing; Wang, Lianjun

    2016-11-01

    In this study, the combination treatment of NaOH and Mg(OH)2 was applied to anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) for simultaneously enhancement of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production, nutrients removal and sludge dewaterability. The maximum VFAs production (461mg COD/g VSS) was obtained at the NaOH/Mg(OH)2 ratio of 75:25, which was much higher than that of the blank or sole NaOH. Moreover, nutrients removal and sludge dewaterability were improved by the combined using of NaOH and Mg(OH)2. Mechanism investigations revealed that the presence of Mg(OH)2 could maintain alkaline environment, which contributed to inhibit the activity of methanogens. Also, the bridging between Mg(2+) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) plays an important role in the solubilization and dewatering of sludge. High-throughput sequencing analysis demonstrated that the abundance of bacteria involved in sludge hydrolysis and VFAs accumulation was greatly enriched with the mixtures of NaOH and Mg(OH)2. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Disinfection and physical and chemical changes in waste waters, sludge and agricultural wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Groneman, A.F.; Oosterheert, W.F.

    1980-01-01

    It is of interest for agriculture to consider recycling scenarios that use undigested sludges as they contain higher concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter than digested sludges. Also from the point of view of waste water management, this approach is of interest because it reduces the time and number of treatments of sludges, thus resulting in technological and economic advantages. However, the utilization of this type of sludge in agriculture is restricted by the presence of human pathogens. Therefore studies concerning the disinfection efficiency of gamma irradiation in undigested sludge at pilot plant level were performed and results compared with the disinfection efficiency of this radiation treatment in digested sludge. (Auth.)

  14. Culture-Independent Analyses Reveal Novel Anaerolineaceae as Abundant Primary Fermenters in Anaerobic Digesters Treating Waste Activated Sludge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon J. McIlroy

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Anaerobic digestion for biogas production is reliant on the tightly coupled synergistic activities of complex microbial consortia. Members of the uncultured A6 phylotype, within the phylum Chloroflexi, are among the most abundant genus-level-taxa of mesophilic anaerobic digester systems treating primary and surplus sludge from wastewater treatment plants, yet are known only by their 16S rRNA gene sequence. This study applied metagenomics to obtain a complete circular genome (2.57 Mbp from a representative of the A6 taxon. Preliminary annotation of the genome indicates these organisms to be anaerobic chemoorganoheterotrophs with a fermentative metabolism. Given their observed abundance, they are likely important primary fermenters in digester systems. Application of fluorescence in situ hybridisation probes designed in this study revealed their morphology to be short filaments present within the flocs. The A6 were sometimes co-located with the filamentous Archaea Methanosaeta spp. suggesting potential undetermined synergistic relationships. Based on its genome sequence and morphology we propose the species name Brevefilum fermentans gen. nov. sp. nov.

  15. Effect of the two-stage thermal disintegration and anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge on the COD fractions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ciaciuch Anna

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The research presents the changes in chemical oxygen demand (COD fractions during the two-stage thermal disintegration and anaerobic digestion (AD of sewage sludge in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP. Four COD fractions have been separated taking into account the solubility of substrates and their susceptibility to biodegradation: inert soluble organic matter SI, readily biodegradable substrate SS, slowly biodegradable substrates XS and inert particulate organic material XI. The results showed that readily biodegradable substrates SS (46.8% of total COD and slowly biodegradable substrates XS (36.1% of total COD were dominant in the raw sludge effluents. In sewage effluents after two-stage thermal disintegration, the percentage of SS fraction increased to 90% of total COD and percentage of XS fraction decreased to 8% of total COD. After AD, percentage of SS fraction in total COD decreased to 64%, whereas the percentage of other fractions in effluents increased.

  16. Systematic comparison of mechanical and thermal sludge disintegration technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wett, B; Phothilangka, P; Eladawy, A

    2010-06-01

    This study presents a systematic comparison and evaluation of sewage sludge pre-treatment by mechanical and thermal techniques. Waste activated sludge (WAS) was pre-treated by separate full scale Thermo-Pressure-Hydrolysis (TDH) and ball milling facilities. Then the sludge was processed in pilot-scale digestion experiments. The results indicated that a significant increase in soluble organic matter could be achieved. TDH and ball milling pre-treatment could offer a feasible treatment method to efficiently disintegrate sludge and enhance biogas yield of digestion. The TDH increased biogas production by ca. 75% whereas ball milling allowed for an approximately 41% increase. The mechanisms of pre-treatment were investigated by numerical modeling based on Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) in the MatLab/SIMBA environment. TDH process induced advanced COD-solubilisation (COD(soluble)/COD(total)=43%) and specifically complete destruction of cell mass which is hardly degradable in conventional digestion. While the ball mill technique achieved a lower solubilisation rate (COD(soluble)/COD(total)=28%) and only a partial destruction of microbial decay products. From a whole-plant prospective relevant release of ammonia and formation of soluble inerts have been observed especially from thermal hydrolysis. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Effects of Metal Nanoparticles on Methane Production from Waste-Activated Sludge and Microorganism Community Shift in Anaerobic Granular Sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tao; Zhang, Dong; Dai, Lingling; Chen, Yinguang; Dai, Xiaohu

    2016-05-01

    Extensive use of nanoparticles (NPs) in consumer and industrial products has led to concerns about their potential environmental impacts; however, the influences of different NPs (e.g., nZVI (nano zero-valent iron), Ag NPs, Fe2O3 NPs and MgO NPs) on the anaerobic digestion of sludge have not yet been studied in depth. Additionally, a new guideline or the use of different NPs in the anaerobic digestion of sludge should be established to improve the anaerobic digestion of sludge and avoid inhibitory effects. This study investigated the effects of four representative NPs (i.e., nZVI, Ag NPs, Fe2O3 NPs and MgO NPs) on methane production during the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). The presence of 10 mg/g total suspended solids (TSS) nZVI and 100 mg/g TSS Fe2O3 NPs increased methane production to 120% and 117% of the control, respectively, whereas 500 mg/g TSS Ag NPs and 500 mg/g TSS MgO NPs generated lower levels of methane production (73.52% and 1.08% that of the control, respectively). These results showed that low concentrations of nZVI and Fe2O3 NPs promoted the amount of microbes (Bacteria and Archaea) and activities of key enzymes but that higher concentrations of Ag NPs and MgO NPs inhibited them.

  18. H{sub 2}S Removal in Anaerobic digestion of Sludge by Microaerophilic Processes: Pilot Plant Experience; Eliminacion de H{sub 2}S en digestion anaerobia de lodos por procesos microaerofilico: experiencia en planta piloto

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fdz-Polanco Iniguez de la Torre, M.; Perez Elvira, S. I.; Diaz Villalobos, I.; Garcia Rodriguez, L.; Torio Acha, R.; Acevedo Alvarez, A. F.

    2009-07-01

    Anaerobic digestion of sludge produces a biogas with content in H{sub 2}S between 4.000-6.000 ppm, Removal strategies can operate at three different levels: (1) at the source (source control), (2) at process level or (3) at the end (biogas treatment). Process-level control of sulfide presents several advantages when comparing with traditional biogas treatment. Microaerophilic process consists on the supply of small amounts of oxygen in the digester in order to completely remove H{sub 2}S without affect the anaerobic process. (Author) 9 refs.

  19. A process combining hydrothermal pretreatment, anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis for sewage sludge dewatering and co-production of biogas and biochar: Pilot-scale verification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chunxing; Wang, Xingdong; Zhang, Guangyi; Li, Jie; Li, Zhiwei; Yu, Guangwei; Wang, Yin

    2018-04-01

    To fully dispose of/utilize sewage sludge, a process combing hydrothermal pretreatment (HTPT), anaerobic digestion (AD) and pyrolysis was developed and tested at the pilot scale. First, the improvement in sludge dewaterability by HTPT at 180 °C for 30 min was verified, and the water content decreased from 85 to 33 wt% after filter pressing. Then, the resulting filtrate underwent continuous mesophilic (37 ± 2 °C) AD in an up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor for producing biogas to compensate for the energy required for HTPT. Meanwhile, the filter cake was pyrolyzed in a rotary furnace (600 ± 50 °C) to generate biochar, and heavy metals were well immobilized in the biochar. Finally, the material/energy balance made according to the pilot data showed that the proposed process was effective for full resource reuse of sewage sludge. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Assessment of biogas production in Argentina from co-digestion of sludge and municipal solid waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morero, Betzabet; Vicentin, Rocio; Campanella, Enrique A

    2017-03-01

    In Argentina, there is an important potential to utilize organic waste to generate bioenergy. This work analyzes the environmental impacts and the energetic and economic requirements of the biogas produced by digesting the sewage sludge (SS) produced in a wastewater treatment plant in a medium city in Argentina. The SS is co-digested with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), and the basis of this study is the life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA is performed according to ISO 14040-44 using the SimaPro simulator. First, the transport of the raw materials to the biogas plant was defined. Then, the co-digestion and the biogas treatment for final use were evaluated. The co-digestion was improved with glycerol, and the generation of biogas was estimated using the GPS-X software. Two alternatives for the end use of biogas were considered: combined heat and power (CHP) and biomethane generation. For the first, H 2 S and water vapor were removed from the raw biogas stream, and for the second, also CO 2 was removed. The H 2 S removal process was simulated in the SuperPro software by anaerobic biofiltration. The same software was used to simulate the removal of CO 2 absorption-desorption with water as solvent. Finally, the environmental impacts related to the end use of biogas (CHP and biomethane) were evaluated. The environmental, energetic and economic analyses showed that the co-digestion of SS and OFMSW has great potential for reducing the environmental impacts and increasing the economic and energetic value of the substances via the production of biomethane, electricity and, potentially, fertilizer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Effect of low temperature thermal pre-treatment on the solubilization of organic matter, pathogen inactivation and mesophilic anaerobic digestion of poultry sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Espinoza, Juan E; Méndez-Contreras, Juan M; Alvarado-Lassman, Alejandro; Martínez-Delgadillo, Sergio A

    2012-01-01

    Treatment of poultry industry effluents produces wastewater sludge with high levels of organic compounds and pathogenic microorganisms. In this research, the thermal pre-treatment of poultry slaughterhouse sludge (PSS) was evaluated for low temperatures in combination with different exposure times as a pre-hydrolysis strategy to improve the anaerobic digestion process. Organic compounds solubilization and inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms were evaluated after treatment at 70, 80 or 90°C for 30, 60 or 90 min. The results showed that 90°C and 90 min were the most efficient conditions for solubilization of the organic compounds (10%). In addition, the bacteria populations and the more resistant structures, such as helminth eggs (HE), were completely inactivated. Finally, the thermal pre-treatment applied to the sludge increased methane yield by 52% and reduced hydraulic retention time (HRT) by 52%.

