scholarly journals Steam Explosion Pretreatment of Sludge for Pharmaceutical Removal and Heavy Metal Release to Improve Biodegradability and Biogas Production

Fermentation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Abolfazl Lotfi Aski ◽  
Alimohammad Borghei ◽  
Ali Zenouzi ◽  
Nariman Ashrafi ◽  
Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

Steam explosion pretreatment was developed and evaluated to remove pharmaceuticals and heavy metals from wastewater sludge and to improve its biodegradability and methane yield. Effects of pressure (5–15 bar) and duration (1–15 min) during the pretreatment were examined, and the pretreatment efficiency was evaluated based on the solubilization degree, the capillary suction time (CST) test and anaerobic digestion. The removal efficiency of ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and amoxicillin was 65%, 69%, and 66% and 70%, 66%, and 70% in primary sludge (PS) and waste-activated sludge (WAS), respectively. The highest percent release efficiency of heavy metals, i.e., lead, cadmium, and silver, for PS and WAS was 78%, 70%, and 79% and 79%, 80%, and 75%, respectively. The highest methane yield was obtained after pretreatment at 10 bar for 15 min and at 15 bar for 10 min, with respective yields of 380 and 358 mL CH4/g volatile solids (VS) for the PS and 315 and 334 mL CH4/g VS for the WAS. The results of methane production indicated that the decreased concentrations of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals resulted in increased biodegradability of PS and WAS.

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 2687-2698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Peng Han ◽  
He Liu ◽  
Lihui Zhang ◽  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract The effect of steam explosion on physicochemical properties of sludge and the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) was investigated. The steam explosion was conducted under different combinations of temperature and time, ranging 151–198 °C and 4–12 min respectively. The capillary suction time (CST) and viscosity of the sludge was increased with particle size decreased by improved hydrolysis temperature and prolonged hydrolysis time. The best sludge solubilization achieved was 41.3% under pretreatment condition of 198 °C and 4 min. Biogas production was enhanced with the improved sludge solubilization, and a linear correlation was found between biogas production and the severity factor (logR0) of steam explosion. However, the biogas productivity was reduced when the logR0 was increased from 3.79 to 3.96, probably owing to the generation of refractory organics during the high severity pretreatment. The temperature of 198 °C and the time of 8 min were the recommended operation parameters of steam explosion pretreatment for sludge AD, which could improve biogas production by 99.7 mL/g VSfed. The pH and NH4+-N during sludge AD was increased by steam explosion pretreatment; however, no inhibition on biogas production was observed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ya. Vanyushina ◽  
Yu. A. Nikolaev ◽  
A. M. Agarev ◽  
M. V. Kevbrina ◽  
M. N. Kozlov

The process of anaerobic thermophilic digestion of municipal wastewater sludge with a recycled part of thickened digested sludge, was studied in semi-continuous laboratory digesters. This modified recycling process resulted in increased solids retention time (SRT) with the same hydraulic retention time (HRT) as compared with traditional digestion without recycling. Increased SRT without increasing of HRT resulted in the enhancement of volatile substance reduction by up to 68% in the reactor with the recycling process compared with 34% in a control conventional reactor. Biogas production was intensified from 0.3 L/g of influent volatile solids (VS) in the control reactor up to 0.35 L/g VS. In addition, the recycling process improved the dewatering properties of digested sludge.


2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Barrios ◽  
U. Duran ◽  
A. Cano ◽  
M. Cisneros-Ortiz ◽  
S. Hernández

Anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge is the preferred method for sludge treatment as it produces energy in the form of biogas as well as a stabilised product that may be land applied. Different pre-treatments have been proposed to solubilise organic matter and increase biogas production. Sludge electrooxidation with boron-doped diamond electrodes was used as pre-treatment for waste activated sludge (WAS) and its effect on physicochemical properties and biomethane potential (BMP) was evaluated. WAS with 2 and 3% total solids (TS) achieved 2.1 and 2.8% solubilisation, respectively, with higher solids requiring more energy. After pre-treatment, biodegradable chemical oxygen demand values were close to the maximum theoretical BMP, which makes sludge suitable for energy production. Anaerobic digestion reduced volatile solids (VS) by more than 30% in pre-treated sludge with a food to microorganism ratio of 0.15 g VSfed g−1 VSbiomass. Volatile fatty acids were lower than those for sludge without pre-treatment. Best pre-treatment conditions were 3% TS and 28.6 mA cm−2.


2014 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 403-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Bauer ◽  
Javier Lizasoain ◽  
Franz Theuretzbacher ◽  
Jane W. Agger ◽  
María Rincón ◽  
...  

