Several operational and environmental conditions can result in poor biogas yield during the operation of anaerobic digesters and anaerobic bioreactor landfills. Over time, anaerobic co-digestion and leachate blending have been identified as strategies that can help address some of these challenges to improve biogas production. While co-digestion entails the co-treatment of multiple substrates, leachate blending involves combination of mature and young landfill leachate. Despite the benefits attributed to these strategies, their impact on recirculating bioreactor landfill scenarios and anaerobic digesters requires further investigation. In the first phase of this thesis, an attempt to assess biogas production improvement from organic fraction of municipal solid waste in simulated bioreactor landfills through recirculation of blended landfill leachate was conducted. Real old and new leachate blends (67%New leachate:33%Old leachate, 33%New leachate:67%Old leachate) as well as 100%New and 100%Old leachate were recirculated through six laboratory-scale bioreactors using open-loop and closed-loops modes. Compared with the control bioreactor where 100% new leachate was recirculated and operated as a closed-loop, cumulative biogas production was improved by as much as 77 to 193% when a leachate blend of 33%New:67%Old was recirculated. Furthermore, comparison of the results from open-loop and closed-loop operated bioreactors indicated that there was approximately 28 to 65% more biogas in open-loop bioreactors. The Gompertz model applied to the methane data produced a better fit (R2 > 0.99) than first order and logistic function models. Leachate blending reduced the lag phase by almost half and thus helps in alleviating the ensiling during the start-up phase. In the second phase, a biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay was conducted to investigate the synergistic effect of percentage sewage scum addition; 10%, 20% and 40% (volatile solids basis) on biogas production during mesophilic co-digestion with various organic substrates viz; organic fraction of municipal solid waste, old leachate, new leachate and a leachate blend prepared from 67%old leachate and 33%new leachate under sub-optimal condition. Results show that the net cumulative bio-methane yield was improved with increased sewage scum percentage during co-digestion because of positive synergism. Meanwhile, the addition of 40% sewage scum to the individual co-substrates improved net cumulative bio-methane yield by 28% - 67% when compared to their respective mono-substrate digestion bio-methane yield. Furthermore, reactors containing leachate blends consistently produced more biogas over other sets because of blending. Kinetic modelling applied to the bio-methane production data shows modified Gompertz equation achieved a better fit with up to an R2 value of 0.999. Finally, co-digestion substantially reduced the lag time encountered during mono-digestion. In the last phase, the biomethane potential involved in the ACo-D of sewage scum, organic fraction of municipal solid waste was investigated in this phase using either thickened waste activated sludge or leachate blend (67%old leachate and 33%new leachate) as a tertiary component. Compared to the mono-digestion of TWAS, results shows that biomethane yield was enhanced in by as much as 32 - 127% in trinary mixtures with SS and OFMSW mainly due to the effect of positive synergism. Furthermore, LB addition improved biomethane production in trinary mixtures of SS:LB: OFMSW by 38% than in corresponding trinary mixtures of TWAS. Whereas an optimal combination of 40%SS:10%TWAS:50%OFMSW and 20%SS:70%LB:10%OFMSW produced the highest biogas yield of 407mL.gVS-1 and 487mL.gVS-1 respectively. The application of the first order model showed that lower hydrolysis rates promoted methanogenesis with k = 0.04day-1 in both 20%SS:70%LB:10%OFMSW and 20%SS:50%LB:30%OFMSW. Estimations by the modified Gompertz and logistic function were conclusive methane production rate improved by as much a 60% in a trinary mixture over the production rate during mono-digestion of TWAS alone. The results of the various experiments of this thesis therefore suggest that leachate blending can be used as a strategy to improve biogas production in both bioreactor landfills and anaerobic digesters. Also, sewage scum as an energy-rich substrate can be better utilized during co-digestion with other low-energy substrates.

