Ultrasound pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion improvement

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1525-1532 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pérez-Elvira ◽  
M. Fdz-Polanco ◽  
F. I. Plaza ◽  
G. Garralón ◽  
F. Fdz-Polanco

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.

Water SA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4 October) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilza Da Silva Lopes ◽  
Ysa Helena Diniz Morais de Luna ◽  
Jose Tavares de Sousa ◽  
Wilton Silva Lopes ◽  
Valderi Duarte Leite

ABSTRACT   Sludges generated in the biological processing of sewage are complex mixtures, the constituents of which pose risks to public health and the environment. Anaerobic digestion is considered the most sustainable option for treating sludge because it offers the possibility of generating biogas. The aim of this study was to compare the quantities, properties, biodegradabilities and biochemical methane potentials (BMP) of primary sludge (PS) generated by a primary decanter with acidogenic sludges produced by upflow anaerobic (UA) reactors operating at solids retention times (SRTs) of 2, 4, 6 and 8 days (Samples S2, S4, S6 and S8, respectively). Sludges from both pre-treatments were submitted to alkaline solubilization in order to determine the efficiency of the process in disrupting extracellular complexes. Based on the levels of total solids (TS) present, the primary decanter was found to generate higher quantities of excess sludge (yield of 3.1 gTS∙d-1) than UA reactors operating at low SRTs (yields in the range 1.69 to 0.64 gTS∙d-1). The concentrations of dissolved materials in PS and Samples S2 and S8 were considerably higher after alkaline solubilization, with respective increases of 8, 14 and 28-fold in dissolved organic carbon, 12, 20 and 40-fold in chemical oxygen demand, 25, 31 and 59-fold in proteins, and 17, 21 and 63-fold in carbohydrates. In addition, the BMP value for S8 was some 13% higher than that recorded for PS while the kinetic constant for gas production by S8 was 1.8-fold greater than that of PS. It is concluded that a pre-treatment combining anaerobic digestion at low SRT and alkaline solubilisation would lead to improved performance in subsequent stages of anaerobic digestion and, consequently, increased efficiency in biogas production.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkateshkumar R ◽  
Shanmugam S ◽  
Veerappan AR

Abstract Cow dung is generally used as the feedstock material for the anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. A selection of alternate biomass material is needed to reduce the consumption or to eliminate the use of cow dung. Recently, cottonseed hull has been considered as the primary substrate to produce biogas. In this paper, the effect of biogas production on anaerobic co-digestion of cow dung with pre-treated cottonseed hull using different concentrations of sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and acetic acid is investigated. Sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide are used at different concentrations for pre-treatment of cottonseed hull. The enhancement of biogas production from the batch reactors at mesophilic temperature (35 ± 2 ℃) is observed for mono- and co-digestion of cow dung with treated cottonseed hull. Maximum biogas yield is achieved for the treated cottonseed hull at 6% sodium hydroxide during mono digestion and at 6% calcium hydroxide during co-digestion.


2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. la Cour Jansen ◽  
C. Gruvberger ◽  
N. Hanner ◽  
H. Aspegren ◽  
 Svärd

Anaerobic digestion of sludge has been part of the treatment plant in Malmö for many years and several projects on optimisation of the digestion process have been undertaken in full scale as well as in pilot scale. In order to facilitate a more sustainable solution in the future for waste management, solid waste organic waste is sorted out from households for anaerobic treatment in a newly built city district. The system for treatment of the waste is integrated in a centralised solution located at the existing wastewater treatment plant. A new extension of the digester capacity enables separate as well as co-digestion of sludge together with urban organic waste from households, industry, restaurants, big kitchens, food stores, supermarkets, green markets etc. for biogas production and production of fertiliser. Collection and pre-treatment of different types of waste are in progress together with examination of biogas potential for different types of organic waste. Collection of household waste as well as anaerobic digestion in laboratory and pilot scale has been performed during the last year. It is demonstrated that organic household waste can be digested separately or in combination with sludge. In the latter case a higher biogas yield is found than should be expected from digestion of the two materials separately. Household waste from a system based on collection of organic waste from grinders could be digested at mesophilic conditions whereas digestion failed at thermophilic conditions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Michalska ◽  
Stanisław Ledakowicz