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Antonopoulou ◽  
Dimitrios Vayenas ◽  
Gerasimos Lyberatos

Various pretreatment methods, such as thermal, alkaline and acid, were applied on grass lawn (GL) waste and the effect of each pretreatment method on the Biochemical Methane Potential was evaluated for two options, namely using the whole slurry resulting from pretreatment or the separate solid and liquid fractions obtained. In addition, the effect of each pretreatment on carbohydrate solubilization and lignocellulossic content fractionation (to cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin) was also evaluated. The experimental results showed that the methane yield was enhanced with alkaline pretreatment and, the higher the NaOH concentration (20 g/100 gTotal Solids (TS)), the higher was the methane yield observed (427.07 L CH4/kg Volatile Solids (VS), which was almost 25.7% higher than the BMP of the untreated GL). Comparing the BMP obtained under the two options, i.e., that of the whole pretreatment slurry with the sum of the BMPs of both fractions, it was found that direct anaerobic digestion without separation of the pretreated biomass was favored, in almost all cases. A preliminary energy balance and economic assessment indicated that the process could be sustainable, leading to a positive net heat energy only when using a more concentrated pretreated slurry (i.e., 20% organic loading), or when applying NaOH pretreatment at a lower chemical loading.


Author(s):  
Zuhaib Siddiqui ◽  
N.J. Horan ◽  
Kofi Anaman

Biomethane production from processed industrial food waste (IFW) in admixture with sewage sludge (primary and waste activated sludge: PS and WAS) was evaluated at a range of C:N ratios using a standard biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. IFW alone had a C:N of 30 whereas for WAS it was 5.4 and thus the C:N ratio of the blends fell in that range. Increasing the IFW content in mix improves the methane potential by increasing both the cumulative biogas production and the rate of methane production. Optimum methane yield 239 mL/g VSremoved occurred at a C:N ratio of 15 which was achieved with a blend containing 11 percent (w/w) IFW. As the fraction of IFW in the blend increased, volatile solids (VS) destruction was increased and this led to a reduction in methane yield and amount of production. The highest destruction of volatile solids of 93 percent was achieved at C:N of 20 followed by C:N 30 and 15. A shortened BMP test is adequate for evaluating optimum admixtures.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidhya Prabhudessai ◽  
Anasuya Ganguly ◽  
Srikanth Mutnuri

The focus of our work is on anaerobic digestion of locally available agro wastes like coconut oil cake, cashew apple waste, and grass from lawn cuttings. The most productive agro waste, in terms of methane yield, was coconut oil cake and grass. The results showed that the initial volatile solids concentration significantly affected the biogas production. The methane yield from coconut oil cake was found to be 383 ml CH4/g VS and 277 ml CH4/g VS added at 4 and 4.5 g VS/l. In case of grass the biogas production increased with increasing VS concentrations with methane yield of 199, 250, 256, 284, and 332 ml CH4/g VS at 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5.0 g VS/l. For cashew apple waste single-stage fermentation inhibited biogas production. However, phase separation showed methane yield of 60.7 ml CH4/g VS and 64.6 ml CH4/g VS at 3.5 and 4.0 g VS/l, respectively. The anaerobic biodegradability of coconut oil cake was evaluated in fed batch mode in a 5 L anaerobic reactor at 4 g VS/L per batch, and the maximum methane yield was found to be 320 ml CH4/g VS.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengkai Liu ◽  
Ian D. Buchanan

Co-digestion has drawn much attention because of its potential to increase biogas production among other benefits. Restaurant grease has high energy content and methane production potential and so is a promising substrate for co-digestion with municipal wastewater sludge. Anaerobic co-digestion of municipal wastewater sludge and restaurant grease was investigated at laboratory-scale under mesophilic conditions (37 °C). Increasing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) loading rate of the test digester by 387% (organic loading rate 4.235 kg VS/m3/d) relative to the control digester led to a 467% increase in daily biogas production, a 25.2% increase in methane yield (based on volatile solids (VS) destruction), a 29.8% increase in COD removal and a 27.2% increase in VS reduction. The biogas methane content ranged from 62.6 to 66.2% (v/v). No negative effect of the grease addition was observed in the test digester performance under the conditions investigated. The increases in biogas production and methane yield indicated enhanced digestion performance. In addition, partial alkalinity and pH proved to be good indicators of digester stability.


2013 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzieh Shafiei ◽  
Maryam M. Kabir ◽  
Hamid Zilouei ◽  
Ilona Sárvári Horváth ◽  
Keikhosro Karimi

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