Downstream Thermal Hydrolysis at Full-Scale to Further Improve Biosolids Processing

Barber, W.P.F. and Christy, P.

2019

Executive Summary

Whilst thermal hydrolysis has been successfully employed as a pre-treatment to anaerobic digestion for many years, its original purpose was as a dewatering aid. This paper highlights results from Geiselbullach Wastewater treatment plant in Germany, which is operating a specifically designed thermal hydrolysis plant termed Solidstream (provided by Cambi), installed downstream of digestion and prior to dewatering. Results over the last two years show that this configuration improves both biogas production and dewaterability significantly compared with the pre-treatment configuration, whilst reducing plant size and steam demand resulting in operational savings.

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