  2. Effect of VS organic loads and buckwheat husk on methane production by anaerobic co-digestion of primary sludge and wheat straw

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elsayed, Mahmoud; Andres, Yaves; Blel, Walid; Gad, Ali; Ahmed, Abdelkader

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Co-digestion of PS, WS, and BH was conducted to evaluate different VS organic loads for an optimal methane production. • Co-digestion of PS and WS was optimized using buckwheat husk as a new waste material. • Combination of PS, WS, and BH produced higher methane yields than the individual digestion of PS, WS, and BH. • The highest CMYs and VS removal rate were achieved at C/N ratios of 10 and 7.50 gVS/L, respectively. • The purification process increased the methane content from 58.91–63.05% to 92.46–95.30%. - Abstract: An environmentally acceptable disposal of sewage sludge and agro-wastes presents an urgent problem facing many countries. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a robust and suitable technique for producing renewable energy from wastes. This study aims to improve methane production from anaerobic co-digestion of primary sludge (PS) and wheat straw (WS) depending on their volatile solids (VS) organic load and by adding a proposed waste material of buckwheat husk (BH) based on their carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Mesophilic anaerobic batch tests were carried out in 500-mL digesters. Individual and six mixtures of PS and WS at different VS organic loads were anaerobically digested to optimize VS load for the greatest gas production. The highest cumulative methane yield (CMYs) occurred with combined substrates at a VS load of 7.50 gVS/L. In general, the optimized organic loads that gave the highest cumulative biogas yield (CBYs) and CMYs were in the range of 6–8 gVS/L. In addition, AD of individual substrates of PS, WS, and BH and of their mixture at different C/N ratios was investigated regarding to the methane yields. Multi-component substrates produced the greatest CMY at a C/N ratio of 10.07. The CMYs was increased by 39.26% when the proposed waste material of buckwheat husk (BH) was added to the different mixtures of PS and WS compared to the co-digestion of PS and WS. Experimental results were approved using statistical

  3. Influence of maize straw content with sewage sludge on composting process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Czekała Wojciech

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available After entrance to EU in 2004, the management of sewage sludge has become more and more important problem for the new members. In Poland, one of the most promising technologies is composting process of sewage sludge with carbonaceous materials. However, the high price of typically used cereal straw forces the specialists to look for new and cheap materials used as donor of carbon and substrates creating good, porous structure of composted heap. This work presents the results of sewage sludge composting mixed with sawdust and maize straw used to create structure favorable for air exchange. The results show dynamic thermophilic phase of composting process in all cases where maize straw was used.

  4. Feasibility study of green wastes composting with digested and dewatering sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant in Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neamat Jaafarzadeh Haghighi Fard

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Composting as a waste management technology is becoming more widespread. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and to find the most effective composting process for the ratio of green waste, digested and dewatered sludge from Chonibieh wastewater treatment plant in the west region of Ahvaz. Methods: The composting time was 23 days and the evaluated parameters in this period of the study were organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N, moisture content and pH. The C/N ratio was maintained at 30 with weight:weight ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 (digested and dewatered sludge to green waste. Results: It was observed that vessel R3 produced higher quality of compost with final total nitrogen (1.28%, final total phosphorus (0.71%, final total organic carbon (TOC (25.78% and C/N (20.65% within the 23 days of composting. While vessel R1 produced higher final total nitrogen and total phosphorus with lower amount of total coliform indicating suitable quality of composting. Therefore, the results showed that the characteristics of dewatered sludge mixed with green waste proportion of green waste significantly influenced the compost quality and process dynamics. The results also showed that the quality of final products in all the conditions was in agreement with Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS and World Health Organization (WHO guidelines. However, the moisture content ratios were lower than the mentioned guidelines. With regards to microbial quality, all three ratios were in agreement with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA and Iranian guidelines. Conclusion: It is suggested that the final product of composting can be safely used in farmland and green space.

  5. Open fermentative production of L-lactic acid with high optical purity by thermophilic Bacillus coagulans using excess sludge as nutrient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Kedong; Maeda, Toshinari; You, Huiyan; Shirai, Yoshihito

    2014-01-01

    The development of a low-cost polymer-grade L-lactic acid production process was achieved in this study. Excess sludge hydrolyzate (ESH) was chosen as nutrient source for the objective of reducing nutrient cost in lactic acid production. 1% of ESH had high performance in lactic acid production relative to 2g/l yeast extract (YE) while the production cost of ESH was much lower than that of YE, indicating ESH was a promising substitute of YE. By employing a thermophilic strain of Bacillus coagulans (NBRC 12583), non-sterilized batch and repeated batch L-lactic acid fermentation was successfully performed, and the optical purity of L-lactic acid accumulated was more than 99%. Moreover, the factors associated with cell growth and lactic acid fermentation was investigated through a two-stage lactic acid production strategy. Oxygen played an important role in cell growth, and the optimal condition for cell growth and fermentation was pH 7.0 and 50°C. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Environmentally compatible sewage sludge disposal; Umweltgerechte Klaerschlammentsorgung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mueller, J. [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik; Schwedes, J. [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik

    1997-09-01

    Cleaning of municipal and industrial waste water is done by means of biological processes: micro-organisms degrade pollutants. The resulting products are, besides cleaned waste water, sewage sludge and surplus sludge. Their disposal involves ecological and economic problems. One approach to their partial disposal is their degradation in a digester. Approximately one half of the organic substance is converted by anaerobic bacteria into energy-rich biogas. Optimization of this digestion process accelerates the anaerobic degradation process, increases the accruing amount of digester gas and reduces the volume of digested sludge to be disposed of. With these objectives, the Institute fuer Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik is conducting research into the mechanical treatment of micro-organisms remaining in surplus sludge by means of different treatment devices. The project is sponsored under the programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG ``Biological processes with dispersive solids``. Mechanical treatment renders the cell constituents exploitable to anaerobic bacteria; the resulting sludge degradation is more rapid and more complete. (orig./ABI) [Deutsch] Zur Reinigung haeuslicher und industrieller Abwaesser werden biologische Prozesse eingesetzt. Dabei sorgen Mikroorganismen fuer den Abbau der Verunreinigungen. Neben dem gereinigten Abwasser fallen Primaer- und Ueberschussschlamm an, deren Entsorgung oekologische und oekonomische Probleme verursacht. Ein Weg zur partiellen Beseitigung dieser Klaerschlaemme ist ihr Abbau in einem Faulbehaelter. Dabei wird etwa die Haelfe der organischen Substanz durch anaerobe Bakterien zu einem energiereichen Biogas umgewandelt. Eine Optimierung dieses Faulprozesses beinhaltet: 1. Beschleunigung des anaeroben Abbauprozesses, 2. Erhoehung der anfallenden Faulgasmenge und 3. Reduzierung der zu entsorgenden Faulschlammenge. Mit diesen Zielsetzungen wird am Institut fuer Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik im Rahmen der DFG

  7. Anaerobic digestion of thermal pre-treated emulsified slaughterhouse wastes (TESW): Effect of trace element limitation on process efficiency and sludge metabolic properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eftaxias, Alexandros; Diamantis, Vasileios; Aivasidis, Alexandros

    2018-06-01

    Slaughterhouse solid wastes, characterized by a high lipid content, are considered a valuable resource for energy production by means of anaerobic digestion technologies. Aim of this study was to examine the effect of trace element limitation on the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of thermally pre-treated emulsified slaughterhouse wastes (TESW). Under two distinct experimental periods (Period I - low and Period II - high trace element dosage respectively) a CSTR with sludge recirculation was operated at increasing organic loading rate (OLR) from 1.5 to 10 g L -1  d -1 . Under optimum conditions, COD removal was higher than 96%, biogas yield equal to 0.53 L g -1  COD feed and the biogas methane content 77%. Trace element limitation however, resulted in a dramatic decline in process efficiency, with VFA accumulation and events of extreme sludge flotation, despite that the soluble concentration of Ni, Co and Mo were between 12 and 28 μg L -1 . This is indicative of mass transfer limitations caused by lipids adsorption onto the anaerobic biomass. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Effect of hydrothermal pre-treatment (HTP) on poultry slaughterhouse waste (PSW) sludge for the enhancement of the solubilization, physical properties, and biogas production through anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Seyong; Yoon, Young-Man; Han, Seong Kuk; Kim, Daegi; Kim, Ho

    2017-06-01

    This study is an assessment of the hydrothermal pre-treatment (HTP) of poultry slaughterhouse waste (PSW) sludge for the enhancement of the solubilization, physical properties, and biogas production through anaerobic digestion. This assessment was carried out to ascertain the optimal HTP temperature. The solubilization and physical properties efficacy was investigated by capillary suction time (CST), time to filter (TTF), and particle size. In addition, the anaerobic digestion was investigated through biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests and subsequent statistical analysis using the modified Gompertz model. HTP was found to have improved the solubilization of the PSW sludge with increasing HTP temperature. In addition, the results of the CST, TTF, and particle size decreased with increasing HTP temperature. These results of the assessment that was conducted in this study confirm that the HTP process indeed modifies the physical properties of PSWs to enhance the solubilization of organic solids. Nevertheless, the results of the BMP tests and the modified Gompertz model analysis show that the optimal HTP temperature of PSWs for anaerobic digestion is 190°C. These findings show that to achieve high conversion efficiency, an accurately designed pre-treatment step must be included in the overall anaerobic digestion process for wastewater treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Pilot-scale anaerobic co-digestion of municipal biomass waste and waste activated sludge in China: Effect of organic loading rate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Xiao; Wang Wei; Shi Yunchun; Zheng Lei; Gao Xingbao; Qiao Wei; Zhou Yingjun

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Co-digestion of municipal biomass waste (MBW) and waste activated sludge (WAS) was examined on a pilot-scale reactor. ► System performance and stability under OLR of 1.2, 2.4, 3.6, 4.8, 6.0 and 8.0 kg VS (m 3 d) −1 were analyzed. ► A maximum methane production rate of 2.94 m 3 (m 3 d) −1 was achieved at OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m 3 d) −1 and HRT of 15d. ► With the increasing OLRs, pH values, VS removal rate and methane concentration decreased and VFA increased. ► The changing of biogas production rate can be a practical approach to monitor and control anaerobic digestion system. - Abstract: The effects of organic loading rate on the performance and stability of anaerobic co-digestion of municipal biomass waste (MBW) and waste activated sludge (WAS) were investigated on a pilot-scale reactor. The results showed that stable operation was achieved with organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.2–8.0 kg volatile solid (VS) (m 3 d) −1 , with VS reduction rates of 61.7–69.9%, and volumetric biogas production of 0.89–5.28 m 3 (m 3 d) −1 . A maximum methane production rate of 2.94 m 3 (m 3 d) −1 was achieved at OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m 3 d) −1 and hydraulic retention time of 15 days. With increasing OLRs, the anaerobic reactor showed a decrease in VS removal rate, average pH value and methane concentration, and a increase of volatile fatty acid concentration. By monitoring the biogas production rate (BPR), the anaerobic digestion system has a higher acidification risk under an OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m 3 d) −1 . This result remarks the possibility of relating bioreactor performance with BPR in order to better understand and monitor anaerobic digestion process.

