Waste anaerobic co-digestion applications are particularly useful in Southern Mediterranean areas where large quantities of agricultural waste materials and waste from agro-industries are produced. This waste can be added to urban waste together with the sludge produced by wastewater treatment processes, which, when combined, guarantee the supply of organic matrixes for treatment throughout the year. The implementation of facilities to service vast areas of the agricultural economy and which are heterogeneous in terms of production can provide a good solution. We present an experimental investigation into the anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and bio-waste produced in the Mediterranean area. We conducted anaerobic treatability tests, with measures of biogas production and pH of the mixture in digestion. Our main aims were to identify an optimal mix of substrates for the production of biogas, and to analyse the influence on the composition of biogas and the variation in pH values of the substrates. This analysis was conducted considering the variation of the input, in particular due to the addition of waste acids, such as biological sewage sludge.
Keywords: anaerobic digestion; biogas; design; operation; organic waste; treatability test.