Nitrogen Inhibition during an anaerobic co-digestion process was studied in this work.The substrate and inoculum used were obtained from a thermophilic biogas plant Sobacken,situated in Borås, Sweden. The batch experiments have been carried out in triplicate reactorswith different concentrations of ammonia ranging from 2400mg/l to 3400mg/l. The batchexperiment was working well for the all the concentrations of ammonia investigated. Theaverage methane yield was around 0.65 Nm3 CH4/kgVS for all the reactors. The laboratorywork has been further proceeded with a continuous process having two reactors working inparallel. Reactor 1 containing only substrate and the Reactor 2 contain substrate with surplusammonia added to make final concentration of 3400mg/l. The reactors were operated atorganic loading rate (OLR) of 3.3gVS/l/day and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days.Both reactors worked well for 29 days. During a period of an initial stable operation, theaverage methane production of Reactor 1 was 0.59 Nm3CH4/kgVS/day and for Reactor 2 theproduction rate was 0.56 Nm3CH4/kgVS/day. Then Reactor 1 showed a steady decrease in pHand methane production, while Reactor 2 showed stable operation for a few days longer withdecreasing pH and methane production only from day 36. The composition of substrate wasnot optimal; therefore the inhibition level of ammonium could not be determined.

This study aimed at seeking for the solution to recover the energy from agriculture waste in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The spent mushroom compost - a residue from the mushroom growing - was chosen for co-digestion with pig manure in anaerobic batch and semi-continuous experiments. The results showed that in case of spent mushroom compost made up 75% of the mixed substrate, the gained biogas volume was not significantly different compared to the treatment fed solely with 100% pig manure. The average produced biogas was 4.1 L×day-1 in the experimental conditions. The semi-continuous experiments remained in good operation up to the 90th day of the fermentation without any special agitating method application. The methane contents in both experiments were around 60%, which was significantly suitable for energy purposes. These results confirm that spent mushroom compost is possibly an acceptable material for energy recovery in the anaerobic fermentation process. / Nghiên cứu này nhằm tìm kiếm giải pháp thu hồi năng lượng từ chất thải nông nghiệp tại ĐBSCL, Việt Nam. Rơm sau ủ nấm - phế phẩm sau khi trồng nấm rơm - được chọn để ủ kết hợp với phân heo trong các bộ ủ yếm khí theo mẻ và bán liên tục. Kết quả cho thấy nếu phối trộn đến 75% rơm sau ủ nấm trong nguyên liệu ủ, tổng lượng khí thu được không khác biệt đáng kể so với thí nghiệm ủ 100% phân heo. Trong điều kiện thí nghiệm, lượng khí thu được trung bình là 4.1 L.ngày-1. Thí nghiệm ủ bán liên tục vẫn vận hành tốt ở ngày thứ 90 mặc dù mẻ ủ không được khuấy đảo. Hàm lượng khí mê-tan đo được chiếm khoảng 60% hoàn toàn có thể sử dụng cho các nhu cầu về năng lượng. Những kết quả thí nghiệm khẳng định có thể sử dụng rơm sau ủ nấm để thu hồi năng lượng thông qua quá trình ủ yếm khí kết hợp.