  10. Improve biogas production from low-organic-content sludge through high-solids anaerobic co-digestion with food waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chuanyang; Li, Huan; Zhang, Yuyao; Liu, Can

    2016-11-01

    Anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste was tested at two different total solid (TS) concentrations. In the low-solids group with TS 4.8%, the biogas production increased linearly as the ratio of food waste in substrate increased from 0 to 100%, but no synergetic effect was found between the two substrates. Moreover, the additive food waste resulted in the accumulation of volatile fatty acids and decelerated biogas production. Thus, the blend ratio of food waste should be lower than 50%. While in the high-solids group with TS 14%, the weak alkaline environment with pH 7.5-8.5 avoided excessive acidification but high concentration of free ammonia was a potential risk. However, good synergetic effect was found between the two substrates because the added food waste improved mass transfer in sludge cake. Thus, 50% was recommended as the optimum ratio of food waste in substrate because of the best synergetic effect. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Hydrodynamic cavitation as a novel approach for pretreatment of oily wastewater for anaerobic co-digestion with waste activated sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Habashi, Nima; Mehrdadi, Nasser; Mennerich, Artur; Alighardashi, Abolghasem; Torabian, Ali

    2016-07-01

    Application of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) was investigated with the objective of biogas production enhancement from co-digestion of oily wastewater (OWW) and waste activated sludge (WAS). Initially, the effect of HC on the OWW was evaluated in terms of energy consumption and turbidity increase. Then, several mixtures of OWW (with and without HC pretreatment) and WAS with the same concentration of total volatile solid were prepared as a substrate for co-digestion. Following, several batch co-digestion trials were conducted. To compare the biogas production, a number of digestion trials were also conducted with a mono substrate (OWW or WAS alone). The best operating condition of HC was achieved in the shortest retention time (7.5 min) with the application of 3mm diameter orifice and maximum pump rotational speed. Biogas production from all co-digestion reactors was higher than the WAS mono substrate reactors. Moreover, biogas production had a direct relationship with OWW ratio and no major inhibition was observed in any of the reactors. The biogas production was also enhanced by HC pretreatment and almost all of the reactors with HC pretreatment had higher reaction rates than the reactors without pretreatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Environmental sustainability of wastewater sludge treatments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyer-Souchet, Florence; Larsen, Henrik Fred

    treatment for municipal waste water. A special focus area in Neptune is sludge handling because the sludge amount is expected to increase due to advanced waste water treatment. The main sludge processing methods assessed in Neptune can be divided into two categories: disintegration processes before...... anaerobic digestion (thermal hydrolysis and ultrasound disintegration) and inertisation processes performed at high temperatures (incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, wet oxidation) but they all aim at volume reduction and removal of biodegradable compounds before safe sludge disposal or reuse of its...... resources. As part of a sustainability assessment (or “best practice evaluation”), a comparison between the existing and new sludge handling techniques have been done by use of life cycle assessment (LCA).The concept of induced impacts as compared to avoided impacts when introducing a new sludge treatment...

  13. Enrichment of anaerobic syngas-converting bacteria from thermophilic bioreactor sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alves, Joana I; Stams, Alfons J M; Plugge, Caroline M; Alves, M Madalena; Sousa, Diana Z

    2013-12-01

    Thermophilic (55 °C) anaerobic microbial communities were enriched with a synthetic syngas mixture (composed of CO, H2 , and CO2 ) or with CO alone. Cultures T-Syn and T-CO were incubated and successively transferred with syngas (16 transfers) or CO (9 transfers), respectively, with increasing CO partial pressures from 0.09 to 0.88 bar. Culture T-Syn, after 4 successive transfers with syngas, was also incubated with CO and subsequently transferred (9 transfers) with solely this substrate - cultures T-Syn-CO. Incubation with syngas and CO caused a rapid decrease in the microbial diversity of the anaerobic consortium. T-Syn and T-Syn-CO showed identical microbial composition and were dominated by Desulfotomaculum and Caloribacterium species. Incubation initiated with CO resulted in the enrichment of bacteria from the genera Thermincola and Thermoanaerobacter. Methane was detected in the first two to three transfers of T-Syn, but production ceased afterward. Acetate was the main product formed by T-Syn and T-Syn-CO. Enriched T-CO cultures showed a two-phase conversion, in which H2 was formed first and then converted to acetate. This research provides insight into how thermophilic anaerobic communities develop using syngas/CO as sole energy and carbon source can be steered for specific end products and subsequent microbial synthesis of chemicals. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. The influence of aerobic sludge retention time on anaerobic co ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ABR) and aerobic plug flow reactor (PFR) were operated aiming to minimize excess sludge output of the activated sludge process through coupled alkaline hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Variations in the effluent total chemical oxygen ...

  15. Assessment of the potential of biomethane produced from the French municipal sludge. Synthesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Theobald, Olivier; CHARLOT, Marie-Laure

    2014-09-01

    To achieve the goals of renewable energy production by 23% in 2020 and by 32% in 2030 (Law project on energy transition), the French Government is committed to strongly support all the local renewable energy sectors and in particular the anaerobic digestion. This sector can recycle organic waste into renewable energy while respecting local needs and issues. The objective of this study is to consider the potential of biomethane injectable into the gas grid from Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) sludge in 2020 and in 2050. Wastewater is all sewage from the population but also industrial and commercial activities. The wastewater treatment can be achieved collectively in a wastewater treatment plant or individually (independent sanitation). The organic pollution in wastewater is usually expressed in Population Equivalent. Metropolitan France has 19,521 active wastewater treatment plants (data from portal sanitation, 2014) out of which 85 currently have an anaerobic digestion plant on site for sludge treatment. The entire theoretical methanogenic potential from all the sludge WWTP is 2.13 TWh/year. To estimate the wastewater treatment plants liable to digest sludge, the approach used in this study is to determine the breakeven points of an anaerobic digestion plant installed on different sectors-types of wastewater treatment. The different ways of biogas recovery are sized and compared. It is considered that a case is profitable if its internal rate of return is at least 10 % (compared to a reference case). This approach is characterized by: - A literature review of technical and economic characteristics of the various treatments found at a WWTP including anaerobic digestion and biogas recovery associated, - A return of experience and collect of opinions from various experts in the field of sanitation, - A technical and economic analysis of the various defined cases in relation to a reference case (without anaerobic digestion plant). According to the technical and

  16. Anaerobic granular sludge and biofilm reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skiadas, Ioannis V.; Gavala, Hariklia N.; Schmidt, Jens Ejbye

    2003-01-01

    by the immobilization of the biomass, which forms static biofilms, particle-supported biofilms, or granules depending on the reactor's operational conditions. The advantages of the high-rate anaerobic digestion over the conventional aerobic wastewater treatment methods has created a clear trend for the change......-rate anaerobic treatment systems based on anaerobic granular sludge and biofilm are described in this chapter. Emphasis is given to a) the Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) systems, b) the main characteristics of the anaerobic granular sludge, and c) the factors that control the granulation process...

  17. Lifecycle analysis of renewable natural gas and hydrocarbon fuels from wastewater treatment plants’ sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Uisung [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Han, Jeongwoo [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Urgun Demirtas, Meltem [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Wang, Michael [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Tao, Ling [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2016-09-01

    Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) produce sludge as a byproduct when they treat wastewater. In the United States, over 8 million dry tons of sludge are produced annually just from publicly owned WWTPs. Sludge is commonly treated in anaerobic digesters, which generate biogas; the biogas is then largely flared to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Because sludge is quite homogeneous and has a high energy content, it is a good potential feedstock for other conversion processes that make biofuels, bioproducts, and power. For example, biogas from anaerobic digesters can be used to generate renewable natural gas (RNG), which can be further processed to produce compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Sludge can be directly converted into hydrocarbon liquid fuels via thermochemical processes such as hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). Currently, the environmental impacts of converting sludge into energy are largely unknown, and only a few studies have focused on the environmental impacts of RNG produced from existing anaerobic digesters. As biofuels from sludge generate high interest, however, existing anaerobic digesters could be upgraded to technology with more economic potential and more environmental benefits. The environmental impacts of using a different anaerobic digestion (AD) technology to convert sludge into energy have yet to be analyzed. In addition, no studies are available about the direct conversion of sludge into liquid fuels. In order to estimate the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impacts of these alternative pathways (sludge-to-RNG and sludge-to-liquid), this study performed a lifecycle analysis (LCA) using the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET®) model. The energy uses and GHG emissions associated with the RNG and hydrocarbon liquid are analyzed relative to the current typical sludge management case, which consists of a single-stage mesophilic

  18. Anaerobic digestion of food waste - Effect of recirculation and temperature on performance and microbiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamanzadeh, Mirzaman; Hagen, Live H; Svensson, Kine; Linjordet, Roar; Horn, Svein J

    2016-06-01

    Recirculation of digestate was investigated as a strategy to dilute the food waste before feeding to anaerobic digesters, and its effects on microbial community structure and performance were studied. Two anaerobic digesters with digestate recirculation were operated at 37 °C (MD + R) and 55 °C (TD + R) and compared to two additional digesters without digestate recirculation operated at the same temperatures (MD and TD). The MD + R digester demonstrated quite stable and similar performance to the MD digester in terms of the methane yield (around 480 mL CH4 per gVSadded). In both MD and MD + R Methanosaeta was the dominant archaea. However, the bacterial community structure was significantly different in the two digesters. Firmicutes dominated in the MD + R, while Chloroflexi was the dominant phylum in the MD. Regarding the thermophilic digesters, the TD + R showed the lowest methane yield (401 mL CH4 per gVSadded) and accumulation of VFAs. In contrast to the mesophilic digesters, the microbial communities in the thermophilic digesters were rather similar, consisting mainly of the phyla Firmicutes, Thermotoga, Synergistetes and the hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanothermobacter. The impact of ammonia inhibition was different depending on the digesters configurations and operating temperatures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. An environmental LCA of alternative scenarios of urban sewage sludge treatment and disposal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tarantini Mario

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The majority of pollutants that affect wastewater are concentrated by treatment processes in sludge; it is therefore critical to have a suitable evaluation methodology of sludge management options to analyze if pollution is redirected from water to other media, such as air and soil. Life cycle assessment is one of the most widely known and internationally accepted methodologies to compare environmental impacts of processes and systems and to evaluate their sustainability in the entire life cycle. In this study the methodology was applied to assess and compare three scenarios of urban sewage sludge treatment and disposal: sludge anaerobic digestion followed by dedicated incineration, sludge incineration without previous digestion, and sludge anaerobic digestion followed by composting. The potential benefits of spreading the compost to soil were not included in the system boundaries even if, due to its nutrients contents and soil improving features, compost could partially replace the use of commercial products. The study was aimed at finding out the environmental critical points of the treatment alternatives selected and at providing a technical and scientific contribution for further debates with national and local authorities on the environmental optimization of sewage sludge management. Life cycle assessment results confirmed the major contribution of electricity and methane consumption on several environmental impact categories. Incineration contributes more than sludge composting to almost all categories, although the heavy metals content of urban wastewater sludge raises substantial concerns when composted sludge is spread to soil. In this paper the models adopted, the hypotheses assumed and the main findings of the study are presented and discussed. .

