Microaerobic pretreatment of sewage sludge: Effect of air flow rate, pretreatment time and temperature on the aerobic process and methane generation

S. Montalvo*, C. Huiliñir, F. Ojeda, A. Castillo, L. Lillo, L. Guerrero

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effect of air flow rate (AFR), pretreatment time, and temperature on a microaerobic pretreatment were determined, including its effect on CH4 generation. For this, four AFR (0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 vvm), three temperatures (20, 25 and 35 °C) and three aeration times (24, 48 and 60 h) were evaluated in 1-L and 5-L bioreactors. The effect on CH4 production was evaluated in 280-mL bioreactors, using previously aerated sewage sludge. It was found that the micro-aerobic pretreatment improves the hydrolytic process, with an increase of proteins, total sugars, soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), and a greater removal of volatile suspended solids (VSS) compared to a system without aeration. It was determined that an AFR = 0.3 vvm, 48 h of aeration time, and a temperature of 35 °C were the best operational conditions for increasing hydrolysis rate. VSS removal under the aerobic pretreatment follows first order kinetics. Finally, the aeration pretreatment allows a 211% increase of methane generation compared to a process without pretreatment, improving also total COD and VSS removal.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Biodeterioration and Biodegradation
Volume110
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

  • Hydrolysis
  • Methane generation
  • Microaeration
  • Sewage sludge

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