AbstractThis work studies the influence of the alkali pre-treatment of Sorghum Moench — a representative of energy crops used in biogas production. Solutions containing various concentrations of sodium hydroxide were used to achieve the highest degradation of lignocellulosic structures. The results obtained after chemical pre-treatment indicate that the use of NaOH leads to the removal of almost all lignin (over 99 % in the case of 5 mass % NaOH) from the biomass, which is a prerequisite for efficient anaerobic digestion. Several parameters, such as chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, total phenolic content, volatile fatty acids, and general nitrogen were determined in the hydrolysates thus obtained in order to define the most favourable conditions. The best results were obtained for the Sorghum treated with 5 mass % NaOH at 121°C for 30 min The hydrolysate thus achieved consisted of high total phenolic compounds concentration (ca. 4.7 g L−1) and chemical oxygen demand value (ca. 45 g L−1). Although single alkali hydrolysis causes total degradation of glucose, a combined chemical and enzymatic pre-treatment of Sorghum leads to the release of large amounts of this monosaccharide into the supernatant. This indicates that alkali pre-treatment does not lead to complete cellulose destruction. The high degradation of lignin structure in the first step of the pre-treatment rendered the remainder of the biomass available for enzymatic action. A comparison of the efficiency of biogas production from untreated Sorghum and Sorghum treated with the use of NaOH and enzymes shows that chemical hydrolysis improves the anaerobic digestion effectiveness and the combined pre-treatment could have great potential for methane generation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 05025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagor Kumar Pramanik ◽  
Fatihah Binti Suja ◽  
Biplob Kumar Pramanik ◽  
Shahrom Bindi Md Zain

Solid organic wastes create potential risks to environmental pollution and human health due to the uncontrolled discharge of huge quantities of hazardous wastes from numerous sources. Now-a-days, anaerobic digestion (AD) is considered as a verified and effective alternative compared to other techniques for treating solid organic waste. The paper reviewed the biological process and parameters involved in the AD along with the factors could enhance the AD process. Hydrolysis is considered as a rate-limiting phase in the complex AD process. The performance and stability of AD process is highly influenced by various operating parameters like temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen ratio, retention time, and organic loading rate. Different pre-treatment (e.g. mechanical, chemical and biological) could enhance the AD process and the biogas yield. Co-digestion can also be used to provide suitable nutrient balance inside the digester. Challenges of the anaerobic digestion for biogas production are also discussed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 531 ◽  
pp. 528-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Wei

Anaerobic digestion is an economic and environmentally friendly technology for treating the biomass material-sewage sludge, but has some limitations, such as the low efficient biogass production. In this paper ultrasound was proposed as pre-treatment for effective sludge anaerobic digestion. Sludge anaerobic digestion experiments with ultrasonic pretreatment was investigated. It can be seen that this treatment effectively leaded to the increase of soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD) and volatile fatty acids(VFA)concentration. High concentration of VFA leaded to a increase in biogas production. Besides, the SV of sludge was reduced and the settling characteristics of sludge was improved after ultrasonic pretreatment. It can be concluded that sludge anaerobic digestion with ultrasonic pretreatment is an effective method for biomass material transformation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 1240-1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyridon Achinas ◽  
Gerrit Jan Willem Euverink

The biodegradable portion of solid waste generated in farmhouses can be treated for energy recovery with small portable biogas plants. This action can be done across the Netherlands and all around the planet. This study aims to appraise the performance of anaerobic digestion of different wastes (cow manure, food waste and garden waste) obtained from a regional farmhouse. Batch reactors were established under mesophilic conditions in order to investigate the impact of ternary mixtures on the anaerobic digestion process performance. Different mixing ratios were set in the batch tests. The upshots from the experiments connoted that ternary digestion with cow manure:food waste:garden waste mixing ratio of 40:50:10 yielded higher biogas amount. The kinetics’ results showed quite good congruence with the experimental study. The results from the kinetic analysis appeared to be in line with the experimental one.


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