  20. Hydrolysis rates of domestic wastewater sludge using biochemical ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Domestic wastewater treatment can be improved by reducing energy consumption and increasing carbon recovery, which can be achieved using anaerobic digestion of sludge with methane recovery at ambient temperature. Hydrolysis can be a limiting step in anaerobic digestion, and characterisation of hydrolysis rates ...

  1. Headway on co-digestion of wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gokhale, Yogeshwar

    2013-01-01

    Full text: Many wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Australia produce biogas either directly from the wastewater or from anaerobic digestion of the primary and/or secondary sludge, which in turn is used to create energy. Some WWTPs produce electricity from the biogas to either support the treatment plant or to export the electricity to the grid or both. High-strength organic wastes such as fats, oil and grease, food waste, commercial (restaurant) waste and brewery waste are attractive biogas sources that can be realised through co-digestion with the sludge from wastewater treatment. Co-digestion of high-strength waste can be a tricky business due to the varying nature of the waste, special handling requirements, and potential digester process issues like foaming. However, experiences over the past decade have helped identify mitigation measures and advanced designs to reduce these risks. Several WWTPs in the US accept fats, oil and grease (FOG) as a feedstock for co-digestion, and CH2M Hill has been involved in various capacities on some of those projects. The Douglas L. Smith Middle Basin Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Johnson County, Kansas, includes an environmentally friendly approach for the treatment of FOG wastes from local restaurants and industrial sources. FOG waste receipts are handled using a separate onsite liquid receiving facility, and the FOG tanks and pipes are heated to minimise clogging. Co-digestion of FOG enhanced the gas production to fuel a 2.1 megawatt biogas co-generation system. Other CH2M Hill FOG co-digestion projects are FOG addition to the incinerator at the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia; FOG co-digestion at the Pinellas County in Florida; and FOG co-digestion and co-generation at the Essex Junction in Vermont. This experience was recently expanded to the co-digestion of other high-strength organic waste for Yarra Valley Water (YVW) and City West Water (CWW) in Victoria. The potential high-strength waste

  2. The isolation and characterization of new C. thermocellum strains and the evaluation of multiple anaerobic digestion systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Wen

    The overall objective of my research was to improve the efficiencies of bioconversions that produce renewable energy from lignocellulosic biomass. To this end, my studies addressed issues important to two promising strategies: consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) and anaerobic digestion (AD). CBP achieves saccharolytic enzyme production, hydrolysis, and fermentation in a single step and is considered to be the most cost-effective model. Anaerobic bacteria that can be used in CBP are highly desirable. To that end, two thermophilic and cellulolytic bacterial strains were isolated and characterized (Chapter 3). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, both strains CS7 and CS8 are closely related to Clostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405. However, they had significantly higher specific cellulase activities and ethanol/acetate ratios than C. thermocellum ATCC 27405. As a result, CS7 and CS8 are two new highly cellulolytic and ethanologenic C. thermocellum strains, with application potentials in research and development of CBP. As some of the most promising AD processes, two temperature-phased AD (TPAD) systems, in comparison with a thermophilic single-stage AD (TSAD) system and a mesophilic two-stage AD (MTAD) system, were studied in treating high-strength dairy cattle manure. The TPAD systems, with the thermophilic digesters acidified (AT-TPAD, Chapter 4) or operated at neutral pH (NT-TPAD, Chapter 5), were optimized at the thermophilic temperature of 50°C and a volume ratio between the thermophilic and the mesophilic digesters of 1:2. Despite similar methane productions, the NT-TPAD system achieved significantly higher volatile solid (VS) removal than the AT-TPAD system and needed no external pH adjustments (Chapter 6). At the same overall OLR, the TSAD system achieved the highest performance, followed by the NT-TPAD and the MTAD systems (Chapter 7). Each digester harbored distinct yet dynamic microbial populations, some of which were significantly correlated or associated

  3. Biodegradation of waste PET based copolyesters in thermophilic anaerobic sludge

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hermanová, S.; Šmejkalová, P.; Merna, J.; Zarevúcka, Marie

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 111, Jan (2015), s. 176-184 ISSN 0141-3910 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : poly(ethylene terephthalate) * copolymers * sludge * biodegradation * hydrolysis * waste Subject RIV: EI - Biotechnology ; Bionics Impact factor: 3.120, year: 2015

  4. Performance indicators and indices of sludge management in urban wastewater treatment plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, C; Saldanha Matos, J; Rosa, M J

    2016-12-15

    Sludge (or biosolids) management is highly complex and has a significant cost associated with the biosolids disposal, as well as with the energy and flocculant consumption in the sludge processing units. The sludge management performance indicators (PIs) and indices (PXs) are thus core measures of the performance assessment system developed for urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The key PIs proposed cover the sludge unit production and dry solids concentration (DS), disposal/beneficial use, quality compliance for agricultural use and costs, whereas the complementary PIs assess the plant reliability and the chemical reagents' use. A key PI was also developed for assessing the phosphorus reclamation, namely through the beneficial use of the biosolids and the reclaimed water in agriculture. The results of a field study with 17 Portuguese urban WWTPs in a 5-year period were used to derive the PI reference values which are neither inherent to the PI formulation nor literature-based. Clusters by sludge type (primary, activated, trickling filter and mixed sludge) and by digestion and dewatering processes were analysed and the reference values for sludge production and dry solids were proposed for two clusters: activated sludge or biofilter WWTPs with primary sedimentation, sludge anaerobic digestion and centrifuge dewatering; activated sludge WWTPs without primary sedimentation and anaerobic digestion and with centrifuge dewatering. The key PXs are computed for the DS after each processing unit and the complementary PXs for the energy consumption and the operating conditions DS-determining. The PX reference values are treatment specific and literature based. The PI and PX system was applied to a WWTP and the results demonstrate that it diagnosis the situation and indicates opportunities and measures for improving the WWTP performance in sludge management. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Optimization and microbial community analysis of anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and sewage sludge based on microwave pretreatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Junya; Lv, Chen; Tong, Juan; Liu, Jianwei; Liu, Jibao; Yu, Dawei; Wang, Yawei; Chen, Meixue; Wei, Yuansong

    2016-01-01

    The effects of microwave pretreatment (MW) on co-digestion of food waste (FW) and sewage sludge (SS) have never been investigated. In this study, a series of mesophilic biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were conducted to determine the optimized ratio of FW and SS based on MW, and the evolution of bacterial and archaeal community was investigated through high-throughput sequencing method. Results showed that the optimized ratio was 3:2 for co-digestion of FW and SS based on MW, and the methane production was 316.24 and 338.44mLCH4/gVSadded for MW-FW and MW-SS, respectively. The MW-SS was superior for methane production compared to MW-FW, in which accumulation of propionic acid led to the inhibition of methanogenesis. Proteiniborus and Parabacteroides were responsible for proteins and polysaccharides degradation for all, respectively, while Bacteroides only dominated in co-digestion. Methanosphaera dominated in MW-FW at the active methane production phase, while it was Methanosarcina in MW-SS and mono-SS. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Bacterial population of piggery-waste anaerobic digesters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hobson, P N; Shaw, B G

    1974-08-01

    A survey was made of the anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria present in piggery waste, digesting piggery waste and domestic anaerobic sludge used to start a piggery waste digester. An influence of the input waste was shown in that streptococci, the predominant facultatively anaerobic bacteria in the piggery waste, were the predominant bacteria in the digesting waste, and they replaced Entrobacter, predominant in the domestic sludge, when a piggery waste digestion had been established from this latter material. Cellulolytic or methanogenic bacteria could not be detected in the piggery waste but populations of these, and other hydrolytic bacteria, became established at different times during the build-up of digestion by gradual addition of piggery waste to water. The bacteria concerned in degradation of the waste constituents were all anaerobes. Production of methane from H/sub 2//CO/sub 2/, formate and butyrate could be detected in mixed cultures from dilutions of digester contents, but the only methanogenic bacterium that could be isolated in pure culture was Methanobacterium formicicum, which uses H/sub 2//CO/sub 2/ or formate only.

  7. Pilot-scale anaerobic co-digestion of municipal biomass waste and waste activated sludge in China: Effect of organic loading rate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu Xiao, E-mail: liuxiao07@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn [School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Wang Wei; Shi Yunchun; Zheng Lei [School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Gao Xingbao [Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Qiao Wei [State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249 (China); Zhou Yingjun [Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nisikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8540 (Japan)

    2012-11-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Co-digestion of municipal biomass waste (MBW) and waste activated sludge (WAS) was examined on a pilot-scale reactor. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer System performance and stability under OLR of 1.2, 2.4, 3.6, 4.8, 6.0 and 8.0 kg VS (m{sup 3} d){sup -1} were analyzed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A maximum methane production rate of 2.94 m{sup 3} (m{sup 3} d){sup -1} was achieved at OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m{sup 3} d){sup -1} and HRT of 15d. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer With the increasing OLRs, pH values, VS removal rate and methane concentration decreased and VFA increased. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The changing of biogas production rate can be a practical approach to monitor and control anaerobic digestion system. - Abstract: The effects of organic loading rate on the performance and stability of anaerobic co-digestion of municipal biomass waste (MBW) and waste activated sludge (WAS) were investigated on a pilot-scale reactor. The results showed that stable operation was achieved with organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.2-8.0 kg volatile solid (VS) (m{sup 3} d){sup -1}, with VS reduction rates of 61.7-69.9%, and volumetric biogas production of 0.89-5.28 m{sup 3} (m{sup 3} d){sup -1}. A maximum methane production rate of 2.94 m{sup 3} (m{sup 3} d){sup -1} was achieved at OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m{sup 3} d){sup -1} and hydraulic retention time of 15 days. With increasing OLRs, the anaerobic reactor showed a decrease in VS removal rate, average pH value and methane concentration, and a increase of volatile fatty acid concentration. By monitoring the biogas production rate (BPR), the anaerobic digestion system has a higher acidification risk under an OLR of 8.0 kg VS (m{sup 3} d){sup -1}. This result remarks the possibility of relating bioreactor performance with BPR in order to better understand and monitor anaerobic digestion process.

