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Anaerobic Digestion of Raw and Thermally Hydrolyzed Wastewater Solids Under Various Operational Conditions
Author(s) -
Wilson Christopher A.,
Tanneru Charan T.,
Banjade Sarita,
Murthy Sudhir N.,
Novak John T.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143011x12928814444934
Subject(s) - total dissolved solids , chemistry , biosolids , anaerobic digestion , volatile suspended solids , ammonia , suspended solids , biogas , total suspended solids , wastewater , pulp and paper industry , waste management , chemical oxygen demand , methane , environmental engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
In this study, high‐solids anaerobic digestion of thermally pretreated wastewater solids (THD) was compared with conventional mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD). Operational conditions, such as pretreatment temperature (150 to 170°C), solids retention time (15 to 20 days), and digestion temperature (37 to 42°C), were varied for the seven THD systems operated. Volatile solids reduction (VSR) by THD ranged from 56 to 62%, compared with approximately 50% for MAD. Higher VSR contributed to 24 to 59% increased biogas production (m 3 /kg VSR·d) from THD relative to MAD. The high‐solids conditions of the THD feed resulted in high total ammonia‐nitrogen (proportional to solids loading) and total alkalinity concentrations in excess of 14 g/L as calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ). Increased pH in THD reactors caused 5 to 8 times more un‐ionized ammonia to be present than in MAD, and this likely led to inhibition of aceticlastic methanogens, resulting in accumulation of residual volatile fatty acids between 2 and 6 g/L as acetic acid. The THD produced biosolids cake that possessed low organic sulfur‐based biosolids odor and dewatered to between 33 and 39% total solids. Dual conditioning with cationic polymer and ferric chloride was shown to be an effective strategy for mitigating dissolved organic nitrogen and UV‐quenching compounds in the return stream following centrifugal dewatering of THD biosolids.