L.I. Romero

Influence of total solid and inoculum contents on performance of anaerobic reactors treating food waste.

The aim of this paper was to analyze the biomethanization process of food waste (FW) from a university campus restaurant in six reactors with three different total solid percentages (20%, 25% and 30% TS) and two different inoculum percentages (20-30% of mesophilic sludge). The experimental procedure was programmed to select the initial performance parameters (total solid and inoculum contents) in a lab-reactor with V: 1100mL and, later, to validate the optimal parameters in a lab-scale batch reactor with V: 5000mL. The best performance for food waste biodegradation and methane generation was the reactor with 20% of total solid and 30% of inoculum: give rise to an acclimation stage with acidogenic/acetogenic activity between 20 and 60 days and methane yield of 0.49L CH4/g VS. Also, lab-scale batch reactor (V: 5000mL) exhibit the classical waste decomposition pattern and the process was completed with high values of methane yield (0.22L CH4/g VS). Finally, a protocol was proposed to enhance the start-up phase for dry thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste.

Effect of substrate concentration on dry mesophilic anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW).

The influence of total solid contents during anaerobic mesophilic treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been studied in this work. The work was performed in batch reactors of 1.7L capacity, during a period of 85-95 days. Two different organic substrate concentrations were studied: 931.1 mgDOC/L (20% TS) and 1423.4 mgDOC/L (30% TS). Experimental results showed that the reactor with 20% total solids content had significantly higher performance. Thus, the startup phase ended at 14 days and the total DOC removal was 67.53%. The startup in reactor R30 ended at 28 days obtaining 49.18% DOC removal. Also, the initial substrate concentration contributed substantially to the amount of methane in the biogas. Hence, the total methane production in the methanogenic phase was 7.01 L and 5.53 L at the end of the experiments for R20 and R30, respectively.

Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of source-sorted organic fraction of municipal solid waste.

The influence of different organic fraction of municipal solid wastes during anaerobic thermophilic (55 degrees C) treatment of organic matter was studied in this work: food waste (FW), organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and shredded OFMSW (SH_OFMSW). All digester operated at dry conditions (20% total solids content) and were inoculated with 30% (in volume) of mesophilic digested sludge. Experimental results showed important different behaviours patterns in these wastes related with the organic matter biodegradation and biogas and methane production. The FW reactor showed the smallest waste biodegradation (32.4% VS removal) with high methane production (0.18 LCH4/gVS); in contrast the SH_OFMSW showed higher waste biodegradation (73.7% VS removal) with small methane production (0.05 LCH4/g VS). Finally, OFMSW showed the highest VS removal (79.5%) and the methane yield reached 0.08 LCH4/g VS. Therefore, the nature of organic substrate has an important influence on the biodegradation process and methane yield. Pre-treatment of waste is not necessary for OFMSW.

Kinetics of mesophilic anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste: Influence of initial total solid concentration.

The anaerobic mesophilic degradation of municipal waste has been studied in discontinuous lab-reactors with two different initial concentrations of OFMSW: R20, with 931.1mg DOC/L (20% TS), and R30, with 1423.4 mg DOC/L (30% TS). The anaerobic digestion process was favoured when it was carried on material with a total solids content of 20% in comparison to a similar process with 30% TS. A higher level of organic matter, in terms of DOC and VFA, 18.18% and 8.09% respect, was removed in the system with the lower amount of solids. The kinetics parameters showed higher active biomass and a higher coefficient for the production of methane at the lower loading. The highest maximum specific growth rate for the microorganisms (mu(MAX)) in the reactors with 20% TS, a value of 0.192 d(-1), was achieved in comparison to 0.131 d(-1) in the reactors with 30% TS. The inverse of the F:M ratio was higher in the R20 system with a value of 0.0104 (cf. 0.0006 in R30) and, as a result, the R30 system required longer hydrolytic and acidogenic stages. X(V0)/Y(X/S) and the yield coefficient for product generation (alpha(P/S)) were higher, by around 53%, for the R20 digester.

Anaerobic digestion of municipal solid wastes : Dry thermophilic performance

The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of two laboratory-scale reactors (5.0L) treating organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW): source sorted OFMSW (SS_OFMSW) obtained from a university restaurant and mechanically selected municipal fraction (MS_OFMSW) obtained from a Municipal Treatment Plant placed in Cadiz-Spain. Discontinuous reactors operated at thermophilic (55 degrees C) and dry (20% total solid) conditions. Different decomposition patterns were observed: (1) the SS_OFMSW exhibited the classical waste decomposition pattern with a fast start up phase beginning within 0-5 days and 20-30 and a subsequent stabilization phase. The VS removal was 45% with a cumulative biogas of 120L in approx. 60 days; (2) the MS_OFMSW showed a methanogenic pattern throughout the whole experimental period (60 days) and this gave higher levels of organic biodegradation (56%VSr) and biogas production (82L). Both processes were completed and a high level of cumulative methane production was achieved in less than 60 days, proximally 25-30L.

