scholarly journals Addition of Different Biochars as Catalysts during the Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Mixed Wastewater Sludge

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1094
Author(s):  
Marco Chiappero ◽  
Francesca Cillerai ◽  
Franco Berruti ◽  
Ondřej Mašek ◽  
Silvia Fiore

Biochar (BC) recently gained attention as an additive for anaerobic digestion (AD). This work aims at a critical analysis of the effect of six BCs, with different physical and chemical properties, on the AD of mixed wastewater sludge at 37 °C, comparing their influence on methane production and AD kinetics. AD batch tests were performed at the laboratory scale operating 48 reactors (0.25 L working volume) for 28 days with the addition of 10 g L−1 of BC. Most reactors supplemented with BCs exhibited higher (up to 22%) methane yields than the control reactors (0.15 Nm3 kgVS−1). The modified Gompertz model provided maximum methane production rate values, and in all reactors the lag-phase was equal to zero days, indicating a good adaptation of the inoculum to the substrate. The potential correlations between BCs’ properties and AD performance were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA results showed a reasonable correlation between methane production and the BCs’ O–C and H–C molar ratios, and volatile matter, and between biogas production and BCs’ pore volume, specific surface area, and fixed and total carbon. In conclusion, the physic-chemical properties of BC (specifically, hydrophobicity and morphology) showed a key role in improving the AD of mixed wastewater sludge.

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 128-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radmard Seyed Abbas ◽  
Alizadeh Hossein Haji Agha ◽  
Seifi Rahman

The effects of thermal (autoclave and microwave irradiation (MW)) and thermo-chemical (autoclave and microwave irradiation – assisted NaOH 5N) pretreatments on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilisation, biogas and methane production of anaerobic digestion kitchen waste (KW) were investigated in this study. The modified Gompertz equation was fitted to accurately assess and compare the biogas and methane production from KW under the different pretreatment conditions and to attain representative simulations and predictions. In present study, COD solubilisation was demonstrated as an effective effect of pretreatment. Thermo-chemical pretreatments could improve biogas and methane production yields from KW. A comprehensive evaluation indicated that the thermo-chemical pretreatments (microwave irradiation and autoclave- assisted NaOH 5N, respectively) provided the best conditions to increase biogas and methane production from KW. The most effective enhancement of biogas and methane production (68.37 and 36.92 l, respectively) was observed from MW pretreated KW along with NaOH 5N, with the shortest lag phase of 1.79  day, the max. rate of 2.38 l·day<sup>–1</sup> and ultimate biogas production of 69.8 l as the modified Gompertz equation predicted.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 721-726
Author(s):  
Sasha D. Hafner ◽  
Johan T. Madsen ◽  
Johanna M. Pedersen ◽  
Charlotte Rennuit

Abstract Combining aerobic and anaerobic digestion in a two-stage system can improve the degradation of wastewater sludge over the use of either technology alone. But use of aerobic digestion as a pre-treatment before anaerobic digestion generally reduces methane production due to loss of substrate through oxidation. An inter-stage configuration may avoid this reduction in methane production. Here, we evaluated the use of thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) as an inter-stage treatment for wastewater sludge using laboratory-scale semi-continuous reactors. A single anaerobic digester was compared to an inter-stage system, where a thermophilic aerobic digester (55 °C) was used between two mesophilic anaerobic digesters (37 °C). Both systems had retention times of approximately 30 days, and the comparison was based on measurements made over 97 days. Results showed that the inter-stage system provided better sludge destruction (52% volatile solids (VS) removal vs. 40% for the single-stage system, 44% chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal vs. 34%) without a decrease in total biogas production (methane yield per g VS added was 0.22–0.24 L g−1 for both systems).


