Effects of Methane Yields on SBR Sludge Using Thermal Hydrolysis Pretreatment

Balasundaram, G., Gahlot, P., Tyagi, V.T., Kazmi, A.A., Kleiven, H., Sahu, A.K.

18th IWA Conference on Sustainable Sludge Management (IWA2024)

Introduction & Significance

Over the past decade, several researchers and technology providers have tried and tested different pretreatment technologies to address the challenges on the rate limiting step for anaerobic digestion (AD) ie hydrolysis. Thermal hydrolysis process (THP) is a well known commercial pretreatment technology installed prior to AD process by wastewater utilities worldwide. Several of the past studies have focussed on effects of conventional activated  sludge (CAS) process, however, smaller towns and communities in emerging markets make use sequencing batch reactors (SBR) for their wastewater treatment systems. Hence, the  objective of this study was to investigate THP at different temperatures, pressures on degree of  solubilisation and methane yields on SBR sludges with high sludge retention time (SRT) and  compare it to CAS. Second objective was to compare the biomethane yields between mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD), thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) and THP+MAD conditions.

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