  8. ALTERNATIVE ANALYTICAL DIGESTION SCHEME FOR THE DEFENSE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY (DWPF) SLURRY RECEIPT AND ADJUSTMENT TANK (SRAT) ANALYSES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Click, D; Charles02 Coleman, C; Frank Pennebaker, F; Kristine Zeigler, K; Tommy Edwards, T

    2007-01-01

    As part of the radioactive sludge batch qualification, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performs a verification of the digestion methods to be used by the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Lab for elemental analysis of Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) receipt process control samples and SRAT product process control samples. Verification of these methods on Sludge Batch 4 (SB4) radioactive sludge slurry indicated SB4 contains a higher concentration of aluminum (Al) than previous sludge batches. Aluminum plays a direct role in vitrification chemistry. At moderate levels, Al assists in glass forming, but at elevated levels Al can increase the viscosity of the molten glass which can adversely impact glass production rate and the volume of glass produced via limiting waste loading.3 Most of the Al present in SB4 is in the form of Al hydroxide as a mixture of gibbsite [α-aluminum trihydroxide, α-Al(OH) 3 ] and boehmite (α-aluminum oxyhydroxide, α-AlOOH) in an unknown ratio. Testing done at SRNL indicates Gibbsite is soluble at low pH but boehmite has limited solubility in the acid mixture (DWPF Cold Chem Method (CC), 25 mL nitric acid (HNO 3 ) and 25 mL hydrofluoric acid (HF)) used by DWPF to digest process control samples. Because Al plays such an important part in vitrification chemistry, it is necessary to have a robust digestion method that will dissolve all forms of Al present in the radioactive sludge while not increasing the analytical lab turnaround time. SRNL initially suggested that the DWPF lab use the sodium peroxide/hydroxide fusion (PF) digestion method4 to digest SRAT receipt and SRAT product radioactive sludge as an alternative to the acid digestion method to ensure complete digestion based on results obtained from digesting a SB4 radioactive sample.2 However, this change may have a significant impact on the DWPF lab analytical turnaround time due to the inefficiency in drying the radioactive sludge contained in a peanut

  9. Optimisation of sewage sludge anaerobic digestion through co-digestion with OFMSW: Effect of collection system and particle size

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silvestre, Gracia [IRTA, GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, Torre Marimon, Barcelona (Spain); Ainia, Departamento de Medio Ambiente, Bioenergía e Higiene Industrial, Paterna, Valencia (Spain); Bonmatí, August [IRTA, GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, Torre Marimon, Barcelona (Spain); Fernández, Belén, E-mail: belen.fernandez@irta.cat [IRTA, GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, Torre Marimon, Barcelona (Spain)

    2015-09-15

    Highlights: • Methane production rate increased between 56% and 208% during OFMSW–SS codigestion. • The OFMSW particle size reduction from 20 to 8 mm did not affect the methane yield. • OFMSW–SS codigestion promoted β-oxidation and acetoclastic methanogenic activity. • The evolution of specific activity was a feasible tool to control the process. - Abstract: The effect of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) loading rate and particulate size on the sewage sludge (SS) mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion was assessed in continuous stirred tank reactor at hydraulic retention time of 20 days. The SS–OFMSW mixture composed by 54% of the volatile solids fed (inlet-VS), at OLR of 3.1 kg{sub COD} m{sup −3} d{sup −1} (1.9 kg{sub VS} m{sup −3} d{sup −1}), showed the highest increment on the volumetric methane production and yield of +200% and +59% respectively, under stable conditions. The effect of particulate size was assessed with the same mixture and same operational conditions but reducing the OFMSW particulate size from 20 mm to 8 mm with the aim to improve the hydrolysis step, but the results showed any influence in the OFMSW particulate size range analysed. In addition, specific biomass activity was assessed at the end of each co-digestion period. Results showed that OFMSW promoted β-oxidation syntrophic acetogens and the acetoclastic methanogens activity; although the last increase of the OFMSW percentage (from 47% to 54% inlet-VS) affected negatively the specific substrate activity, but not inhibitory effect was observed. Therefore, the results obtained in the continuous experiment could be related with some inhibitory or toxic effect and not due to hydrolysis limitation. The specific biomass activity test was demonstrated to be an interesting tool to evaluate and control the co-digestion process, especially when conventional parameters did not explain the behaviour of the biological system.

  10. Conversion of sewage treatment plants on sludge digestion. Energetic and economic optimization potential; Umstellung von Klaeranlagen auf Schlammfaulung. Energetisches und oekonomisches Optimierungspotenzial

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmitt, Theo G.; Gretzschel, Oliver [Technische Univ. Kaiserslautern (Germany). tectraa-Zentrum fuer innovative Abwassertechnologien; Hansen, Joachim [Luxembourg Univ., Kirchberg (Luxembourg). Siedlungswasserwirtschaft und Wasserbau; Siekmann, Klaus; Jakob, Juergen [Ingenieurgesellschaft Dr. Siekmann - Partner GmbH, Thuer (Germany)

    2014-03-15

    Investigations within the framework of the state-commissioned project ''Re-evaluation of wastewater purification plants with anaerobic sludge treatment with due consideration to framework conditions in terms of the energy and the wastewater management situation in Rhineland-Palatinate'', abbreviated ''NAwaS'', have shown that due to the rise in energy prices and availability of innovative techniques and methods it can be economically efficient, from a plant capacity of 10,000 inhabitants upwards, to convert sewage treatment plants to sludge digestion. Findings from the NAwaS project show the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to have a large potential for the conversion of sewage treatment plants to sludge digestion. Depending on the rate of price increase as well as interest rates the use of digester gas could permit an increase in electricity output by up to 50% over today's levels. Moreover, converted plants would be able to almost completely cover their own heat demand and in addition permit energy savings totalling an expected 5 kWh/(inhabitant x a). If one incorporates the possibilities offered by the procurement of sludge or suitable co-substrates from outside sources, by retrofitting sewage plants with combined heat and power stations or micro gas turbines as well as by process optimisation in existing digestion plants, this gives a further significant increase in potential production capacity and hence economic efficiency. In some of the sewage plants the above measures for saving energy and boosting energy production will even lead to energy self-sufficiency. [German] Die Untersuchungen innerhalb des Landesprojektes ''Neubewertung von Abwasserreinigungsanlagen mit anaerober Schlammbehandlung vor dem Hintergrund der energetischen Rahmenbedingungen und der abwassertechnischen Situation in Rheinland-Pfalz - NAwaS'' haben aufgezeigt, dass aufgrund der gestiegenen Energiepreise und mit innovativen

  11. Biological hydrogen production from biomass by thermophilic bacteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Claassen, P.A.M.; Mars, A.E.; Budde, M.A.W.; Lai, M.; de Vrije, T.; van Niel, E.W.J.

    2006-01-01

    To meet the reduction of the emission of CO 2 imposed by the Kyoto protocol, hydrogen should be produced from renewable primary energy. Besides the indirect production of hydrogen by electrolysis using electricity from renewable resources, such as sunlight, wind and hydropower, hydrogen can be directly produced from biomass. At present, there are two strategies for the production of hydrogen from biomass: the thermochemical technology, such as gasification, and the biotechnological approach using micro-organisms. Biological hydrogen production delivers clean hydrogen with an environmental-friendly technology and is very suitable for the conversion of wet biomass in small-scale applications, thus having a high chance of becoming an economically feasible technology. Many micro-organisms are able to produce hydrogen from mono- and disaccharides, starch and (hemi)cellulose under anaerobic conditions. The anaerobic production of hydrogen is a common phenomenon, occurring during the process of anaerobic digestion. Here, hydrogen producing micro-organisms are in syn-trophy with methanogenic bacteria which consume the hydrogen as soon as it is produced. In this way, hydrogen production remains obscure and methane is the end-product. By uncoupling hydrogen production from methane production, hydrogen becomes available for recovery and exploitation. This study describes the use of extreme thermophilic bacteria, selected because of a higher hydrogen production efficiency as compared to mesophilic bacteria, for the production of hydrogen from renewable resources. As feedstock energy crops like Miscanthus and Sorghum bicolor and waste streams like domestic organic waste, paper sludge and potato steam peels were used. The feedstock was pretreated and/or enzymatically hydrolyzed prior to fermentation to make a fermentable substrate. Hydrogen production by Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus, Thermotoga elfii and T. neapolitana on all substrates was observed. Nutrient

  12. Investigation of Poultry Waste for Anaerobic Digestion: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salam, Christopher R.

    Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a biological conversion technology which is being used to produce bioenergy all over the world. This energy is created from biological feedstocks, and can often use waste products from various food and agricultural processors. Biogas from AD can be used as a fuel for heating or for co-generation of electricity and heat and is a renewable substitute to using fossil fuels. Nutrient recycling and waste reduction are additional benefits, creating a final product that can be used as a fertilizer in addition to energy benefits. This project was conducted to investigate the viability of three turkey production wastes as AD feedstock: two turkey litters and a material separated from the turkey processing wastewater using dissolved air flotation (DAF) process. The DAF waste contained greases, oils and other non-commodity portions of the turkey. Using a variety of different process methods, types of bacteria, loading rates and food-to-microorganism ratios, optimal loading rates for the digestion of these three materials were obtained. In addition, the co-digestion of these materials revealed additional energy benefits. In this study, batch digestion tests were carried out to treat these three feedstocks, using mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria, using loading rates of 3 and 6 gVS/L They were tested separately and also as a mixture for co-digestion. The batch reactor used in this study had total and working volumes of 1130 mL and 500 mL, respectively. The initial organic loading was set to be 3 gVS/L, and the food to microorganism ratio was either 0.6 or 1.0 for different treatments based on the characteristics of each material. Only thermophilic (50 +/- 2ºC) temperatures were tested for the litter and DAF wastes in continuous digestion, but mesophilic and thermophilic batch digestion experiments were conducted. The optimum digestion time for all experiments was 14 days. The biogas yields of top litter, mixed litter, and DAF waste under

  13. Does residual H2O2 result in inhibitory effect on enhanced anaerobic digestion of sludge pretreated by microwave-H2O2 pretreatment process?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jibao; Jia, Ruilai; Wang, Yawei; Wei, Yuansong; Zhang, Junya; Wang, Rui; Cai, Xing

    2017-04-01

    This study investigated the effects of residual H 2 O 2 on hydrolysis-acidification and methanogenesis stages of anaerobic digestion after microwave-H 2 O 2 (MW-H 2 O 2 ) pretreatment of waste activated sludge (WAS). Results showed that high sludge solubilization at 35-45 % was achieved after pretreatment, while large amounts of residual H 2 O 2 remained and refractory compounds were thus generated with high dosage of H 2 O 2 (0.6 g H 2 O 2 /g total solids (TS), 1.0 g H 2 O 2 /g TS) pretreatment. The residual H 2 O 2 not only inhibited hydrolysis-acidification stage mildly, such as hydrolase activity, but also had acute toxic effect on methanogens, resulting in long lag phase, low methane yield rate, and no increase of cumulative methane production during the 30-day BMP tests. When the low dosage of H 2 O 2 at 0.2 g H 2 O 2 /g TS was used in MW-H 2 O 2 pretreatment, sludge anaerobic digestion was significantly enhanced. The cumulative methane production increased by 29.02 %, but still with a lag phase of 1.0 day. With removing the residual H 2 O 2 by catalase, the initial lag phase of hydrolysis-acidification stage decreased from 1.0 to 0.5 day.

