Solid state anaerobic digestion of mixed organic waste: the synergistic effect of food waste addition on the destruction of paper and cardboard

ABSTRACTFull-scale anaerobic digestion processes for organic solid waste are common in Europe, but generally unaffordable in Canada and the United States because of inadequate regulations to restrict cheaper forms of disposal, particularly landfill. We investigated the viability of solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) as an alternative that reduces the costs of waste pretreatment and subsequent wastewater treatment. A laboratory SS-AD digester, comprising six 10L leach beds and an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating the leachate, was operated continuously for 88 weeks, with a mass balance of 101±2%. The feed was a mixture of cardboard, boxboard, newsprint, and fine paper, and varying amounts of food waste (from 0% to 29% on a COD basis). No process upset or instability was observed. The addition of food waste showed a synergistic effect, raising CH4 production from the fibre mixture from 52.7 L.kg-1COD fibreadded to 152 L.kg-1COD fibreadded, an increase of 190%. Substrate COD destruction efficiency reached 65% and a methane yield of 225 L.kg-1 CODadded was achieved at 29% food waste on a COD basis, and a solids retention time of 42 days. This performance was similar to that of a completely stirred tank reactor digesting similar wastes, but with much lower energy input.Abstract Figure