Abstract
Sludge pre-treatments are emerging as part of the disposal process of solid by-products of wastewater purification. One of their benefits is the increase in methane production rate and/or yield, along with higher loading capacities of existing digesters. In this study, we report the performance of a pilot-scale compartmentalized digester (volume of 18.6 m3) that utilized a mild thermal pre-treatment at 70 °C coupled with hydrogen peroxide dosing. Compared with a reference conventional anaerobic digester, this technique allowed an increased organic loading rate from 1.4 to 4.2 kg volatile solids (VS)/(m3d) and an increment in the solids degradation from 40 to 44%. To some extent, these improvements were promoted by the solubilization of the tightly-bound fraction of the extracellular polymeric substances to looser and more accessible fractions without the formation of refractory compounds. In sum, our results suggest that this pre-treatment method could increase the treatment capacity of existing digesters without significant retrofitting.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 6059 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-18 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Energies |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 22 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- hydrogen peroxide
- mild-temperature
- pilot-scale
- thermal pre-treatment
- thermochemical pre-treatment
- waste activated sludge