Enhanced excess sludge hydrolysis and acidification in an activated sludge side-stream reactor process with single-stage sludge alkaline treatment: a pilot scale study

Improvement of the thermophilic anaerobic digestion and hygienisation of waste activated sludge by synergistic pretreatment

Hybrid disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS) before the thermophilic anaerobic stabilization of WAS contributes to the intensification of organic compounds decomposition and increases the effectiveness of the anaerobic stabilization process compared to the fermentation of raw WAS. This article investigates the influence of a chemical-thermal pretreatment procedure with the use of NaOH and freezing by the dry ice on WAS. We found that the hybrid pretreatment of WAS causes higher concentration of released organics in the liquid phase (represented here as a change in soluble chemical oxygen demand - SCOD value) in comparison to these disintegration techniques used separately. The use of disintegrated WAS (WASD) as an additional material in the digester chambers impacts (varying on its proportion added), the generation of biogas and its yield. The recorded amount of the produced biogas and biogas yield after 21 days of fermentation increased by 26.6% and 2.7%, respectively (in comparison to blank sample). In addition, it was observed that the hybrid process before anaerobic stabilization contributes to a higher hygienisation of the digested sludge.