Production of volatile fatty acids by fermentation of waste activated sludge pre-treated in full-scale thermal hydrolysis plants

Volatile Fatty Acids Production from Codigestion of Food Waste and Sewage Sludge Based on β-Cyclodextrins and Alkaline Treatments

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are preferred valuable resources, which can be produced from anaerobic digestion process. This study presents a novel technology using β-cyclodextrins (β-CD) pretreatment integrated alkaline method to enhance VFAs production from codigestion of food waste and sewage sludge. Experiment results showed that optimized ratio of food waste to sewage sludge was 3 : 2 because it provided adequate organic substance and seed microorganisms. Based on this optimized ratio, the integrated treatment of alkaline pH 10 and β-CD addition (0.2 g/g TS) performed the best enhancement on VFAs production, and the maximum VFAs production was 8631.7 mg/L which was 6.13, 1.38, and 1.57 times higher than that of control, initial pH 10, and 0.2 g β-CD/g TS treatment, respectively. Furthermore, the hydrolysis rate of protein and polysaccharides was greatly improved in integration treatment, which was 1.18–3.45 times higher than that of other tests. Though the VFAs production and hydrolysis of polymeric organics were highly enhanced, the primary bacterial communities with different treatments did not show substantial differences.

A new biological process for short-chain fatty acid generation from waste activated sludge improved by Clostridiales enhancement

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the carbon source of biological nutrient removal, can be produced by waste activated sludge (WAS) anaerobic fermentation. To get more SCFAs from sludge, most studies in literature focused on the mechanical process control or the structure of microbial community; little attention has been paid to the key microorganisms and their function related to SCFA generation. In this study, a different sludge pretreated method, i.e., pretreating sludge by proteinase K for 2 days followed by pretreating at pH 10 for 4 days, is reported, by which the proportion of Clostridiales was increased and SCFA generation was enhanced. First, the effects of different proteinase K concentrations and initial pH on sludge hydrolysis and SCFA generation were investigated. The optimal conditions showed the highest SCFA generation (352.91 mg COD per gram of volatile suspended solids), which was 2.89-fold of the blank (un-pretreated). Further, the new biological pretreatment process led to the conversion of other SCFAs to acetic acid. Acetic acid accounted for 60.8 % of total SCFAs with the new biological pretreatment process compared with 44.9 % in the blank test. Then, the investigation on the key microorganisms related to SCFA production with 16S rRNA gene clone library and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) indicated that there were much greater active Clostridiales when SCFAs were generated with the proteinase K and pH 10 pretreated sludge. Further, the mechanisms for the optimal conditions significantly enhancing SCFA generation were investigated. It was found that pretreating sludge by proteinase K and pH 10 caused the greatest key enzyme activities, organic consumption, and inhibition of methane generation. Graphical abstract A new biological process for short-chain fatty acid generation from waste activated sludge improved by Clostridiales enhancement.

What could the entire cornstover contribute to the enhancement of waste activated sludge acidification? Performance assessment and microbial community analysis

BACKGROUND

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production from waste activated sludge (WAS) digestion is constrained by unbalanced nutrient composition (low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio). Characteristics conditioning by extra carbon sources, normally in the mixture of raw solid, has been reported to be an efficient approach to enhance WAS acidification. However, little attention has been paid to the contributions of other adjustment forms. Moreover, the corresponding ecological estimation has not been investigated yet.

RESULTS

In this study, the feasibility of corn stover (CS) conditioning with three adjustment forms [pretreated straw (S), hydrolysate (H) and hydrolysate + straw (HS)] in improving VFAs production from WAS was demonstrated. It was observed that the highest VFAs yield was achieved in H co-digesting test (574 mg COD/g VSS), while it was only 392 mg COD/g VSS for WAS digesting alone. VFAs composition was strongly adjustment form-dependent, as more acetic (HAc) and propionic (HPr) acids were generated in CS_HS and S, respectively. High-throughput sequencing analysis illustrated that acid (especially HAc)-producing characteristic genera (Bacteroides, Proteiniclasticum and Fluviicola) and HPr-producing characteristic genera (Mangroviflexus and Paludibacter) were detected by CS_HS and S conditioning, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Corn stover conditioning greatly upgraded the WAS acidification performance, especially for the CS_H adjustment form, and the VFAs yield gained was considerably larger than that previously reported. CS adjustment forms played an important role in structuring the innate microbial community in WAS. Canonical correlation analysis illustrated that characteristic genera, with better hydrolysis and acidification abilities, could be enriched by the feedstocks with certain content of cellulose, hemicellulose or their saccharification hydrolysates. Moreover, ecological estimation revealed that, as far as the entire CS (including S and H) per acre was concerned, the capacity of WAS treatment would reach that produced in a one million mts capacity wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) per day. These findings may have crucial implications for the operation of WWTPs.

