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High‐Solids Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Sludge Pretreated by Thermal Hydrolysis
Author(s) -
Jolis Domènec
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.2175/193864708x267414
Subject(s) - anaerobic digestion , mesophile , volatile suspended solids , chemistry , biogas , biosolids , suspended solids , sewage sludge , total dissolved solids , aerobic digestion , thermal hydrolysis , organic matter , pulp and paper industry , hydrolysis , waste management , digestion (alchemy) , mixed liquor suspended solids , sewage treatment , activated sludge , chromatography , sewage sludge treatment , environmental science , wastewater , methane , environmental engineering , biochemistry , engineering , organic chemistry , biology , bacteria , genetics
High‐solids anaerobic digestion can consistently achieve 55 to 60% volatile solids destruction after thermal hydrolysis pretreatment, which reduces its viscosity and increases the fraction of soluble organic matter. For feed sludge with total solids concentrations between 6.8 and 8.2%, the process is stable at hydraulic retention times of 9 to 12 days, significantly increasing the treatment capacity of existing digesters or, in treatment plants without spare capacity, helping to postpone, reduce, or even avoid costly infrastructure investments. Process stability is related to the high concentration of soluble organic matter in the digesters. High‐solids temperature‐phased digestion appears to be superior to high‐solids mesophilic digestion, with respect to process flexibility and stability, biosolids stabilization, and biogas generation, although ammonia inhibition may have occurred. Implementation of high‐solids digestion could significantly reduce operation and maintenance costs of solids‐handling operations.