scholarly journals Pre-treatment of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) for enhanced biogas production via the application of a novel radial horn sonication technology

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 2179-2193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Suhartini ◽  
Lynsey Melville ◽  
Tony Amato

The efficacy of sonication as a pre-treatment to anaerobic digestion (AD) was assessed using thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS). Efficiency was measured in relation to solubilisation, dewaterability, and AD performance. Eighteen experimental conditions were evaluated at low frequency (20 kHz), duration (2–10 s), amplitude (∼8–12 μm) and applied pressure (0.5–3.0 barg), using a sonix™ patented titanium sonoprobe capable of delivering an instantaneous power of ∼6 kW provided by Doosan Enpure Ltd (DEL). An optimised experimental protocol was used as a pre-treatment for biochemical methane potential (BMP) testing and semi-continuous trials. Four digesters, with a 2-L working volume were operated mesophilically (37 ± 0.5 °C) over 22 days. The results showed that the sonix™ technology delivers effective sonication at very short retention times compared to conventional system. Results demonstrate that the technology effectively disrupts the floc structures and filaments within the TWAS, causing an increase in solubilisation and fine readily digestible material. Both BMP tests and semi-continuous trials demonstrated that sonicated TWAS gave higher biodegradability and methane potential compared to untreated TWAS. Partial-stream sonication (30:70 sonicated to untreated TWAS) resulted in a proportionate increase in biogas production illustrating the benefits of full-stream sonication.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3064
Author(s):  
Roberta Mota-Panizio ◽  
Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez ◽  
Luis Carmo-Calado ◽  
Gonçalo Lourinho ◽  
Paulo Sérgio Duque de Brito

The present study evaluates the digestion of cork boiling wastewater (CBW) through a biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. BMP assays were carried out with a working volume of 600 mL at a constant mesophilic temperature (35 °C). The experiment bottles contained CBW and inoculum (digested sludge from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)), with a ratio of inoculum/substrate (Ino/CBW) of 1:1 and 2:1 on the basis of volatile solids (VSs); the codigestion with food waste (FW) had a ratio of 2/0.7:0.3 (Ino/CBW:FW) and the codigestion with cow manure (CM) had a ratio of 2/0.5:0.5 (Ino/CBW:CM). Biogas and methane production was proportional to the inoculum substrate ratio (ISR) used. BMP tests have proved to be valuable for inferring the adequacy of anaerobic digestion to treat wastewater from the cork industry. The results indicate that the biomethane potential of CBWs for Ino/CBW ratios 1:1 and 2:1 is very low compared to other organic substrates. For the codigestion tests, the test with the Ino/CBW:CM ratio of 2/0.7:0.3 showed better biomethane yields, being in the expected values. This demonstrated that it is possible to perform the anaerobic digestion (AD) of CBW using a cosubstrate to increase biogas production and biomethane and to improve the quality of the final digestate.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Vergine ◽  
J. Zábranská ◽  
R. Canziani

This paper presents the results of lab-scale experiments on low temperature thermal pre-treatment (less than 100 °C) prior to anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. Two heating ways, microwave heating (MH) and conventional heating (CH), and two types of sludge, primary and waste activated sludge, were compared under the same experimental conditions. The degree of solubilisation produced by MH and CH up to 72, 82 and 93 °C was firstly estimated. For both types of heating, increase in soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) caused by the pre-treatment was about 14% on waste activated sludge and only 3% on primary sludge. The final temperature of 72 °C resulted as the most cost-effective in terms of additional soluble COD per unit of energy required. Subsequently, five series of biochemical methane potential mesophilic assays were run in 120 mL serum bottles on sludge samples pre-treated at 72 °C. When compared with control reaction vessels, no significant differences were noticed in net methane production of pre-treated primary sludge, whereas a relevant increase occurred regarding the pre-treated waste activated sludge. It was also observed that the trend of methane content in biogas during the batch tests can be described by a second order polynomial.


2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.-H. Heo ◽  
S.-C. Park ◽  
J.-S. Lee ◽  
H. Kang

Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests have been carried out to determine the anaerobic digestibility of the waste activated sludge (WAS) and the sludge pretreated by NaOH (PWAS). The optimal NaOH dosage was determined to be 45 meq NaOH/L. The maximum SCOD solubilization was 27.7, 31.4 and 38.3% at the temperatures of 25, 35 and 55°C respectively after 4 hours reaction. The final methane yield of simulated food waste (SFW) was 430 ml CH4/g VSadded, and those of PWAS (25°C), PWAS (35°C) and PWAS (55°C) was 274, 286 and 310 ml CH4/g VSadded respectively after 20 days. The figures were 66%, 73% and 88% higher than that of WAS. The methane production in anaerobic co-digestion is considerably affected by the fraction of SFW and PWAS in the feed. The anaerobic digestibility of the feed mixture (SFW with PWAS) is higher than that of the feed mixture (SFW with WAS). Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with the PWAS is found to be an attractive option to reduce the solid waste volume with improved methane recovery.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Anna Remiszewska-Skwarek ◽  
Ryszard Wierzchnicki ◽  
Otton K. Roubinek ◽  
Archana Kasinath ◽  
Alicja Jeżewska ◽  
...  

Innovative low-temperature disintegration (process temperature 55 °C and oxygen concentration 0.2 mg/dm3) can be an economically rational technology to intensifying energy production from renewable sources. The proposed process can achieve a degree of disintegration—under optimal conditions—of about 50%, which is excellent when compared with other methods of feed pre-treatment. The low-temperature disintegration of distillation residue and waste-activated sludge before the co-fermentation process increased biogas production by 30% and methane production by 65% (over a 26 d duration). The obtained results confirm that the low-temperature disintegration method can be effectively used to pre-prepare this type of feed. At the same time, it was discovered that the Gompertz model can be used to mathematically describe the biogas accumulation curves in the methane co-fermentation processes of the tested feeds (the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.98).


2021 ◽  
Vol 924 (1) ◽  
pp. 012071
Author(s):  
N A Rohma ◽  
S Suhartini ◽  
I Nurika

Abstract Production of biogas from lignocellulosic biomass by anaerobic digestion (AD) has attracted much interest. Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB), one of lignocellulosic biomass, is highly abundant in Indonesia and has potential as feedstock for bioenergy production such as biogas or methane. Yet, pre-treatments are needed to improve biogas production due to its complex crystalline structures. Chemical pre-treatments with acid or alkaline solution were reported to increase cellulose or highly reduce the lignin content of OPEFB. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acid and alkaline pre-treatments on the characteristics of OPEFB and methane potential. The acid pre-treatment experimental design was used factor of H2SO4 concentration (1, 1.3, and 1.6 (%v/v)) and NaOH concentration (1.8, 2.8, and 3.8 (%w/v)). Methane potential evaluation was carried out using the biochemical methane potential (BMP) test with the Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS) II under mesophilic condition (37°C), operated for 28 days. The results showed that both dilute acid and alkaline pre-treatment positively impact altering the characteristics of OPEFB, hence the specific methane potential. Alkaline pre-treatment with NaOH 3.8 (%w/v) gave the highest average SMP value of 0.161 ± 0.005 m3 CH4/kgVSadded.


2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Suschka ◽  
Klaudiusz Grübel

Abstract 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.


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