scholarly journals Thermal hydrolysis to enhance energetic potential of sewage sludge: A review

Paliva ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Anna Mágrová ◽  
Pavel Jeníček

Sewage sludge biomass is a renewable energy source commonly produced by anaerobic digestion (AD). However, the limited biodegradability of sewage sludge causes a poor energy conversion of organic material into biogas and requires further enhancement. One possible solution is sludge disintegration by a thermal hydrolysis process (THP) that has already proven to enhance biogas production and improve the quality of digested sludge. This article reviews possible THP configurations, such as THP-AD, ITHP, and PAD-THP, together with different input materials and their impact on the energy balance of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Data from full-scale THP demonstrate differences between the configurations and input material. Moreover, the general advantages and disadvantages of THP integration are summarized and presented as a multicriteria analysis that simplifies the decision-making whether the THP should be integrated in the WWTP.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 964
Author(s):  
José García-Cascallana ◽  
Xiomar Gómez Barrios ◽  
E. Judith Martinez

An evaluation of the energy and economic performance of thermal hydrolysis technologies is carried out on a theoretical basis. The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of Burgos (Spain) was the base scenario of this evaluation. Energy and mass balances were established considering the registered data of primary and secondary thickened sludge in the WWTP for 2011 to 2016. These balances were analysed considering five different scenarios, taking as Scenario 1, the plant operating with conventional mesophilic digestion. The scenarios considered commercially available technologies. The best results were obtained when hydrolysis was applied to digested sludge and sludge from the Solidstream® process. These two scenarios showed the best performance regarding volatile solid removal and lower demand for live steam, achieving a higher amount of biogas available for valorisation using combined heat and power (CHP) units. The main advantage of the hydrolysis process is the decrease in the volume of digesters and the amount of dewatered sludge needing final disposal. The Solidstream® process allowed a 35% increase in biogas available for engines and a 23% increase in electricity production.


2013 ◽  
Vol 671-674 ◽  
pp. 2736-2741
Author(s):  
Yin An Ming ◽  
Tao Tao

To reuse municipal sewage sludge safely, experiment was carried out on grapefruit trees fertilized with composted sludge from Shiweitou Sewage Treatment Plant in Xiamen City of China, and a method was introduced of how to assess the environmental quality of grapefruit trees soil fertilized with sludge by Set Pair Analysis (SPA) model. The results showed that the soil in the surface layer (0-15cm) and the deeper layer (15-30cm) was less clean, and the environment of soil was not polluted. Thus it was feasible to use sludge as fruit fertilizer. The maximum service life of sludge for continuous land application was estimated by taking Cd as the limiting factor, which would provide scientific guide and technical support for safe land application of sludge.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Lina Cardoso ◽  
C. Esperanza Ramírez ◽  
E. Violeta Escalante

There are problems associated with sludge management in small treatment plants (<10 L/s) located in rural communities, due to costly conventional technology for sludge stabilization. Many of these plants have only sludge drying beds. Mexican Institute of Water Technology has proposed developing suitable low-cost technologies, one of which is vermicomposting a biodegradation system using earthworms of the species Eisenia foetida (earthworm) which stabilize sludge and reduce its pathogenicity. The objective of this work is to present two case studies where vermicomposting technology has been applied in Mexico. The first study corresponds to a plant where 4.8 m3/month of sludge are produced; for these wastes, a vermicomposting system was built and installed. The second study is a treatment plant where 9 m3/month of sludge are produced; experimental tests were conducted with sludge and water hyacinth and a vermicomposting system was designed. The vermicomposts were analyzed using parameters defined by Mexican standards. In regards to stabilization, TVS was reduced by 38% and the microbiological quality of the vermicompost was Class A and B, with a reduction in fecal coliforms and Helminth eggs according to NOM-004-SEMARNAT-2002. A CRETI (Corrosivity, Reactivity, Explosivity, Toxicity and Ignitability) analysis (NOM-052-SEMARNAT-2005) was used to show that the process reduced the concentration of releasable sulfides. The agronomic quality of the vermicompost exhibited a high content of organic matter comparable to many organic manures and high content of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. It is concluded that it is possible to improve the conditions of sewage sludge management in small plants of rural communities with a minimum investment (less than $10,000.00 USD) and with a requirement of a minimum area of 60 to 70 m2 for a production of less than 9 m3/month of dehydrated sludge (80% humidity).