  14. Pretreatment and Anaerobic Co-digestion of Selected PHB and PLA Bioplastics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Benn

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Conventional petroleum-derived plastics are recalcitrant to biodegradation and can be problematic as they accumulate in the environment. In contrast, it may be possible to add novel, biodegradable bioplastics to anaerobic digesters at municipal water resource recovery facilities along with primary sludge to produce more biomethane. In this study, thermal and chemical bioplastic pretreatments were first investigated to increase the rate and extent of anaerobic digestion. Subsequently, replicate, bench-scale anaerobic co-digesters fed synthetic primary sludge with and without PHB bioplastic were maintained for over 170 days. Two polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB, one poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate and one polylactic acid (PLA bioplastic were investigated. Biochemical methane potential (BMP assays were performed using both untreated bioplastic as well as bioplastic pretreated at elevated temperature (35–90°C under alkaline conditions (8digesters fed synthetic primary sludge with PHB bioplastic resulted in 80–98% conversion of two PHB bioplastics to biomethane and a 5% biomethane production increase at the organic loadings employed (sludge OLR = 3.6 g COD per L of reactor volume per day [g COD/LR-d]; bioplastic OLR = 0.75 g theoretical oxygen demand per L of reactor volume per day [ThOD/LR-d] compared to digesters not fed bioplastics. Anaerobic digestion or co-digestion is a feasible management option for biodegradable plastics.

  15. Effects of palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from 500 m ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this study, co-composting of pressed-shredded empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from 500 m3 closed anaerobic methane digested tank was carried out. High nitrogen and nutrients content were observed in the POME anaerobic sludge. The sludge was subjected to the ...

  16. Destroying lignocellulosic matters for enhancing methane production from excess sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Xiaodi; Hu, Yuansheng; Cao, Daqi

    2016-01-01

    A lot of lignocellulosic matters are usually present in excess sludge, which are hardly degraded in anaerobic digestion (AD) and thus remains mostly in digested sludge. This is a reason why the conversion rate of sludge organics into energy (CH4) is often low. Obviously, the hydrolysis of AD cannot destruct the structure of lignocellulosic matters. Structural destruction of lignocellulosic matters has to be performed in AD. In this study, pretreatments with the same principles as cell disintegration of sludge were applied to destruct lignocellulosic matters so that these materials could be converted to CH4 via AD. Acid, alkali, thermal treatment and ultrasonic were used in the experiments to observe the destructed/degraded efficiency of lignocellulosic matters. Thermal treatment was found to be the most effective pretreatment. Under optimized conditions (T = 150 °C and t = 30  min), pretreated sludge had a degraded rate of 52.6% in AD, due to easy destruction and/or degradation of hemicelluloses and celluloses in pretreatment. The sludge pretreated by thermal treatment could enhance the CH4 yield (mL CH4 g(-1) VSS) by 53.6% compared to raw sludge. Economically, the thermal treatment can balance the input energy with the produced energy (steam and electricity).

  17. Enrichment of acetogenic bacteria in high rate anaerobic reactors under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, P; Forbes, C; McHugh, S; O'Reilly, C; Fleming, G T A; Colleran, E

    2010-07-01

    The objective of the current study was to expand the knowledge of the role of acetogenic Bacteria in high rate anaerobic digesters. To this end, acetogens were enriched by supplying a variety of acetogenic growth supportive substrates to two laboratory scale high rate upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors operated at 37 degrees C (R1) and 55 degrees C (R2). The reactors were initially fed a glucose/acetate influent. Having achieved high operational performance and granular sludge development and activity, both reactors were changed to homoacetogenic bacterial substrates on day 373 of the trial. The reactors were initially fed with sodium vanillate as a sole substrate. Although % COD removal indicated that the 55 degrees C reactor out performed the 37 degrees C reactor, effluent acetate levels from R2 were generally higher than from R1, reaching values as high as 5023 mg l(-1). Homoacetogenic activity in both reactors was confirmed on day 419 by specific acetogenic activity (SAA) measurement, with higher values obtained for R2 than R1. Sodium formate was introduced as sole substrate to both reactors on day 464. It was found that formate supported acetogenic activity at both temperatures. By the end of the trial, no specific methanogenic activity (SMA) was observed against acetate and propionate indicating that the methane produced was solely by hydrogenotrophic Archaea. Higher SMA and SAA values against H(2)/CO(2) suggested development of a formate utilising acetogenic population growing in syntrophy with hydrogenotrophic methanogens. Throughout the formate trial, the mesophilic reactor performed better overall than the thermophilic reactor. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Municipal sludge disposal economics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, J L [SRI International, Menlo Park, CA; Bomberger, Jr, D C; Lewis, F M

    1977-10-01

    Costs for disposal of sludges from a municipal wastewater treatment plant normally represents greater than or equal to 25% of the total plant operating cost. The following 5 sludge handling options are considered: chemical conditioning followed by vacuum filtration, and incineration; high-pressure wet-air oxidation and vacuum filtration or filter press prior to incineration; thermal conditioning, vacuum filtraton, and incineration; high-pressure wet-air oxidation and vacuum filtration, with ash to landfill; aerobic or anaerobic digestion, followed by chemical conditioning, vacuum filtration, and disposal on land; and chemical conditioning, followed by a filter press, flash dryer, and sale as fertilizer. The 1st 2 options result in the ultimate disposal of small amounts of ash in a landfill; the digestion options require a significant landfill; the fertilizer option requires a successful marketing and sales effort. To compare the economies of scale for the options, analyses were performed for 3 plant capacities - 10, 100, and 500 mgd; as plant size increases, the economies of scale for incineration system are quite favorable. The anaerobic digestion system has a poorer capital cost-scaling factor. The incinerator options which start with chemical conditioning consume much less electrical power at all treatment plant sizes; incinerator after thermal conditioning uses more electricity but less fuel. Digestion requires no direct external fossil fuel input. The relative use of fuel is constant at all plant sizes for other options. The incinerator options can produce a significant amount of steam which may be used. The anaerobic digestion process can be a significant net producer of fuel gas.

  19. Consequences of sludge composition on combustion performance derived from thermogravimetry analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Meiyan; Xiao, Benyi; Wang, Xu; Liu, Junxin, E-mail: jxliu@rcees.ac.cn

    2015-01-15

    Highlights: • Volatiles, particularly proteins, play a key role in sludge combustion. • Sludge combustion performance varies with different sludge organic concentrations. • Carbohydrates significantly affect the combustion rate in the second stage. • Combustion performance of digested sludge is more negative compared with others. - Abstract: Wastewater treatment plants produce millions of tons of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is recognized as a promising feedstock for power generation via combustion and can be used for energy crisis adaption. We aimed to investigate the quantitative effects of various sludge characteristics on the overall sludge combustion process performance. Different types of sewage sludge were derived from numerous wastewater treatment plants in Beijing for further thermogravimetric analysis. Thermogravimetric–differential thermogravimetric curves were used to compare the performance of the studied samples. Proximate analytical data, organic compositions, elementary composition, and calorific value of the samples were determined. The relationship between combustion performance and sludge composition was also investigated. Results showed that the performance of sludge combustion was significantly affected by the concentration of protein, which is the main component of volatiles. Carbohydrates and lipids were not correlated with combustion performance, unlike protein. Overall, combustion performance varied with different sludge organic composition. The combustion rate of carbohydrates was higher than those of protein and lipid, and carbohydrate weight loss mainly occurred during the second stage (175–300 °C). Carbohydrates have a substantial effect on the rate of system combustion during the second stage considering the specific combustion feature. Additionally, the combustion performance of digested sewage sludge is more negative than the others.

  20. Consequences of sludge composition on combustion performance derived from thermogravimetry analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Meiyan; Xiao, Benyi; Wang, Xu; Liu, Junxin

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Volatiles, particularly proteins, play a key role in sludge combustion. • Sludge combustion performance varies with different sludge organic concentrations. • Carbohydrates significantly affect the combustion rate in the second stage. • Combustion performance of digested sludge is more negative compared with others. - Abstract: Wastewater treatment plants produce millions of tons of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is recognized as a promising feedstock for power generation via combustion and can be used for energy crisis adaption. We aimed to investigate the quantitative effects of various sludge characteristics on the overall sludge combustion process performance. Different types of sewage sludge were derived from numerous wastewater treatment plants in Beijing for further thermogravimetric analysis. Thermogravimetric–differential thermogravimetric curves were used to compare the performance of the studied samples. Proximate analytical data, organic compositions, elementary composition, and calorific value of the samples were determined. The relationship between combustion performance and sludge composition was also investigated. Results showed that the performance of sludge combustion was significantly affected by the concentration of protein, which is the main component of volatiles. Carbohydrates and lipids were not correlated with combustion performance, unlike protein. Overall, combustion performance varied with different sludge organic composition. The combustion rate of carbohydrates was higher than those of protein and lipid, and carbohydrate weight loss mainly occurred during the second stage (175–300 °C). Carbohydrates have a substantial effect on the rate of system combustion during the second stage considering the specific combustion feature. Additionally, the combustion performance of digested sewage sludge is more negative than the others

  1. Ultrasound pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Elvira, S; Fdz-Polanco, M; Plaza, F I; Garralón, G; Fdz-Polanco, F

    2009-01-01

    Prior research indicates that ultrasounds can be used in batch reactors as pre-treatment before anaerobic digestion, but the specific energy required at laboratory-scale is too high. This work evaluates both the continuous ultrasound device performance (efficiency and solubilisation) and the operation of anaerobic digesters continuously fed with sonicated sludge, and presents energy balance considerations. The results of sludge solubilisation after the sonication treatment indicate that, applying identical specific energy, it is better to increase the power than the residence time. Working with secondary sludge, batch biodegradability tests show that by applying 30 kWh/m3 of sludge, it is possible to increase biogas production by 42%. Data from continuous pilot-scale anaerobic reactors (V=100 L) indicate that operating with a conventional HRT=20 d, a reactor fed with pre-treated sludge increases the volatile solids removal and the biogas production by 25 and 37% respectively. Operating with HRT=15 d, the removal efficiency is similar to the obtained with a reactor fed with non-hydrolysed sludge at HTR=20 d, although the specific biogas productivity per volume of reactor is higher for the pretreated sludge. Regarding the energy balance, although for laboratory-scale devices it is negative, full-scale suppliers state a net generation of 3-10 kW per kW of energy used.

  2. Performance optimization and validation of ADM1 simulations under anaerobic thermophilic conditions

    KAUST Repository

    Atallah, Nabil M.

    2014-12-01

    In this study, two experimental sets of data each involving two thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste, were simulated using the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). A sensitivity analysis was conducted, using both data sets of one digester, for parameter optimization based on five measured performance indicators: methane generation, pH, acetate, total COD, ammonia, and an equally weighted combination of the five indicators. The simulation results revealed that while optimization with respect to methane alone, a commonly adopted approach, succeeded in simulating methane experimental results, it predicted other intermediary outputs less accurately. On the other hand, the multi-objective optimization has the advantage of providing better results than methane optimization despite not capturing the intermediary output. The results from the parameter optimization were validated upon their independent application on the data sets of the second digester.

  3. Performance optimization and validation of ADM1 simulations under anaerobic thermophilic conditions

    KAUST Repository

    Atallah, Nabil M.; El-Fadel, Mutasem E.; Ghanimeh, Sophia A.; Saikaly, Pascal; Abou Najm, Majdi R.