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 582-587
Author(s):  
Velayutham T ◽  
Karthikeyan G

Biogas (methane) production from batch anaerobic digesters containing varying concentration of sugar industry wastewater sludge as inoculums and organic fruit and vegetable market solid waste as a substrate was experimentally studied in this research. It was observed that biogas production was optimized with batch anaerobic digestion of fruit and vegetable solid waste. It was carried out for 60 days at room temperature with untreated sugar industry wastewater sludge as an inoculums with the varying concentration 10%, 20% and 30% of the working volume (Weight) of substrate. The performance of reactors was evaluated by measuring the daily biogas production at the room temperature and pH was maintained in the range of 6.8 to7.3 respectively. The maximum cumulative methane production is 597.66 ml/gVS. The biogas yields at the end of the 60days total cumulative biogas for R1, R2 and R3 was obtained as 382.48ml/gVS, 552.66ml/gVS and 597.66ml/gVS respectively from the reactors. At the end of the 60 days total cumulative biogas for Rc(control) was obtained as 196.85ml/gVS. It was observed that the methane content of the biogas generated from the reactors was in the range of 47–56% in control reactor and that forR1, R2and R3 were 56-61%, 60-67% and 65-74% respectively.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1294-1297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Alina Dumitrel ◽  
Adrian Eugen Cioabla ◽  
Ioana Ionel ◽  
Lucia Ana Varga

Anaerobic digestion processes of agricultural resources, as single substrates (wheat bran and barley) or as combination of substrates (75 % corn&25% corn cob � named MIX1 and 40 % corn & 40 % wheat&20 % sunflower husks � named MIX2), were performed, at a mesophilic temperature in a batch reactor, at pilot scale. The results proved that the higher quantity of biogas yield was achieved for barley, followed by MIX1, and finally MIX2. The same order was obtained when the total methane production was evaluated. The performances of digesters were mathematically evaluated by using the modified Gompertz equation. The kinetic parameters, such as the methane production potential (MP), the maximum methane production rate (Rm) and the extent of lag phase (l) were calculated, for each experimental case. The values of the performance indicators confirmed that all the models fitted well with the experimental data.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 937-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. I. Pérez-Elvira ◽  
I. Sapkaite ◽  
F. Fdz-Polanco

Thermal steam-explosion is the most extended hydrolysis pretreatment to enhance anaerobic digestion of sludge. Thermal hydrolysis key parameters are temperature (T) and time (t), and the generally accepted values reported from full-scale information are: 150–230 °C and 20–60 min. This study assesses the influence of different temperature–time–flash combinations (110–180 °C, 5–60 min, 1–3 re-flashing) on the anaerobic degradation of secondary sludge through biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. All the conditions tested presented higher methane production compared to the untreated sludge, and both solubilization (after the hydrolysis) and degradation (by anaerobic digestion) increased linearly when increasing the severity (T–t) of the pretreatment, reaching 40% solubilization and degradation of the particulate matter at 180° C–60 min. However, for the 180 °C temperature, the treatment time impacted negatively on the lag phase. No influence of re-flashing the pretreated matter was observed. In conclusion, thermal steam-explosion at short operation times (5 min) and moderate temperatures (145 °C) seems to be very attractive from a degradation point of view thus presenting a methane production enhancement similar to the one obtained at 180°C and without negative influence of the lag phase.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hathaikarn Thongpan ◽  
Rachadaporn Thongnan ◽  
Nirattisai Rakmak ◽  
Chairat Siripatana