Production of carboxylates from high rate activated sludge through fermentation

The aim of this work was to study the key parameters affecting fermentation of high rate activated A-sludge to carboxylates, including pH, temperature, inoculum, sludge composition and iron content. The maximum volatile fatty acids production was 141mgCg(-1) VSSfed, at pH 7. Subsequently the potential for carboxylate and methane production for A-sludge from four different plants at pH 7 and 35°C were compared. Initial BOD of the sludge appeared to be key determining carboxylate yield from A-sludge. Whereas methanogenesis could be correlated linearly to the quantity of ferric used for coagulation, fermentation did not show a dependency on iron presence. This difference may enable a strategy whereby A-stage sludge is separated to achieve fermentation, and iron dosing for phosphate removal is only implemented at the B-stage.

Volatile fatty acids platform from thermally hydrolysed secondary sewage sludge enhanced through recovered micronutrients from digested sludge

The extracellular polymeric substances and microbial cytoplasmic contents seem to hold inorganic ions and organic products, such as proteins and carbohydrates that are of critical importance for the metabolism of hydrolytic and acidogenic anaerobic microorganisms. The addition of soluble microbially recovered nutrients from thermally treated digestate sludge, for the fermentation of thermally hydrolysed waste activated sludge, resulted in higher volatile fatty acids yields (VFAs). The yield of VFAs obtained from the recovered microbial nutrients was 27% higher than the no micronutrients control, and comparable to the yield obtained using a micronutrients commercial recipe. In addition, the use of a low pH resulting from a high sucrose dose to select spore forming acidogenic bacteria was effective for VFA production, and yielded 20% higher VFAs than without the pH shock and this associated with the addition of recovered microbial nutrients would overcome the need to thermally pre-treat the inoculum.

Comparing the value of bioproducts from different stages of anaerobic membrane bioreactors

The anaerobic digestion process in anaerobic membrane bioreactors is an effective way for waste management, energy sustainability and pollution control in the environment. This digestion process basically involves the production of volatile fatty acids and biohydrogen as intermediate products and methane as a final product. This paper compares the value of bioproducts from different stages of anaerobic membrane bioreactors through a thorough assessment. The value was assessed in terms of technical feasibility, economic assessment, environmental impact and impact on society. Even though the current research objective is more inclined to optimize the production of methane, the intermediate products could also be considered as economically attractive and environment friendly options. Hence, this is the first review study to correlate the idea into an anaerobic membrane bioreactor which is expected to guide future research pathways regarding anaerobic process and its bioproducts.

Sewage sludge pretreatment by microwave irradiation combined with activated carbon fibre at alkaline pH for anaerobic digestion

This research focuses on the effects of microwave-assisted activated carbon fibre (ACF) (MW-ACF) treatment on sewage sludge at alkaline pH. The disintegration and biodegradability of sewage sludge were studied. It was found that the MW-ACF process at alkaline pH provided a rapid and efficient process to disrupt the microbial cells in the sludge. The results suggested that when irradiated at 800 W MW for 110 s with a dose of 1.0 g ACF/g solid concentration (SS) at pH 10.5, the MW-ACF pretreatment achieved 55% SS disintegration, 23% greater than the value of MW alone (32%). The concentration of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, supernatant soluble chemical oxygen demand, protein, and polysaccharide increased by 60%, 144%, 145%, 74%, and 77%, respectively. An increase in biogas production by 63.7% was achieved after 20 days of anaerobic digestion (AD), compared to the control. The results indicated that the MW-ACF pretreatment process at alkaline pH provides novel sludge management options in disintegration of sewage sludge for further AD.

Excess sludge and herbaceous plant co-digestion for volatile fatty acids generation improved by protein and cellulose conversion enhancement

Volatile fatty acids (VFA), the substrate for the bio-methane yield, can be generated from excess sludge or herbaceous plant waste during the anaerobic fermentation process. However, due to the high protein content and the low carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio of excess sludge, the nutrient utilization of excess sludge to generate VFA and bio-methane usually becomes inefficient and uneconomical. In this study, the laboratory findings showed that both the organic conversion and VFA generation from the mixture of excess sludge and herbaceous plant waste (e.g., the tall fescue was used as model), could be significantly enhanced, especially when the C/N ratio was adjusted to 20/1. In order to get more VFA and bio-methane generation, the effects of different thermal pretreatment strategies on the excess sludge and tall fescue co-fermentation were investigated. The study of thermal pretreatment revealed that the maximal VFA generation (585.2 g COD/kg of total solids (TS)) from the mixture of sludge and tall fescue by thermal pretreatment at 100 °C was almost 9.9 and 4.1 times higher than un-pretreated sole sludge and tall fescue, respectively. Then the mechanism of enhanced VFA generation from the mixture by thermal pretreatment was investigated. It was observed that pretreating the mixture of excess sludge and tall fescue at 100 °C caused the greatest hydrolysis and acidification. The produced VFA was applied to generate the bio-methane, and it was showed that the bio-methane produced from the thermal-pretreated (100 °C) mixture was almost 9.6 and 4.9 times as high as un-pretreated sole sludge and tall fescue, respectively. In addition, the detection of enzyme activities showed that the main enzymes related to cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin degradation, and acid forming were more active when VFA was produced from the thermal-pretreated (100 °C) mixture than other cases. Class Bacteroidia, class β-Proteobateria, α-Proteobateria, and phylum Firmicutes of the reactor with 100 °C pretreated mixture were more active than that of the reactor with un-pretreated sludge.