    2014-01-01

    In this study, two experimental sets of data each involving two thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste, were simulated using the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). A sensitivity analysis was conducted, using both data sets of one digester, for parameter optimization based on five measured performance indicators: methane generation, pH, acetate, total COD, ammonia, and an equally weighted combination of the five indicators. The simulation results revealed that while optimization with respect to methane alone, a commonly adopted approach, succeeded in simulating methane experimental results, it predicted other intermediary outputs less accurately. On the other hand, the multi-objective optimization has the advantage of providing better results than methane optimization despite not capturing the intermediary output. The results from the parameter optimization were validated upon their independent application on the data sets of the second digester.

  4. Impact of initial biodegradability on sludge anaerobic digestion enhancement by thermal pretreatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrère, Hélène; Bougrier, Claire; Castets, Delphine; Delgenès, Jean Philippe

    2008-11-01

    Thermal treatments with temperature ranging from 60 to 210 degrees C were applied to 6 waste-activated sludge samples originating from high or medium load, extended aeration wastewater treatment processes that treated different wastewaters (urban, urban and industrial or slaughterhouse). COD sludge solubilisation was linearly correlated with the treatment temperature on the whole temperature range and independently of the sludge samples. Sludge batch mesophilic biodegradability increased with treatment temperature up to 190 degrees C. In this temperature range, biodegradability enhancement or methane production increase by thermal hydrolysis was shown to be a function of sludge COD solubilisation but also of sludge initial biodegradability. The lower the initial biodegradability means the higher efficiency of thermal treatment.

  5. Rheological properties of disintegrated sewage sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolski, Paweł

    2017-11-01

    The rheology of the sludge provides information about the capacity and the flow, which in the case of project tasks for the hydraulic conveying installation is an important control parameter. Accurate knowledge of the rheological properties of sludge requires the designation of rheological models. Models single and multiparameter (Ostwald, Bingham, Herschel-Bulkley'a, and others) allow an approximation of flow curves, and the determination of the boundaries of the flow of modified sludge allows you to control the process compaction or are dewatered sludge undergoing flow. The aim of the study was to determine the rheological parameters and rheological models of sludge conditioned by physical methods before and after the process of anaerobic digestion. So far, studies have shown that the application of conditioning in the preparation of sewage sludge increases shear stress, viscosity as well as the limits of flow in relation to the untreated sludge. Offset yield point by the application of a conditioning agent is associated with decreased flowability tested sludge, which has also been observed by analyzing the structure of the prepared samples. Lowering the yield point, and thus the shear stress was recorded as a result of the fermentation test of disintegrated sludge.

  6. Investigations into Improving Dewaterability at a Bio-P/Anaerobic Digestion Plant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alm, Rebecca; Sealock, Adam W; Nollet, Yabing; Sprouse, George

    2016-11-01

      Metropolitan Council Environmental Services has observed poorer than expected dewatering performance at its Empire Plant. This plant has both anaerobic digestion and enhanced biological phosphorus removal in its treatment train. A research program using pilot-scale anaerobic digesters investigated potential solutions to the plant's poor dewaterability. The dewaterability goal was to increase the cake solids from 12% total solids (TS) to 16% TS or higher. This research investigated 20 different reactor conditions including chemical, feed sludge, and digested sludge treatments. At the pilot scale, unaerated storage of waste activated sludge prior to thickening and addition of ferric chloride to digestion was found to achieve dewatered cake solids of nearly 17% TS with the added benefit of reducing polymer demand. Issues including the amount of chemical required and the resulting volatile solids destruction influence the viability of the process change, so a full-scale pilot and financial analysis is recommended before making permanent process changes.

  7. Comparing mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of chicken manure: Microbial community dynamics and process resilience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niu, Qigui; Takemura, Yasuyuki; Kubota, Kengo; Li, Yu-You

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Microbial community dynamics and process functional resilience were investigated. • The threshold of TAN in mesophilic reactor was higher than the thermophilic reactor. • The recoverable archaeal community dynamic sustained the process resilience. • Methanosarcina was more sensitive than Methanoculleus on ammonia inhibition. • TAN and FA effects the dynamic of hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria obviously. - Abstract: While methane fermentation is considered as the most successful bioenergy treatment for chicken manure, the relationship between operational performance and the dynamic transition of archaeal and bacterial communities remains poorly understood. Two continuous stirred-tank reactors were investigated under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions feeding with 10%TS. The tolerance of thermophilic reactor on total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) was found to be 8000 mg/L with free ammonia (FA) 2000 mg/L compared to 16,000 mg/L (FA1500 mg/L) of mesophilic reactor. Biomethane production was 0.29 L/gV S in in the steady stage and decreased following TAN increase. After serious inhibition, the mesophilic reactor was recovered successfully by dilution and washing stratagem compared to the unrecoverable of thermophilic reactor. The relationship between the microbial community structure, the bioreactor performance and inhibitors such as TAN, FA, and volatile fatty acid was evaluated by canonical correspondence analysis. The performance of methanogenic activity and substrate removal efficiency were changed significantly correlating with the community evenness and phylogenetic structure. The resilient archaeal community was found even after serious inhibition in both reactors. Obvious dynamics of bacterial communities were observed in acidogenic and hydrolytic functional bacteria following TAN variation in the different stages

  8. Comparing mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of chicken manure: Microbial community dynamics and process resilience

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niu, Qigui; Takemura, Yasuyuki; Kubota, Kengo [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Li, Yu-You, E-mail: yyli@epl1.civil.tohoku.ac.jp [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan); Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an (China)

    2015-09-15

    Highlights: • Microbial community dynamics and process functional resilience were investigated. • The threshold of TAN in mesophilic reactor was higher than the thermophilic reactor. • The recoverable archaeal community dynamic sustained the process resilience. • Methanosarcina was more sensitive than Methanoculleus on ammonia inhibition. • TAN and FA effects the dynamic of hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria obviously. - Abstract: While methane fermentation is considered as the most successful bioenergy treatment for chicken manure, the relationship between operational performance and the dynamic transition of archaeal and bacterial communities remains poorly understood. Two continuous stirred-tank reactors were investigated under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions feeding with 10%TS. The tolerance of thermophilic reactor on total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) was found to be 8000 mg/L with free ammonia (FA) 2000 mg/L compared to 16,000 mg/L (FA1500 mg/L) of mesophilic reactor. Biomethane production was 0.29 L/gV S{sub in} in the steady stage and decreased following TAN increase. After serious inhibition, the mesophilic reactor was recovered successfully by dilution and washing stratagem compared to the unrecoverable of thermophilic reactor. The relationship between the microbial community structure, the bioreactor performance and inhibitors such as TAN, FA, and volatile fatty acid was evaluated by canonical correspondence analysis. The performance of methanogenic activity and substrate removal efficiency were changed significantly correlating with the community evenness and phylogenetic structure. The resilient archaeal community was found even after serious inhibition in both reactors. Obvious dynamics of bacterial communities were observed in acidogenic and hydrolytic functional bacteria following TAN variation in the different stages.

  9. Site-specific analysis for location of a sludge irradiation plant at Provo, Utah

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bingham, M.L.; Luce, W.A.; Ahlstrom, S.B.; Johnson, B.A.

    1980-01-01

    Provo's current sludge handling program consists of anaerobic digestion, sand drying beds, and stockpiling onsite until the sludge can be removed for application to the land. This practice is adequate to meet current State of Utah regulations. However, EPA-proposed regulations will require Provo to either upgrade its current sludge disposal practices to provide more adequate pathogen destruction prior to land application, or change its method of final sludge disposal. Four possible alternatives to the existing practice were evaluated. These include (1) applying liquid sludge from the digesters to agricultural land, (2) landfilling, (3) irradiation, and (4) composting of dry sludge. Land application of liquid sludge and landfilling were found to be the most costly alternatives, primarily because of high transportation costs. Composting and irradiation were found to be the least costly alternatives. Irradiation had a higher initial capital cost, but a lower annual operation and maintenance cost than composting. Overall, composting appeared to be the most cost-effective alternative; however, pilot testing would be necessary to verify the unusual criteria for composting at Provo

  10. Challenges in biogas production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rennuit, Charlotte

    2017-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion (AnD) is a sustainable process combining waste treatment, nutrient recycling and energy production which can contribute to limit climate change and environmental problems. However, in order for this technique to be more widely used, production of biogas from available wastes...... from a mixture of pig manure and other waste materials by separating the solid fraction of digestate and recycling it back to the digester. It is shown that separation and recycling of the dry matter rich solid fraction could successfully increase biogas production and a preliminary economic evaluation...... showed a potential increase of 1.9 to 6.8€ per ton of biomass treated. In the second part of this study, a biological treatment to improve energy production from wastewater sludge was investigated. Wastewater sludge was subjected to thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) from 2h to 5d. Increase in biogas...

  11. Co-combustion of sewage sludge and energy-rich waste fuels or forest fuels; Sameldning av roetslam och energirika avfallsbraenslen eller skogsbraenslen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linder, Kristina [TPS Termiska Processer AB, Nykoeping (Sweden)

    2003-10-01

    In this report literature on incineration of sewage sludge is summarises. In Sweden there is a yearly production of about 0,24 million-ton dry sewage sludge of which 50% is deposited. Recent changes in legislation will restrict and later prohibit the dumping of sewage sludge. Alternative methods for handling the material have not yet been found. In other parts of Europe the problem has been solved by incineration. Sludge incineration can be performed in several ways depending of the pretreatment. The sludge can be raw or digested, dewatered or dried. The sludge can be burnt as single fuel or in mixtures with other fuels. Focus in this work has been on co-combustion with biofuel or waste, as it will make use of existing plants. Digested sludge is also of major interest as 70% of the Swedish sludge is digested. The report describes the situation both in Sweden and in the rest of Europe. Sludge has a varying quality depending on origin and treatment, which affects the combustion properties. Ash and moisture contents differ from other fuels. The heating value of sewage sludge is approximately 20 MJ/kg per dry combustible matter and the amount of organic is around 70%. Compared to forest residue and demolition wood, sludge contains high levels of nitrogen and sulphur, which will cause emissions. The nitrogen level is about 10 times higher and the sulphur level 25 to 50 times higher. Sulphur, in combination with alkali metals, can cause deposit problems in boilers. However, sludge contains low levels of alkali. In the experimental investigation leaching of digested sludge showed low values on water conductivity which indicates a low concentration of sintering ash species in the sludge. A comparison of the aerodynamic properties of dried digested sludge and wood chips from energy coppice showed that sludge has a lower fraction of fines. This indicates that the sewage sludge is not likely to be carried over in the furnace but rather to stay in the fuel and ash bed on the

  12. Changes in the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria community in response to operational parameters during the treatment of anaerobic sludge digester supernatant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cydzik-Kwiatkowska, Agnieszka; Zielińska, Magdalena; Bernat, Katarzyna; Kulikowska, Dorota; Wojnowska-Baryła, Irena

    2012-07-01

    The understanding of the relationship between ammoniaoxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities in activated sludge and the operational treatment parameters supports the control of the treatment of ammonia-rich wastewater. The modifications of treatment parameters by alteration of the number and length of aerobic and anaerobic stages in the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) working cycle may influence the efficiency of ammonium oxidation and induce changes in the AOB community. Therefore, in the research, the impact of an SBR cycle mode with alternating aeration/ mixing conditions (7 h/1 h vs. 4 h/5.5 h) and volumetric exchange rate (n) on AOB abundance and diversity in activated sludge during the treatment of anaerobic sludge digester supernatant at limited oxygen concentration in the aeration stage (0.7 mg O2/l) was assessed. AOB diversity expressed by the Shannon-Wiener index (H') was determined by the cycle mode. At aeration/mixing stage lengths of 7 h/1 h, H' averaged 2.48 +/- 0.17, while at 4 h/ 5.5 h it was 2.35 +/- 0.16. At the given mode, AOB diversity decreased with increasing n. The cycle mode did not affect AOB abundance; however, a higher AOB abundance in activated sludge was promoted by decreasing the volumetric exchange rate. The sequences clustering with Nitrosospira sp. NpAV revealed the uniqueness of the AOB community and the simultaneously lower ability of adaptation of Nitrosospira sp. to the operational parameters applied in comparison with Nitrosomonas sp.

