Enhanced degradation and biogas production of waste activated sludge by a high-solid anaerobic membrane bioreactor together with in pipe thermal pretreatment process

Guangze Guo; Yemei Li; Shitong Zhou; Yujie Chen; Yu Qin; Yu-You Li

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126583

Enhanced degradation and biogas production of waste activated sludge by a high-solid anaerobic membrane bioreactor together with in pipe thermal pretreatment process

Bioresour Technol. 2022 Feb:346:126583. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126583. Epub 2021 Dec 17.

Authors

Guangze Guo¹, Yemei Li², Shitong Zhou¹, Yujie Chen³, Yu Qin³, Yu-You Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Frontier Science for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-20 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan; Material Cycles Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan.
⁴ Department of Frontier Science for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-20 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan. Electronic address: gyokuyu.ri.a5@tohoku.ac.jp.

PMID: 34929331
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126583

Abstract

An integrated system combining in pipe thermal pretreatment with a high-solid anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) was developed to promote the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). Two different pretreatment methods investigated were the venturi nozzle treatment (VNT) and steam injector treatment (SIT), both at a low temperature of 70 °C. The biogas production after pretreatment was 23.5-30.5% higher than that of untreated WAS, and the VS based biogas yield was 0.46-0.47 L/g-VS when HRT was 15 days. The membrane operated smoothly when the average flux was 9.6 and 4.5 L/m²/h under an MLTS of 25 and 30 g/L, respectively. The calculations of the mass balance indicated that 44-45% COD was converted to methane with pretreatment and only 1% remained in the permeate. That is, high energy recovery and organic matter removal efficiency were achieved for the treatment of WAS using the high-solid AnMBR with in pipe thermal pretreatment.

Keywords: High-solid AnMBR; In pipe thermal pretreatment; Mass balance; Membrane filtration; Waste activated sludge.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels* / analysis
Bioreactors
Methane
Sewage*
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater

Substances

Biofuels
Sewage
Waste Water
Methane