Fat, oil, and grease residues, food particles, solids and some kitchen wastewaters are collected in grease traps which are separate from the municipal wastewater stream. Grease traps are emptied periodically and grease trap waste (GTW) is hauled for treatment. This dissertation focuses on anaerobic co-digestion of un-dewatered (raw) GTW with municipal wastewater treatment sludge (MWS) at wastewater treatment plants. In particular, this research focuses on the biochemical methane potential of un-dewatered GTW as well as the stability and performance of anaerobic co-digestion of MWS and un-dewatered GTW. A set of modified biochemical methane potential tests was performed to determine the methane potential of un-dewatered GTW under mesophilic conditions (35 °C). Methane potential of un-dewatered GTW in this study was 606 mL CH₄/g VS [subscript added] which is less than previously reported methane potentials of 845 - 1050 mL CH₄/g VS [subscript added] for concentrated/dewatered GTW. However, the methane potential of un-dewatered GTW (606 mL CH₄/g VS [subscript added]) was more than two times greater than the 223 mL CH₄/g VS [subscript added] reported for MWS digestion alone. A comprehensive study was performed to determine the stability and performance of anaerobic co-digestion of MWS with un-dewatered GTW as a function of increasing GTW feed ratios. The performance of two semi-continuously fed anaerobic digesters at 35 °C was evaluated as a function of increasing GTW feed ratios. Anaerobic co-digestion of MWS with un-dewatered GTW at a 46% GTW feed ratio (on a volatile solids basis) resulted in a 67% increase in methane production and a 26% increase in volatile solids reduction compared to anaerobic digestion of MWS alone. On the other hand, anaerobic co-digestion of un-dewatered GTW resulted in a higher inhibition threshold (46% on VS basis) than that of dewatered GTW. These results indicate that using un-dewatered GTW instead of dewatered GTW can reduce the inhibition risk of anaerobic co-digestion of MWS and GTW. Recovery of the anaerobic digesters following upset conditions was also evaluated and semi-continuous feed of digester effluent into upset digesters yielded of the biogas production level of the undisrupted digestion. Finally, a mathematical model was used to describe the relationship between methane potential and GTW feed ratio on a VS basis. The results of this research can be used to predict methane production and identify suitable GTW feeding ratios for successful co-digestion of un-dewatered GTW and MWS. / text

In this project, by adding selected co-substrates and by incorporating optimum pre-treatment strategies, four experimental phases were conducted to assess the enhancement of biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion using wastewater treatment plant sludge as the primary substrate. In the first phase, the feasibility of using municipal organic wastes (synthetic kitchen waste (KW) and fat, oil and grease (FOG)) as co-substrates in anaerobic co-digestion was investigated. KW and FOG positively affected biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion, with ideal estimated substrate/inoculum (S/I) ratio ranges of 0.80-1.26 and 0.25-0.75, respectively. Combined linear and non-linear regression models were employed to represent the entire digestion process and demonstrated that FOG could be suggested as the preferred co-substrate. The effects of ultrasonic and thermo-chemical pre-treatments on the biogas production of anaerobic co-digestion with KW or FOG were investigated in the second phase. Non-linear regressions fitted to the data indicated that thermo-chemical pre-treatment could increase methane production yields from both FOG and KW co-digestion. Thermo-chemical pre-treatments of pH=10, 55°C provided the best conditions to increase methane production from FOG co-digestions. In the third phase, using the results obtained previously, anaerobic co-digestions with FOG were tested in bench-scale semi-continuous flow digesters at Ravensview Water Pollution Control Plant, Kingston, ON. The effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT), organic loading rate (OLR) and digestion temperature (37°C and 55°C) on biogas production were evaluated. The best biogas production rate of 17.4±0.86 L/d and methane content 67.9±1.46% was obtained with thermophilic (55°C) co-digestion at HRT=24 days and OLR=2.43±0.15 g TVS/L•d. In the fourth phase, with the suitable co-substrate, optimum pre-treatment method and operational parameters identified from the previous phases, anaerobic co-digestions with FOG were investigated in a two-stage thermophilic semi-continuous flow co-digestion system modified to incorporate thermo-chemical pre-treatment of pH=10 at 55°C. Overall, the modified two-stage co-digestion system yielded a 25.14±2.14 L/d (with 70.2±1.4% CH4) biogas production, which was higher than that obtained in the two-stage system without pre-treatment. The positive results could provide valuable information and original contribution to justify full-scale investigation in a continuing research program and to the field of research on anaerobic co-digestion of municipal organic wastes. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-20 09:00:09.719