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathijs Oosterhuis ◽  
Davy Ringoot ◽  
Alexander Hendriks ◽  
Paul Roeleveld

The thermal hydrolysis process (THP) is a sludge treatment technique which affects anaerobic biodegradability, viscosity and dewaterability of waste activated sludge (WAS). In 2011 a THP-pilot plant was operated, connected to laboratory-scale digesters, at the water board Regge en Dinkel and in cooperation with Cambi A.S. and MWH Global. Thermal hydrolysis of WAS resulted in a 62% greater volatile solids (VS) reduction compared to non-hydrolysed sludge. Furthermore, the pilot digesters could be operated at a 2.3 times higher solids loading rate compared to conventional sludge digesters. By application of thermal sludge hydrolysis, the overall efficiency of the sludge treatment process can be improved.


Author(s):  
Krzysztof Poszytek ◽  
Joanna Karczewska-Golec ◽  
Anna Ciok ◽  
Przemyslaw Decewicz ◽  
Mikolaj Dziurzynski ◽  
...  

Sewage sludge is an abundant source of microorganisms that are metabolically active against numerous contaminants, and thus possibly useful in environmental biotechnologies. However, amongst the sewage sludge isolates, pathogenic bacteria can potentially be found, and such isolates should therefore be carefully tested before their application. A novel bacterial strain, Ochrobactrum sp. POC9, was isolated from a sewage sludge sample collected from a wastewater treatment plant. The strain exhibited lipolytic, proteolytic, cellulolytic, and amylolytic activities, which supports its application in biodegradation of complex organic compounds. We demonstrated that bioaugmentation with this strain substantially improved the overall biogas production and methane content during anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. The POC9 genome content analysis provided a deeper insight into the biotechnological potential of this bacterium and revealed that it is a metalotolerant and a biofilm-producing strain capable of utilizing various toxic compounds. The strain is resistant to rifampicin, chloramphenicol and β-lactams. The corresponding antibiotic resistance genes (including blaOCH and cmlA/floR) were identified in the POC9 genome. Nevertheless, as only few genes in the POC9 genome might be linked to pathogenicity, and none of those genes is a critical virulence factor found in severe pathogens, the strain appears safe for application in environmental biotechnologies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1277-1281 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jenicek ◽  
J. Bartacek ◽  
J. Kutil ◽  
J. Zabranska ◽  
M. Dohanyos

Anaerobic digestion is the only energy-positive technology widely used in wastewater treatment. Full-scale data prove that the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can produce biogas that covers a substantial amount of the energy consumption of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In this paper, we discuss possibilities for improving the digestion efficiency and biogas production from sewage sludge. Typical specific energy consumptions of municipal WWTPs per population equivalent are compared with the potential specific production of biogas to find the required/optimal digestion efficiency. Examples of technological measures to achieve such efficiency are presented. Our findings show that even a municipal WWTP with secondary biological treatment located in a moderate climate can come close to energy self-sufficiency. However, they also show that such self-sufficiency is dependent on: (i) the strict optimization of the total energy consumption of the plant, and (ii) an increase in the specific biogas production from sewage sludge to values around 600 L per kg of supplied volatile solids.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-87
Author(s):  
Stela Sefa ◽  
Tania Floqi ◽  
Julian Sefa

The wastewater treatment plant (WWTPD) located in Durrës, responsible for a treatment area of 205,000 inhabitants, employs the tertiary advanced wasterwater treatment to generate biogas from activated sludge for self use. The biogas collected from the anaerobic digestion tank feed the boiler and the co-generation unit which is then transformed to power its own energy grid. In order to evaluate the quality of biogas produced by anaerobic digestion of WWTPD’s sludge, is measured the percentage of CH4 and CO2 from the biogas production during a three years period (2016 – 2018). From the performed analyses has resulted a percentage of CH4 up to 75% and 25% CO2 in 2016. While the lowest percentage of CH4 in 2018 with respectively 70% CH4 and 30% CO2. Based on the value measurements, qualitative results of biogas parameters show that physicochemical and biochemical processes are performed under strict conditions and anaerobic digestion is performed according to standards.


2019 ◽  
pp. 537-543
Author(s):  
Svetlana Yu. Selivanovskaya ◽  
Venera Z. Latypova

Treatment of wastewater unavoidably results in the generation of huge quantities of sludge in which pollutants concentrate and which must be disposed of. The aim of this study was to compare the quality of organic matter, the metal composition and toxic organic content in different sewage sludge. The presence of these substances caused environmental damage in soil, plants, groundwater and air. Sewage sludge was periodically sampled from five treatment plant treated municipal and industrial wastewater in common in Almetevsk, Elabuga, Zainsk, Kazan, Chistopol (Tatarstan, Russia). Knowledge of the metal content of the sludge is a key step in selecting or in ruling out the various disposal alternatives. For the approval of possible utilization of sewage sludge as fertilizer the estimation of the chemical compounds has to be supplemented with the toxicity bioassay.


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