Augmentation of protein-derived acetic acid production by heat-alkaline-induced changes in protein structure and conformation

Waste-derived acetic acid (HAc) is an attractive feedstock for microbe-mediated biofuel production. However, fermentative conversion of HAc from waste-activated sludge (WAS) has low yield because of the high concentration of proteins not readily utilizable by microorganisms without prior hydrolysis. We investigated a combined technology for HAc augmentation during sludge protein fermentation. The maximal HAc yield increased over two-fold, reaching 0.502 ± 0.021 g/g protein (0.36 ± 0.01 g COD/g COD, ∼52% of the total volatile fatty acids) when synthetic sludge protein was heated at 120 °C for 30 min, treated at pH 12 for 24 h, and fermented at pH 9 for 72 h. Comprehensive analysis illustrated that the heat-alkaline pretreatment significantly induced protein fragmentation, simultaneously increasing the efficiency of protein biohydrolysis (from 35.5% to 85.9%) by inducing conformational changes indicative of protein unfolding. Consequently, the native α-helix content was decreased from 67.3% to 32.5% by conversion to an unordered shape, whose content increased from 27.5% to 45.5%; disulfide bonds were cleaved, whereas the main S-S stretching pattern was altered from gauche-gauche-gauche to gauche-gauche-trans, consequently causing increased protein susceptibility to proteolytic hydrolysis (76.3% vs. 47.0%). Economic analysis indicated that anaerobic fermentation with appropriate heat-alkaline pretreatment is a cost-effective approach for waste conversion to energy sources such as HAc.

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) storage within a mixed-culture biomass with simultaneous growth as a function of accumulation substrate nitrogen and phosphorus levels

The response of a mixed-microbial-culture (MMC) biomass for PHA accumulation was evaluated over a range of relative nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availabilities with respect to the supply of either complex (fermented whey permeate - FWP) or simpler (acetic acid) organic feedstocks. Fed-batch feed-on-demand PHA accumulation experiments were conducted where the feed N/COD and P/COD ratios were varied ranging from conditions of nutrient starvation to excess. A feast-famine enrichment (activated sludge) biomass, produced in a pilot-scale aerobic sequencing batch reactor on FWP and with a long history of stable PHA accumulation performance, was used for all the experiments as reference material. FWP with N/COD ratios of (2, 5, 15, 70 mg/g all with P/COD = 8 mg/g) as well as simulated FWP with nutrient starvation (N/COD = P/COD = 0) conditions were applied. For the acetic acid accumulations, nutrient starvation as well as N/COD variations (2.5, 5, 50 mg/g all with P/COD = 9 mg/g) and P/COD variations (0.5, 2, 9, 15 mg/g all with N/COD = 10 mg/g) were evaluated. An optimal range of combined N and P limitation with N/COD from 2 to 15 mg/g and P/COD from 0.5 to 3 mg/g was considered to offer consistent improvement of productivity over the case of nutrient starvation. Productivity increased due to active biomass growth of the PHA storing biomass without observed risk for a growth response overtaking PHA storage activity. PHA production with respect to the initial active biomass was significantly higher even in cases of excess nutrient additions when compared to the cases of nutrient starvation. The 24-h PHA productivities were enhanced as much as 4-fold from a base value of 1.35 g-PHA per gram initial active biomass with respect nutrient starvation feedstock. With or without nutrient loading the biomass consistently accumulated similar and significant PHA (nominally 60% g-PHA/g-VSS). Based on results from replicate experiments some variability in the extant biomass maximum PHA content was attributed to interpreted differences in the biomass initial physiological state and not due to changes in feedstock nutrient loading. We found that the accumulation process production rates for mixed cultures can be sustained long after the maximum PHA content of the biomass was reached. Within the specific context of the applied fed-batch feed-on-demand methods, active biomass growth was interpreted to have been largely restricted to the PHA-storing phenotypic fraction of the biomass. This study suggests practical prospects for mixed culture PHA production using a wide range of volatile fatty acid (VFA) rich feedstocks. Such VFA sources derived from residual industrial or municipal organic wastes often naturally contain associated nutrients ranging in levels from limitation to excess.