  13. Uses of biogas produced by digestion of wastewater sludge. The SIAAP's experience feedback and projects; Utilisation du biogaz issu de la digestion des boues d'epuration des eaux residuaires urbaines. Retour d'experience et projets du SIAAP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amosse, S. [SIAAP - Dir. du Site Seine Aval, 78 - Maisons Laffite (France); Nedelec, R. [SIAAP, Dir. du Developpement et de la Prospective, 92 - Colombes (France)

    2010-07-01

    The SIAAP, in charge of the purification of the Great Paris wastewaters (8 M inhabitants), handles 2.7 Mm{sup 3}/day. Five wastewater treatment plants permit to dean these wastewaters before they are discharged into the receiving environment: 'Seine Aval' (Acheres, 1,7 Mm{sup 3}/day), 'Seine Amont' (Valenton, 600 000 m{sup 3}/day), 'Seine Centre' (Colombes, 240 000 m{sup 3}/day), 'Seine Gresillons' (Triel-sur-Seine, 100 000 m{sup 3}/day) and 'Marne Aval' (Noisy-Le-Grand, 40 000 m{sup 3}/day). Biogas produced by digestion of sludge provides a part of the energy required by the five sewage treatment works. Energy recovered from biogas have been used by the SAV site since 1940. As soon as the first part of this plant started up, biogas was used as fuel to heat digester, to produce power through biogas engines and to drive blowers. In the 60's and 70's, dual-fuel engines were brought into service, and then in 1992, a gas turbine was installed. Nowadays, a combined heat and power (cogeneration) project is in progress with the installation of two gas turbines, each generating 5 MW. All of these installations had allowed a 70% energetic autonomy ratio on 'Seine Aval' site. Then, new treatment units were introduced. Thus, energy consumption has increased, with only 60 % of energy demands being covered. By 2020, a complete make-over of the 'Seine Aval' plant will be done. This should allow to cover about 70% of energy demands, partly thanks to biogas reuse. New plants are currently being constructed. All of them will include sludge digestion process providing biogas. With the 'Seine Gresillons' plant upgrading, digestion process will occur on site. Biogas will be used in a cogeneration system to produce both electricity (that would be either used on site or sold commercially, this has not been decided by now) and heat for digesters heating. The new 'Seine Moree' plant will be

  14. Comparison of bacterial community structure and dynamics during the thermophilic composting of different types of solid wastes: anaerobic digestion residue, pig manure and chicken manure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Caihong; Li, Mingxiao; Jia, Xuan; Wei, Zimin; Zhao, Yue; Xi, Beidou; Zhu, Chaowei; Liu, Dongming

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of composting substrate types on the bacterial community structure and dynamics during composting processes. To this end, pig manure (PM), chicken manure (CM), a mixture of PM and CM (PM + CM), and a mixture of PM, CM and anaerobic digestion residue (ADR) (PM + CM + ADR) were selected for thermophilic composting. The bacterial community structure and dynamics during the composting process were detected and analysed by polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) coupled with a statistic analysis. The physical-chemical analyses indicated that compared to single-material composting (PM, CM), co-composting (PM + CM, PM + CM + ADR) could promote the degradation of organic matter and strengthen the ability of conserving nitrogen. A DGGE profile and statistical analysis demonstrated that co-composting, especially PM + CM + ADR, could improve the bacterial community structure and functional diversity, even in the thermophilic stage. Therefore, co-composting could weaken the screening effect of high temperature on bacterial communities. Dominant sequencing analyses indicated a dramatic shift in the dominant bacterial communities from single-material composting to co-composting. Notably, compared with PM, PM + CM increased the quantity of xylan-degrading bacteria and reduced the quantity of human pathogens. PMID:24963997

  15. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth pre-treated at 80 degrees C.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrer, Ivet; Palatsi, Jordi; Campos, Elena; Flotats, Xavier

    2010-10-01

    Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is a fast growing aquatic plant which causes environmental problems in continental water bodies. Harvesting and handling this plant becomes an issue, and focus has been put on the research of treatment alternatives. Amongst others, energy production through biomethanation has been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The effect of a thermal sludge pre-treatment at 80 degrees C was also evaluated. To this end, anaerobic biodegradability tests were carried out at 35 degrees C and 55 degrees C, with raw and pre-treated water hyacinth. According to the results, the thermal pre-treatment enhanced the solubilisation of water hyacinth (i.e. increase in the soluble to total chemical oxygen demand (COD)) from 4% to 12% after 30 min. However, no significant effect was observed on the methane yields (150-190 L CH(4)/kg volatile solids). Initial methane production rates for thermophilic treatments were two fold those of mesophilic ones (6-6.5L vs. 3-3.5 L CH(4)/kg COD x day). Thus, higher methane production rates might be expected from thermophilic reactors working at short retention times. The study of longer low temperature pre-treatments or pre-treatments at elevated temperatures coupled to thermophilic reactors should be considered in the future. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth pre-treated at 80 oC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrer, Ivet; Palatsi, Jordi; Campos, Elena; Flotats, Xavier

    2010-01-01

    Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is a fast growing aquatic plant which causes environmental problems in continental water bodies. Harvesting and handling this plant becomes an issue, and focus has been put on the research of treatment alternatives. Amongst others, energy production through biomethanation has been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The effect of a thermal sludge pre-treatment at 80 o C was also evaluated. To this end, anaerobic biodegradability tests were carried out at 35 o C and 55 o C, with raw and pre-treated water hyacinth. According to the results, the thermal pre-treatment enhanced the solubilisation of water hyacinth (i.e. increase in the soluble to total chemical oxygen demand (COD)) from 4% to 12% after 30 min. However, no significant effect was observed on the methane yields (150-190 L CH 4 /kg volatile solids). Initial methane production rates for thermophilic treatments were two fold those of mesophilic ones (6-6.5 L vs. 3-3.5 L CH 4 /kg COD.day). Thus, higher methane production rates might be expected from thermophilic reactors working at short retention times. The study of longer low temperature pre-treatments or pre-treatments at elevated temperatures coupled to thermophilic reactors should be considered in the future.

  17. Anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste with UF-membrane separation and recycling of permeate after free ammonia stripping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegrist, H; Hunziker, W; Hofer, H

    2005-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion can adapt to free ammonia to a certain extent. During the anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste, however, an ammonia concentration of up to 15 g Nl(-1) can be reached in the sludge liquid and this will even inhibit adapted sludge. To lower this concentration, a fraction of the digester liquid must therefore be continuously separated from the digested sludge and the free ammonia stripped before the liquid is recycled to the digester. A mesophilic laboratory digester was successfully operated with an ammonium concentration of 4-5g l(-1) and a pH of 8.0-8.4. After free ammonia stripping, the excess liquid was treated in a laboratory SBR for nitrogen and phosphorus removal before being added to the receiving water. The effluent had no toxic effect on daphnia and algae.

  18. Can aquatic worms enhance methane production from waste activated sludge?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Serrano, Antonio; Hendrickx, Tim L.G.; Elissen, Hellen; Laarhoven, Bob; Buisman, Cees J.N.; Temmink, Hardy

    2016-01-01

    Although literature suggests that aquatic worms can help to enhance the methane production from excess activated sludge, clear evidence for this is missing. Therefore, anaerobic digestion tests were performed at 20 and at 30 °C with sludge from a high-loaded membrane bioreactor, the aquatic worm

  19. APPLICATION OF RESPIROMETRIC TESTS FOR ASSESSMENT OF METHANOGENIC BACTERIA ACTIVITY IN WASTEWATER SLUDGE PROCESSING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Małgorzata Cimochowicz-Rybicka

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Production of a methane-rich gas (‘biogas’ is contemporary popular sludges processing technology which allows to generate thermal and/or electric energy. Formal requirements issued by the European Union to promote so called renewable energy resources made these process more attractive leading to its application in WWTPs which were designed based on different sludge handling processes. Authors (as active design engineers noted that dimensioning sludge digestion chamber is usually based on SRT assessment without any emphasis on sludge characteristics. Bio-mass characteristics and the estimation of its activity with respect to methane production are of great importance, from both scientific and practical points of view, as anaerobic digestion appears to be one of crucial processes in municipal wastewater handling and disposal. The authors propose respirometric tests to estimate a biomass potential to produce ‘a biogas’ and several years’ laboratory and full scale experience proved its usefulness and reliability both as a measurement and a design tool applicable in sludge handling. Dimensioning method proposed by authors, allows to construct and optimize operation of digestion chambers based on a methanogenic activity.

  20. Improving biogas production from continuous co-digestion of oily wastewater and waste-activated sludge by hydrodynamic cavitation pre-treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Habashi, Nima; Alighardashi, Abolghasem; Mennerich, Artur; Mehrdadi, Nasser; Torabian, Ali

    2018-04-01

    Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) was evaluated as a pretreatment for synthetic oily wastewater (OWW) to be co-digested with waste-activated sludge (WAS). The main objective of the present research was the enhancement of biogas production by the application of HC pretreatment. HC was applied to the OWW, and the OWW and WAS were added to a 50 L continuous digestion reactor. As a control system, an identical digestion reactor was set up for co-digestion of the WAS and the OWW without pretreatment. The reactors were initially filled with inoculum and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was set to 22 d. The HRT was gradually reduced to 19, 16, and finally 13 d, but the substrate quality was kept constant. The loading rate, accordingly, increased from 0.86 to 1.46 g TVS/(L d). The biogas volume was recorded online and its quality was analyzed regularly. The HC improved biogas production up to 43% at 22 d of HRT. Reducing the HRT decreased biogas production from the main reactor while that of the control reactor was more or less constant. HC also increased the biogas methane content; the methane concentration of the main reactor was about 3% higher than the methane concentration of the control reactor. The main reactor experienced no clogging or accumulation of fatty materials.