In this thesis, the anaerobic co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) and, fat, oil and grease (FOG) was investigated as a method for TWAS:FOG treatment, stabilization, reduction and conversion to bio-methane gas as a valuable source of renewable energy. In the first phase, thermophilic and hyper-thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of TWAS and FOG were investigated and compared. 20 – 80%FOG (based on total volatile solids) were tested using two sets of biochemical methane potential assays (BMP). Hyper-thermophilic co-digestion of TWAS with up to 60%FOG was shown to significantly increase the methane production and VS reduction as compared to the thermophilic co-digestion of the same TWAS:FOG mixture and as compared to the control (TWAS thermophilic mono-digestion). Both linear and non-linear regression models were used to represent the co-digestion results. In the second phase, the feasibility of the thermophilic and hyper-thermophilic co-digestion of TWAS and FOG were more investigated using lab scale semi-continuous reactors. The dual stage hyper-thermophilic reactor was introduced for the first time in this work for co-digesting TWAS and FOG. The dual stage co-digestion reactor was shown to significantly outperform the single-stage thermophilic mono-digestion reactor (the control) and the single-stage thermophilic co-digestion reactor at all three hydraulic retention times (HRTs) considered in the study namely, 15, 12 and 9 days. The dual-stage hyper-thermophilic co-digester digested up to 70%FOG at 15 days HRT without any stressing signs and produced a methane yield that was 148.2% higher compared to the control methane yield at the same HRT. It also produced a class A effluent at all three tested HRTs and positive net energy for 15 and 12 days HRT. The effects of microwave (MW) pretreatment, and combined alkaline-MW pretreatment on the co-digestion of TWAS:FOG mixtures with 20, 40 and 60% FOG were investigated in the third phase of this study. MW pretreatment at a high temperature of 175ᵒC was shown to be the most effective MW pretreatment option in solubilizing TWAS:FOG mixtures and in boosting the methane yield. It resulted in maximum solubilization for the 20%FOG samples and maximum methane yield for samples with 60%FOG. The combined alkaline-MW (NaOH-MW) pretreatment at a pH 10 showed to be an ineffective option for TWAS:FOG pretreatment before the anaerobic co-digestion process. In the fourth phase, the effects of the three selected pretreatments on the solubilization of TWAS and 20%FOG mixture on the molecular scale were investigated. The pretreatments used included: (i) MW pretreatment at 175ᵒC (since this was the best MW pretreatment condition according to the results of phase 3), (ii) hyper-thermophilic stage @ 70ᵒC and 2days HRT (effectively used in phases 1 and 2), and (iii) conventional heat at 70ᵒC. The analysis involved separation of the solubilized substrates after pretreatment using ultrafiltration (UF) at four different sizes (1, 10, 100 and 300 kDa). The results showed that each pretreatment method uniquely changed the particle size distribution. These changes showed to affect the biodegradability of substrates with different class size. Finally, two brief studies were performed using BMP tests to investigate the feasibility of FOG addition as a biogas booster in TWAS anaerobic digestion. First, the effect of FOG addition on TWAS and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) co-digestion was tested using hyper-thermophilic BMP tests. The addition of 30% FOG (based on total volatile solids) was shown very effective in improving the methane yield. The 30% FOG addition to TWAS:OFMSW mixture resulted in 59.9 and 84.4% higher methane yield compared to the methane yields of TWAS:OFMSW and TWAS samples, respectively. Second, the feasibility of using the soluble part of FOG (L-FOG) as a co-digestion substrate to increase the biogas production from the thermophilic digestion of TWAS was investigated. The results showed that co-digestion of TWAS and 20 to 80% (based on total VS) of L-FOG using a substrate to inoculum ratio (S/I) of 1 improved the biogas yield by 13.5 to 83.0%, respectively. No inhibition was reported at high L-FOG %.

In order to decrease the pollution of the marine environment from dumping fish waste and by-catch, alternative use for co-digestion with sludge in anaerobic condition was studied. The purpose of this project is to optimize the methane potential from adjustment of the proportion among mixed substrates. Ten groups of different proportions among fish waste, by-catch and sludge were conducted with AMPTS II instrument under mesophilic condition (37 ± 0.5 ºC), by means of the principle of BMP test. The ratio of inoculums and mixed substrate was set as 3:2. The optimal MP obtained after an experiment with 13 days digestion was 0.533 Nm3 CH4/kg VS from the composition of sludge, by-catch and fish waste as 33 %, 45 % and 22 %. It was improved by 6 % and 25.6 %, to compare with the previous studies by Almkvist (2012) and Tomczak-Wandzel (personal communication, February 2012) respectively.