Thermophilic Anaerobic Degradation of Distillery Wastewater in Continuous-Flow Fluidized Bed Bioreactors

This paper reports and discusses a laboratory experiment that tested the anaerobic fluidized bed (AFB) technology as a means for the treatment of concentrated industrial wastewater (wine distillery, vinasses) at thermophilic conditions. The purposes were to operate and characterize AFB under high organic loading conditions and to report on their steady‐state performance. Experimentally, it was confirmed that AFB systems can achieve >82.5% chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction at a COD loading of 32.3 kg of COD m−3 day−1 for treating vinasses of wine. At hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 0.46 day, the volumetric rate of methane generation was 5.8 m3 of CH4 m−3 day−1 with a methane yield of 0.33 m3 of CH4/kg of COD removal. The greatest efficiency of substrate removal was 97% for an organic loading rate of 5.9 kg of COD m−3 day−1 and HRT of 2.5 days. The food‐to‐microorganism (F:M) ratio can be used as a parameter for treatment performance evaluation of AFB. For vinasses, excellent COD reduction and methane production were achievable at the F:M ratio of 0.55 kg of COD kg−1 VSatt day−1 (more than 80% of feed COD was removed, and 9 m3 m−3 day−1 of methane was produced).

Biodegradation kinetics of surfactants in seawater.

In this paper, a general kinetic model for degradation processes of surfactants is proposed. The model equation is v = K2S2 + K1S + K0, where v is the substrate consumption rate in the biodegradation process, S is the surfactant concentration in the medium and K2, K1, and K0 are kinetic constants. From this general expression, different simplified equations can be obtained (where K0 = 0; K2 and K0 = 0; K2 = 0; K2 and K1 = 0), which are representative of the process for different operating conditions. This model was tested by measuring the degradation of two different surfactants (Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, LAS; and Sodium dodecyl sulfate, DSNa) under two different temperatures (5 and 20 degrees C). Values predicted by the model are close to experimental data obtained.

Hydrogen production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste in anaerobic thermophilic acidogenesis: Influence of organic loading rate and microbial content of the solid waste

Hydrogen production (HP) from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) under thermophilic acidogenic conditions was studied. The effect of nine different organic loading rates (OLRs) (from 9 to 220 g TVS/l/d) and hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (from 10d to 0.25 d) was investigated. Normally, butyrate was the main acid product. The biogas produced was methane- and sulfide-free at all tested OLR. Increasing the OLR resulted in an increase in both the quantity and quality of hydrogen production, except at the maximum OLR tested (220 g TVS/l/d). The maximum hydrogen content was 57% (v/v) at an OLR of 110 g TVS/l/d (HRT=0.5 d). HP was in the range of 0.1-5.7 l H2/l/d. The results have clearly shown that the increase in OLR was directly correlated with HP and microbial activity. The bacterial concentration inside the reactor is strongly influenced by the content of microorganisms in the OFMSW.

Optimisation of single-phase dry-thermophilic anaerobic digestion under high organic loading rates of industrial municipal solid waste: Population dynamics

Different high feed organic loading rates (OLRs) (from 5.7 g to 46.0 g TVS/l/d) or hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (from 15 d to 2 d) in single-phase dry-thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) were investigated. The specific gas production (SGP) values (0.25-0.53 m(3)/kg TVS) and the percentages of Eubacteria, Archaea, H2-utilising methanogens (HUMs) and acetate-utilising methanogens (AUMs) were stable within the ranges 80.2-91.1%, 12.4-18.5%, 4.4-9.8% and 5.5-10.9%, respectively. A HUM/AUM ratio greater than 0.7 seems to be necessary to maintain very low partial pressures of H2 required for dry AD process. Increasing OLR resulted in an increase in all the populations, except for propionate-utilising acetogens (PUAs). Optimal conditions were obtained at 3d HRT (OLR=30.7 g TVS/l/d), which is lower than the doubling time of acetogens and methanogens. The methane production (MP) was clearly higher than those reported in AD of OFMSW.

Optimisation of the two-phase dry-thermophilic anaerobic digestion process of sulphate-containing municipal solid waste: Population dynamics

Microbial population dynamics and anaerobic digestion (AD) process to eight different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (from 25d to 3.5d) in two-phase dry-thermophilic AD from sulphate-containing solid waste were investigated. Maximum values of gas production (1.9 ± 0.2 l H2/l/d; 5.4 ± 0.3 l CH4/l/d and 82 ± 9 ml H2S/l/d) and microbial activities were obtained at 4.5d HRT; where basically comprised hydrolysis step in the first phase (HRT=1.5d) and acidogenic step finished in the second phase as well as acetogenic-methanogenic steps (HRT=3d). In the first phase, hydrolytic-acidogenic bacteria (HABs) was the main group (44-77%) and Archaea, acetogens and sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) contents were not significant; in the second phase (except to 2d HRT), microbial population was able to adapt to change in substrate and HRTs to ensure the proper functioning of the system and both acetogens and Archaea were dominated over SRBs. Decreasing HRT resulted in an increase in microbial activities.