Pharmaceutical residues in sewage sludge: effect of sanitization and anaerobic digestion

The fate of pharmaceutical residues in treatment of WWTP sludge was evaluated during mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) and six sanitization technologies (pasteurization, thermal hydrolysis, advanced oxidation processes using Fenton's reaction, ammonia treatment, thermophilic dry digestion, and thermophilic anaerobic digestion). Sludge spiked with a selection of 13 substances was used and in total 23 substances were detected. A correlation between substance lipophilicity and sludge partitioning was found after sample centrifugation, with e.g., SSRI drugs (90-99%) and estrogens (96-98%) mainly found in the solid phase. A correlation between lipophilicity and persistence of pharmaceutical residues during AD was also detected, indicating that hydrophobic substances are less available to degrading microorganisms. Overall, AD was found to be the most effective technology in reducing a wide spectrum of organic substances (in average ca 30% reduction). Similar effects were obtained for both AD treatments, suggesting that temperature (mesophilic or thermophilic) is less important for micropollutant reduction. Advanced oxidation processes using Fenton's reaction also affected several compounds, including substances showing general stability over the range of treatments such as carbamazepine, propranolol, and sertraline. Pasteurization, ammonia treatment, and thermophilic dry digestion exhibited relatively modest reductions. Interestingly, only thermal hydrolysis efficiently removed the ecotoxicologically potent estrogenic compounds from the sludge.

Integrated production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with municipal wastewater and sludge treatment at pilot scale

A pilot-scale process was operated over 22 months at the Brussels North Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in order to evaluate polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production integration with services of municipal wastewater and sludge management. Activated sludge was produced with PHA accumulation potential (PAP) by applying feast-famine selection while treating the readily biodegradable COD from influent wastewater (average removals of 70% COD, 60% CODsol, 24% nitrogen, and 46% phosphorus). The biomass PAP was evaluated to be in excess of 0.4gPHA/gVSS. Batch fermentation of full-scale WWTP sludge at selected temperatures (35, 42 and 55 °C) produced centrate (6-9.4 gCODVFA/L) of consistent VFA composition, with optimal fermentation performance at 42 °C. Centrate was used to accumulate PHA up to 0.39 gPHA/gVSS. The centrate nutrients are a challenge to the accumulation process but producing a biomass with 0.5 gPHA/gVSS is considered to be realistically achievable within the typically available carbon flows at municipal waste management facilities.

Enhancement of methane production in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of secondary sewage sludge by advanced thermal hydrolysis pretreatment

Studies on the development and evolution of anaerobic digestion (AD) pretreatments are nowadays becoming widespread, due to the outstanding benefits that these processes could entail in the management of sewage sludge. Production of sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is becoming an extremely important environmental issue. The work presented in this paper is a continuation of our previous studies with the aim of understanding and developing the advanced thermal hydrolysis (ATH) process. ATH is a novel AD pretreatment based on a thermal hydrolysis (TH) process plus hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) addition that takes advantage of a peroxidation/direct steam injection synergistic effect. The main goal of the present research was to compare the performance of TH and ATH, conducted at a wide range of operating conditions, as pretreatments of mesophilic AD with an emphasis on methane production enhancement as a key parameter and its connection with the sludge solubilization. Results showed that both TH and ATH patently improved methane production in subsequent mesophilic BMP (biochemical methane potential) tests in comparison with BMP control tests (raw secondary sewage sludge). Besides other interesting results and discussions, a promising result was obtained since ATH, operated at temperature (115 °C), pretreatment time (5 min) and pressure (1 bar) considerably below those typically used in TH (170 °C, 30 min, 8 bar), managed to enhance the methane production in subsequent mesophilic BMP tests [biodegradability factor (fB) = cumulative CH4production/cumulative CH4production (Control) = 1.51 ± 0.01] to quite similar levels than conventional TH pretreatment [fB = 1.52 ± 0.03].

Free nitrous acid pretreatment of wasted activated sludge to exploit internal carbon source for enhanced denitrification

Using internal carbon source contained in waste activated sludge (WAS) is beneficial for nitrogen removal from wastewater with low carbon/nitrogen ratio, but it is usually limited by sludge disintegration. This study presented a novel strategy based on free nitrous acid (FNA) pretreatment to intensify the release of organic matters from WAS for enhanced denitrification. During FNA pretreatment, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) production kept increasing when FNA increased from 0 to 2.04 mg HNO2-N/L. Compared with untreated WAS, the internal carbon source production increased by 50% in a simultaneous fermentation and denitrification reactor fed with WAS pretreated by FNA for 24 h at 2.04 mg HNO2-N/L. This also increased denitrification efficiency by 76% and sludge reduction by 87.5%. More importantly, greenhouse gas nitrous oxide production in denitrification was alleviated since more electrons could be provided by FNA pretreated WAS.