M. Tech. (Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technolog / Textile industry effluents are carcinogenic and highly recalcitrant hence difficult to degrade especially through biological methods. Abattoir effluents are classified under high-strength wastewaters because of their characteristic high organic load hence highly biodegradable. Anaerobic co-digestion is the concept of degrading two effluent streams with complementary characteristics in order to improve the substrate removal rate. The feasibility of co-digesting abattoir and textile wastewater in a UASB reactor was evaluated at mesophilic and ambient temperature conditions. Preliminary experiments were conducted in 500 ml batch reactors to evaluate the optimum abattoir to textile synthetic wastewater ratio. The effect of COD, TVFA, alkalinity and pH on biogas yield was examined at both ambient and mesophilic temperatures. Anaerobic co-digestion of abattoir to textile wastewater in the ratio determined in the batch process was carried out in a 3 L UASB reactor by a continuous process. The continuous biodegradation process was executed at three different HRTs (22, 18 and 14 hrs) over a 60 day operation period. UASB reactor efficiency was achieved at organic loads ranging from 3.0 – 10.8 gCOD L-1 day-1. Continuous mode experiments were carried out at influent flow rates which corresponded to HRTs ranging between 1 to 8 days in order to evaluate the steady state operating parameters for the co-digestion process. The abattoir to textile effluent ratio was found to be 60:40 respectively. The COD, TVFA, alkalinity and pH and biogas yield followed a similar pattern over time at both mesophilic and ambient temperature conditions. Experimental data adequately fit the Grau first order kinetic model and average COD removal efficiencies of 85% and BOD5 of around 96% were achieved. The average biogas yield remained essentially constant, around 0.19 L/g CODremoved. The co-digested mixture was found to be biodegradable judging from the BOD:COD ratio of 0.53. TCOD removal efficiency decreased from 93% to 16% as HRT decreased from 8 days to 1 day. The kinetics of a UASB reactor co-digesting the mixture of synthetic abattoir and textile wastewater was evaluated in this study using Grau second order multicomponent substrate removal kinetic model. The Grau second order kinetic model, whose kinetic coefficient (ks) was 0.389, was found to be suitable for predicting the performance of a lab-scale UASB reactor.

A indústria de laticínios no Brasil gerou no 2014 em torno de 88,5 bilhões de litros de efluente, o resíduo gorduroso (RG) separado no tratamento deste efluente, atualmente carece de tratamento. A digestão anaeróbia (DA) é uma opção de tratamento a partir da qual é possível, entre outras coisas, obter biogás, fonte renovável de energia, que representa uma importante alternativa para compor a matriz energética do país. No entanto, resíduos lipídicos, além de gerar lodos de difícil manejo, descompõem-se em ácidos graxos de cadeia longa (AGCL) que inibem os microrganismos metanogênicos. Como estratégia para tratar efetivamente este resíduo, avaliou se um sistema de co-digestão anaeróbia empregando RG advindo da caixa de gordura de um laticínio, e, bagaço de cana de açúcar (BCA) pré-tratado em condições sub e supercríticas de CO2: (i) 40°C / 70 bar (ii) 60°C / 200 bar e (iii) 80°C / 200 bar, com e sem adição de NaOH, respectivamente. Dos pré-tratamentos avaliados, destaca-se o pré-tratamento com CO2 a 60°C e 200bar pelo qual foi possível remover 8,07% de lignina. A produção metanogênica advinda da digestão anaeróbia de bagaço de cana de açúcar foi aumentada em todos os casos nos quais o material foi pré-tratado com CO2 sub e supercrítico, com exceção do caso no qual se utilizou elevada temperatura e NaOH como modificador de polaridade. Os resíduos advindos da caixa de gordura apresentaram elevado potencial metanogênico na faixa de concentração de substrato estudada, sem que nenhuma inibição fosse verificada. A co-digestão de resíduos gordurosos e bagaço de cana, pré-tratados ou não, não apresentou vantagem com relação à mono-digestão dos materiais. / The dairy industry in Brazil generated in 2014 around 88.5 billion litters of effluent, the fatty residue, separated in the treatment of this effluent, currently lacks treatment. Anaerobic digestion is a treatment option from which it is possible, among other things, to obtain biogas, a renewable source of energy, which represents an important alternative to fix the country\'s energy matrix. However, lipid residues form sludges that are difficult to manage and decompose into long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) that are inhibitory to methanogenic microorganisms. As a strategy to effectively treat this residue, we evaluated an anaerobic co-digestion system employing fatty residues from a fat box of a dairy plant, and sugarcane bagasse pre-treated under sub and supercritical CO2 conditions: (i) 40°C / 70 bar (ii) 60°C / 200 bar and (iii) 80°C / 200 bar, with and without addition of NaOH respectively. Of this pre-treatments, stood out the one with CO2 at 60°C and 200 bar by which was achieved the removal of 8.07% of lignin. The methanogenic production from the anaerobic digestion of sugarcane bagasse was increased in all cases in which the material was pre-treated with sub and supercritical CO2, with the exception to the cases in which high temperatures and NaOH were combined. The residues from the dairy fat box showed high methanogenic potential in the concentration range evaluated and no inhibition was verified. The co-digestion of the greasy residues and the sugarcane bagasse with and without pre-treatment, did not present advantage in compare to the mono-digestion of the materials.

