Print Email Facebook Twitter Mild Thermal Pre-Treatment of Waste Activated Sludge to Increase Loading Capacity, Biogas Production, and Solids’ Degradation: A Pilot-Scale Study Title Mild Thermal Pre-Treatment of Waste Activated Sludge to Increase Loading Capacity, Biogas Production, and Solids’ Degradation: A Pilot-Scale Study Author Gonzales, A. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) Guo, H. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) Ortega-Ibáñez, Oscar (CFEnergia S.A. de C.V. Oil and Gas) Petri, Coert (Waterschap Rijn en IJssel Waterboard) van Lier, J.B. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) de Kreuk, M.K. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) Hendriks, Alexander (Royal HaskoningDHV) Date 2020 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. Subject hydrogen peroxidemild-temperaturepilot-scalethermal pre-treatmentthermochemical pre-treatmentwaste activated sludge To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0ccfbfc6-aed6-45be-8e19-fb7f0ad8b17f DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/en13226059 ISSN 1996-1073 Source Energies, 13 (22), 1-18 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2020 A. Gonzales, H. Guo, Oscar Ortega-Ibáñez, Coert Petri, J.B. van Lier, M.K. de Kreuk, Alexander Hendriks Files PDF energies_13_06059_v2.pdf 1.91 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:0ccfbfc6-aed6-45be-8e19-fb7f0ad8b17f/datastream/OBJ/view