A review: factors affecting excess sludge anaerobic digestion for volatile fatty acids production

This paper presents a review of methods that improve the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) from excess sludge during the anaerobic digestion process. These methods are mainly divided into two approaches. The first approach is located in the pre-treatment methods, which change the properties of the substrates, such as thermal pre-treatment, alkaline pre-treatment, microwave pre-treatment and ultrasonic pre-treatment. The other approach is found in the fermentation process control methods, which influence the environment of anaerobic digestion for the production of VFA, such as pH, temperature, mixing, additives and solids retention time control. In the text recent research studies of each method are listed and analyzed in detail. Comparably, microwave and ultrasonic pre-treatment methods are considered emerging and promising technologies due to their efficiency and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, the microwave pre-treatment has high electricity demand, which might make the process economically unfeasible. In order to calculate optimal operation, further studies still need to be done.

Thermal conductivity characteristics of dewatered sewage sludge by thermal hydrolysis reaction

The purpose of this study is to quantify the thermal conductivity of sewage sludge related to reaction temperature for the optimal design of a thermal hydrolysis reactor. We continuously quantified the thermal conductivity of dewatered sludge related to the reaction temperature. As the reaction temperature increased, the dewatered sludge is thermally liquefied under high temperature and pressure by the thermal hydrolysis reaction. Therefore, the bound water in the sludge cells comes out as free water, which changes the dewatered sludge from a solid phase to slurry in a liquid phase. As a result, the thermal conductivity of the sludge was more than 2.64 times lower than that of the water at 20. However, above 200, it became 0.704 W/m* degrees C, which is about 4% higher than that of water. As a result, the change in physical properties due to thermal hydrolysis appears to be an important factor for heat transfer efficiency. Implications: The thermal conductivity of dewatered sludge is an important factor the optimal design of a thermal hydrolysis reactor. The dewatered sludge is thermally liquefied under high temperature and pressure by the thermal hydrolysis reaction. The liquid phase slurry has a higher thermal conductivity than pure water.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by bacterial consortium from excess sludge fermentation liquid at laboratory and pilot scales

The generation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from excess sludge fermentation liquid (SFL) was studied at lab and pilot scale. A PHA-accumulated bacterial consortium (S-150) was isolated from activated sludge using simulated SFL (S-SFL) contained high concentration volatile fatty acids (VFA) and nitrogen. The maximal PHA content accounted for 59.18% in S-SFL and dropped to 23.47% in actual SFL (L-SFL) of the dry cell weight (DCW) at lab scale. The pilot-scale integrated system comprised an anaerobic fermentation reactor (AFR), a ceramic membrane system (CMS) and a PHA production bio-reactor (PHAR). The PHA content from pilot-scale SFL (P-SFL) finally reached to 59.47% DCW with the maximal PHA yield coefficient (YP/S) of 0.17 g PHA/g COD. The results indicated that VFA-containing SFL was suitable for PHA production. The adverse impact of excess nitrogen and non-VFAs in SFL might be eliminated by pilot-scale domestication, which might resulted in community structure optimization and substrate selective ability improvement of S-150.

Utilization of alkali-tolerant strains in fermentation of excess sludge

This study aimed at exploring a new approach for producing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from excess sludge (ES). Two representative alkali-tolerant bacteria (HIT-01 and HIT-02) were isolated from ES, and inoculated separately or jointly into ES to investigate their effects on VFAs accumulation, soluble organic compounds concentrations, and bacterial community structure of ES under alkaline anaerobic conditions (pH 10.0). Four fermentation conditions were examined for 20days. Joint-inoculation with the two strains achieved the highest VFAs concentration (3139mg/L). Acetic and propionic acids were the dominant acid species. On the 9th day, all the inoculated ES had the higher concentrations of soluble organic compounds than the un-inoculated control ES. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that these two strains (HIT-01 and HIT-02) became predominant in the bacterial community during alkaline anaerobic fermentation. The results demonstrated that bioaugmentation might be useful for enhancing VFAs accumulation from ES.

Determining short chain fatty acids in sewage sludge hydrolysate: a comparison of three analytical methods and investigation of sample storage effects

In anaerobic digestion, the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) can be beneficial or harmful to the overall process, depending on the concentration of accumulated acids. Therefore, the accurate determination of the SCFA concentration in both fresh and stored sludge hydrolysates is important. To select a suitable method for monitoring SCFAs during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, the accuracy of three available analytical methods, including 5 pH point acid titration (TITRA5), gas chromatography (GC), and spectrophotometry, were compared in the present study. The results revealed that TITRA5 and GC displayed better agreement in the achieved measurements and higher precision and accuracy than the spectrophotometric assay, as supported by the application of different statistical models. TITRA5 excelled in titrating unfiltered hydrolysate while simultaneously measuring the alkalinity, whereas the GC method provided detailed information on the contribution of different fatty acids to the total acidity. In contrast, the spectrophotometric assay suffered from many forms of interference, depending on the sample's matrix. SCFA production followed the pattern of enzymatic reactions and fitted the Michaelis-Menten model. In addition to promoting TITRA5 as an accurate and robust analytical tool for routine SCFA analyses, this comparative study also demonstrated the possibility of storing hydrolysate samples at different temperatures and durations without altering the SCFA measurements.