Submitted by Jean Medeiros (jeanletras@uepb.edu.br) on 2016-08-10T12:13:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Larissa Barreto Barbosa.pdf: 1228913 bytes, checksum: 2ac5600e4706fd0ad2c049bb9b5dba33 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T12:13:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Larissa Barreto Barbosa.pdf: 1228913 bytes, checksum: 2ac5600e4706fd0ad2c049bb9b5dba33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this study, we investigated the influence of the concentration of total solids and temperature in the process of anaerobic co-digestion of organic solid waste in one batch -1 -1 reactors, using three different concentrations of total solids: 30.5 g.L (ST1); 39.5 g.L -1 (ST2) and 48.2 g.L (ST3), and three levels of temperature: ambient (average 24 ° C) (T1), 35 ° C (T2) and 40C (T3). The experimental system was built, installed and monitored for 180 days in the physical facilities of the Experimental Biological of Sewage Treatment Station (EXTRABES) of the State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande - PB, Brazil. For power reactors was prepared substrate in a proportion of 80% of crushed vegetable solid waste and sieved at 2 mm mesh and 20% anaerobic sludge from UASB reactor treating domestic sewage. The best results with regard to removal of DQOT, TKN, proteins, carbohydrates, besides solubilization of COD and increase the concentration of N-NH4, were coming from the treatment at 35 ° C. On the other hand, the total solids -1 concentration of 30.6 g.L , provided the best efficiency in the bioconversion of organic matter. The highest yield of biogas and CH4 gas was observed for treating the substrate with a lower concentration of total solids and 35 ° C. / Neste trabalho foi investigada a influência da concentração de sólidos totais e da temperatura no processo de co-digestão anaeróbia de resíduos sólidos orgânicos em reatores de batelada única, aplicando três diferentes concentrações de sólidos totais: 30,5 -1 -1 -1 g.L (ST1) ; 39,5 g.L (ST2) e 48,2 g.L (ST3), e três níveis de temperaturas: ambiente (média 24ºC) (T1), 35ºC (T2) e 40ºC (T3). O sistema experimental foi construído, instalado e monitorado por 180 dias nas dependências físicas da Estação Experimental de Tratamentos Biológicos de Esgotos Sanitários (EXTRABES) da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Campina Grande – PB, Brasil. Para a alimentação dos reatores foi preparado o substrato numa proporção de 80% de resíduos sólidos vegetais triturados e peneirados em malha de 2 mm e 20% de lodo anaeróbio proveniente de reator UASB tratando esgoto sanitário. Os melhores resultados em relação às remoções de DQOT, NTK, proteínas, carboidratos, além da solubilização de DQO e aumento na concentração de N-NH4, foram advindo do tratamento à temperatura de 35°C. Por outro lado, a concentração de sólidos -1 totais de 30,6 g.L , propiciou a melhor eficiência na bioconversão da matéria orgânica. A maior produção de biogás e de gás CH4 observada foi para o tratamento do substrato com menor concentração de sólidos totais e temperatura de 35°C.