In this work, both models for batch and continuous anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent were developed based on Monod’s kinetics. Then the authors attempt to understand the effect of wastewater-sludge (WW:S) ratio on the biogas production efficiency in batch digesters. The experiments were carried out at a controlled temperature of 35±0.5 °C. Two series of the experiment were conducted. In the first series, the wastewater-sludge ratios covered 1:1 (add sodium bi-carbonate), 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1. It was found that the ratio of 1:2 gave the highest biogas producing efficiency followed by the ratio 1:1 (add sodium bi-carbonate). At 1:1 ratio, sodium bi-carbonate addition was required to start anaerobic digestion at a workable pH range whereas at 1:2 ratio the initial pH is in the workable range without the need of its addition. However, at the ratio of 2:1 the starting pH was too low to adjust pH economically by adding sodium bi-carbonate. The second series was to confine experiments to a narrower ratio range, namely: 1:1 (add sodium bi-carbonate), 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5. In both sets of experiment, the ratio 1:2 gave the best biogas production potential of 76.62 and 78.52 ml of biogas/g COD removed respectively. In all treatments, the process was able to remove more than 80% of wastewater initial COD. The modified Gompertz equation was used to estimate the maximum specific biogas production rate (MBPR or Rm/S0). It was also found that the ratio of 1:2 gave the best MBPR in both experimental series (26.87 ml biogas/g COD-day). A modified Monod-type Model was also developed to describe the microbial growth, substrate consumption and biogas production in continuous operation. In general, sludge recycle provided active biomass which can use the substrate in the wastewater instantly without significant lag phase or delay. Furthermore, continuous-flow model developed, with parameters estimated from batch experiments, predicted the experimental kinetics of the actual continuous experiments satisfactory.  


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Rusín ◽  
Kateřina Kašáková ◽  
Kateřina Chamrádová

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to discuss the usability of a newly designed partially stirred horizontal anaerobic bioreactor made from triple layer bag material Sioen B6070 and heated by circulating hot air. For verification of the possibility of processing typical agricultural fibrous substrate at relatively high solids content in this type of reactor, the semi-continuous mesophilic (40±3°C) anaerobic digestion of corn silage of KWS Atletico cultivar was conducted. The reactor with a total volume of 0.7 m3provided 0.5 m3working volume. Liquid slurry from the 1st stage of the agricultural biogas station Pustejov II was used as inoculum. The silage dosage was performed so that the reactor reached high methane production intensity at low volumetric production of the digestate for 120 days. The average organic loading reached 4.27 kgVSm−3d−1while the average hydraulic retention time decreased to 85 days. The dry biogas production intensity was 3.42 mN3m−3d−1with an average methane content of 52.5 vol%. The specific methane production from corn silage was 0.419 mN3kgVS−1. At the end of the test, the digestate contained 13–14 wt% of total solids (TS) and 82–85 wt% of volatile solids in TS. The bag-type digester with hot air heating can be used by small farmers where there is no viable biogas cogeneration.


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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akinola David Olugbemide ◽  
Blaž Likozar ◽  
Ana Oberlintner ◽  
Uroš Novak ◽  
Ekebafe Lawrence

Abstract In this research study, the impact of the feedstock to the inoculum (F/I) amount ratio in the dry anaerobic digestion (DAD) of Hura crepitans leaves was evaluated. Measured biogas volumes, as well as the chemical kinetic predictions for exponential, logistic and Gompertz model, depicting the agreement of the simulations over time, were also determined. From the F/I equivalents 2, 4 and 6 at 22 % of packed total solids, which were considered in analysis test procedure, the DAD digester with F/I number 4 was the most promising in terms of biogas’ production rate. Its daily methane/carbon dioxide was 690 mL, while cumulative generation productivity was greater than 2 L/sample, respectively. On the other hand, the DAD reaction with F/I contained 6, recorded the lowest related expressed primary matter of < 1 L. An associated early commencement of the organic material breakdown in all bio vessels was indicative of a good start-up phase, which is one of the challenges, often encountered in DAD process. Furthermore, applied experimental methods revealed the direct correlation phenomena between biodegradability physical constants, measured molecular CH4/CO2 synthesis and simulations. Hura crepitans being an invasive plant species makes its lignocellulosic fractions desired in terms of valorisation, as it is not competing with agricultural crop products. Modelling can, moreover, contribute to consecutive operation optimisation, scaling and integrating, also taking dynamics under consideration. As opposed to bio-refining wood residues, where individual cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin biopolymers can be attained, degradation to yield CH4 is robust, as well as compatible in combustion.


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