Transformation and removal of wood extractives from pulp mill sludge using wet oxidation and thermal hydrolysis

In order to remove wood extractive compounds from pulp mill sludge and thereby enhancing anaerobic digestibility, samples were subjected to either oxidative hydrothermal treatment (wet oxidation) or non-oxidative hydrothermal treatment (thermal hydrolysis). Treatments were carried out at 220 °C with initial pressure of 20 bar. More than 90% destruction of extractive compounds was observed after 20 min of wet oxidation. Wet oxidation eliminated 95.7% of phenolics, 98.6% fatty acids, 99.8% resin acids and 100% of phytosterols in 120 min. Acetic acid concentration increased by approximately 2 g/l after 120 min of wet oxidation. This has potential for rendering sludge more amenable to anaerobic digestion. In contrast thermal hydrolysis was found to be ineffective in degrading extractive compounds. Wet oxidation is considered to be an effective process for removal of recalcitrant and inhibitive compounds through hydrothermal pre-treatment of pulp mill sludge.

Identical full-scale biogas-lift reactors (Blrs) with anaerobic granular sludge and residual activated sludge for brewery wastewater treatment and kinetic modeling

Two identical full-scale biogas-lift reactors treating brewery wastewater were inoculated with different types of sludge to compare their operational conditions, sludge characteristics, and kinetic models at a mesophilic temperature. One reactor (R1) started up with anaerobic granular sludge in 12 weeks and obtained a continuously average organic loading rate (OLR) of 7.4 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/(m3 x day), COD removal efficiency of 80%, and effluent COD of 450 mg/L. The other reactor (R2) started up with residual activated sludge in 30 weeks and granulation accomplished when the reactor reached an average OLR of 8.3 kg COD/(m3 x day), COD removal efficiency of 90%, and effluent COD of 240 mg/L. Differences in sludge characteristics, biogas compositions, and biogas-lift processes may be accounted for the superior efficiency of the treatment performance of R2 over R1. Grau second-order and modified StoverKincannon models based on influent and effluent concentrations as well as hydraulic retention time were successfully used to develop kinetic parameters of the experimental data with high correlation coefficients (R2 > 0.95), which further showed that R2 had higher treatment performance than R1. These results demonstrated that residual activated sludge could be used effectively instead of anaerobic granular sludge despite the need for a longer time.

Investigation of the impacts of thermal pretreatment on waste activated sludge and development of a pretreatment model

This study investigated the impacts of high pressure thermal hydrolysis (HPTH) pretreatment on the distribution of chemical oxygen demand (COD) species in waste activated sludge (WAS). In the first phase of the project, WAS from a synthetically-fed biological reactor (BR) was fed to an aerobic digester (AD). In the second phase, WAS from the BR was pretreated by HPTH at 150 °C and 3 bars for 30 min prior to being fed to the AD. A range of physical, biochemical and biological properties were regularly measured in each process stream in both phases. The COD of the BR WAS consisted of storage products (XSTO), active heterotrophs (XH) and endogenous decay products (XE). Pretreatment did not increase the extent to which the BR WAS was aerobically digested and hence it was concluded that the unbiodegradable COD fraction, i.e. XE, was unchanged by pretreatment. However, pretreatment did increase the rate of degradation as it converted 36% of XH to readily biodegradable COD (SB) and the remaining XH to slowly biodegradable COD (XB). Furthermore, XSTO was fully converted to SB by pretreatment. Although pretreatment did not change the VSS concentration in the downstream aerobic digester, it did decrease the ISS concentration by 46 ± 11%. This reduced the total mass of solids produced by the digester by 21 ± 8%. A COD-based HPTH pretreatment model was developed and calibrated. When this model was integrated into BioWin 3.1(®), it was able to accurately simulate both the steady state performance of the overall system employed in this study as well as dynamic respirometry results.

Lipid production for biofuels from hydrolyzate of waste activated sludge by heterotrophic Chlorella protothecoides

Microalga Chlorella protothecoides can accumulate high proportion of lipids during the heterotrophic growth with glucose as the carbon source. However, its commercial application is restricted due to the high cost of the carbon source. In this study, the wasted activated sludge (WAS) was hydrolyzed after ultrasonic pre-treatment and the hydrolyzate obtained was used as an alternative carbon source for algal biomass and biodiesel production. The results indicate that C. protothecoides can proliferate in the WAS hydrolyzate and accumulate biolipid. The final lipid content of the culture fed with the hydrolyzate was 21.5±1.44% (weight percent) after 156 h cultivation in flasks and the maximum biomass obtained was 0.5 g L(-1). Acetic acid and isovaleric acid were favorable carbon sources for cell growth. The soluble microbial products (SMP) presents in the hydrolyzate can also be used as a carbon source for cell growth.

Reduced temperature hydrolysis at 134 °C before thermophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at increasing organic load

The performance of thermophilic digestion of waste activated sludge, either untreated or thermal pretreated, was evaluated through semi-continuous tests carried out at organic loading rates in the range of 1-3.7 kg VS/m(3)d. Although the thermal pretreatment at T=134 °C proved to be effective in solubilizing organic matter, no significant gain in organics degradation was observed. However, the digestion of pretreated sludge showed significant soluble COD removal (more than 55%) whereas no removal occurred in control reactors. The lower the initial sludge biodegradability, the higher the efficiency of thermal pretreated digestion was observed, in particular as regards higher biogas and methane production rates with respect to the parallel untreated sludge digestion. Heat balance of the combined thermal hydrolysis/thermophilic digestion process, applied on full-scale scenarios, showed positive values for direct combustion of methane. In case of combined heat and power generation, attractive electric energy recoveries were obtained, with a positive heat balance at high load.

Volatile fatty acids productivity by anaerobic co-digesting waste activated sludge and corn straw: effect of feedstock proportion

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are the most suitable and biodegradable carbon substrates for many bioprocesses. This study explored a new approach to improve the VFAs production from anaerobic co-digesting waste activated sludge (WAS) with corn straw (CS). The effect of feedstock proportion on the acidification efficiency was investigated. The maximum VFAs yield (corresponding fermentation time) was substantially increased 69% (96 h), 45% (72 h), 13% (120 h) and 12% (120 h) with 50%, 35%, 25% and 20% CS proportion of feedstock, respectively. HAc (acetic acid) was consistently the most abundant, followed by HPr (propionic acid) and n-HBu (butyric acid) in the co-digesting tests. The increase of CS in feedstock led to more production of HAc and HPr. Moreover, the consumption of protein and carbohydrate were also improved remarkably from 2955 and 249 mg COD/L (individual WAS fermentation) to 6575 and 815 mg COD/L (50%WAS:50%CS co-digestion) from 120 onward, respectively. The highest contribution of CS to additional VFAs production was1113 mg VFAs (as COD)/g CS/L in the 65%WAS:35%CS co-digesting test. Our study indicated a valuable method to improve VFAs production from anaerobic co-digesting WAS and CS.

High pressure thermal hydrolysis as pre-treatment to increase the methane yield during anaerobic digestion of microalgae

Anaerobic digestion of algal biomass will be an essential component of algal biofuel production systems, yet the methane yield from digestion of algae is typically much lower than the theoretical potential. In this work, high pressure thermal hydrolysis (HPTH) is shown to enhance methane yield during algae digestion. HPTH pre-treatment was applied to both raw algae and algal residue resulting from lipid extraction. HPTH and even the lipid extraction process itself increased methane yield, by 81% and 33% respectively; in combination they increased yield by 110% over that of the raw algae (18L CH4 gVS(-1) substrate). HPTH had little effect on the rate of anaerobic digestion, however lipid extraction enhanced it by 33% over that for raw algae (0.21day(-1)). Digestion resulted in solubilisation of nitrogen (and phosphorous to a lesser degree) in all cases, showing that there is potential for nutrient recycling for algal growth.

Phosphorus recovery potential from a waste stream with high organic and nutrient contents via struvite precipitation

Recovery of NH4(+)-N and PO(3-)-P via struvite precipitation (SP) was evaluated from liquor of thermally pretreated waste activated sludge, containing high levels of nutrients (1500 mg NH4(+)-N/L and 650 mg PO(3-)-P/L), organics (45.5 g COD/L) and suspended solids (3.5 g TSS/L), with reference to anaerobically digested sludge centrate. In a series of jar tests, the order of pH adjustment and chemical addition were first tested for the digested sludge centrate. The effects of MgCl2 and MgO, as Mg2+ sources, on SP were evaluated in both waste streams. Up to 80% of the dissolved PO4(3-)-P was recovered using MgO (pH = 9.2) from the pretreated sludge liquor and more than 86% of NH4(+)-N from the digested sludge centrate (pH = 8.0-8.5) regardless of the Mg2+ source used. NH4(+)-N recovery from digested sludge centrate required the addition of alkali, Mg2+ source and PO4(3-)-P, making the process less viable. The precipitates contained mostly struvite and some levels of Ca2+, Fe2+ and other Mg2+ phosphates. The levels of solids, inorganics and organics in the waste streams influenced SP, specifically struvite crystal formation and settleability in the pretreated sludge liquor, which suggests that the applicability of SP for nutrient recovery from complex waste streams requires case-by-case testing, and process optimization.

Photocatalytic degradation of waste activated sludge using a circulating bed photocatalytic reactor for improving biohydrogen production

In this study, a sloping trough circulating bed photocatalytic reactor (STCBPR) was developed to degrade waste activated sludge (WAS). Effects of the four factors (shape of trough, circulating speed, TiO(2) dosage and dilution multiple of WAS) on the photocatalytic degradation of WAS were examined. Under the optimum conditions, 45% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and 47% of the volatile solids (VS) removal were achieved in 7.5-fold dilution after reaction for 8h. Moreover, the WAS was pretreated by STCBPR and then fermented to produce hydrogen. The result showed that the cumulative hydrogen production from photocatalysis pretreated WAS was 3.6 times higher than that from UV-light pretreated WAS, and 17 times higher than that from raw WAS. Therefore, it could be confirmed that the STCBPR has higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency for WAS, and photocatalytic pretreatment could enhance the biohydrogen production.

Influences of volatile solid concentration, temperature and solid retention time for the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge to recover volatile fatty acids

The study evaluated influences of sludge concentration, temperature and solids retention time (SRT) for the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge (WAS) in anaerobic digesters. The results indicated that volatile fatty acids (VFA) production increased when the concentration of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) was higher. When SRT was 48 h, VFA concentration increased 8.43 times from 4.57 to 23.78 gMLVSS/L. VFA generation was significantly affected with different temperature and SRT. When the temperature changed from 40 to 50°C, it induced 1.65-fold increase in VFA yield. The optimal SRT was 48 h. As VFA concentration decreased only 1.31 times compared with maximum VFA production at SRT of 120 h. Iso-valeric acid, acetic acid and n-butyric acid were the dominant VFA produced and would improve ployhydroxyvalerate proportion in polymer. The feasibility of nitrogen and phosphorus recovery and the risk of metal ion released depended on the nature of WAS.

Enhanced production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from sewage sludge by β-cyclodextrin

Organic matter in sewage sludge can be converted into volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as renewable carbon sources. This work for the first time demonstrates that β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) molecules enhance sludge hydrolysis for production of VFAs. With 0.2gβ-CDg(-1) dried solids (DSs), the increment rate for VFAs peaked at 4200gg(-1)DSsg(-1) β-CD, with acetate and propionate as the predominant VFAs. Compositional and microbial community analyses confirm that the β-CD molecules break a cell's membrane, such that it releases intracellular substances. Although β-CD molecules inhibited activities of methanogens, they did not impair those of acid-forming bacteria, thereby demonstrating that β-CD-assisted VFAs are renewable organic carbon sources, except in anaerobic digestion processes.

Development of an efficient process for the treatment of residual sludge discharged from an anaerobic digester in a sewage treatment plant

In order to reduce the discharge of residual sludge from an anaerobic digester, pre-treatment methods including low-pressure wet-oxidation, Fenton oxidation, alkali treatment, ozone oxidation, mechanical destruction and enzymatic treatment were evaluated and compared. VSS removal efficiencies of greater than 50% were achieved in cases of low-pressure wet-oxidation, Fenton oxidation and alkali treatment. Residual sludge from an anaerobic digester was pre-treated and subjected to thermophilic anaerobic digestion. As a result, the process of low-pressure wet-oxidation followed by anaerobic digestion achieved the highest VSS removal efficiency of 83%. The total efficiency of VSS removal of sewage sludge consisting of primary and surplus sludge would be approximately 92%, assuming that the VSS removal efficiency of sewage sludge is 50% in the anaerobic digester of the sewage treatment plant.

Anaerobic hydrolysis and acidification of organic substrates: determination of anaerobic hydrolytic potential

This study aimed to develop a biochemical-test mainly to evaluate the hydrolytic-potential of different substrates and to apply this test to characterize various organic substrates. Outcome of this study can be used for optimization of the WWTPs through enhancement of N/P removal or anaerobic digestion. Out of four series of batch experiments, the first two tests were conducted to determine the optimal operating conditions (test duration, inoculum-ratio etc.) for the hydrolytic-potential test using secondary and synthetically-prepared sludges. Based on the results (generation of CODs, pH and VFA), test duration was fixed between 6 and 7d allowing to attain maximum hydrolysis and to avoid methanogenesis. Effect of inoculum-ratios on acid fermentation of sludge was not significantly noticed. Using this methodology, third and fourth tests were performed to characterize various organic substrates namely secondary, pre-treated sludge, pig and two different cattle slurries. VFA production was shown to be substantially dependent on substrates types.