This study was conducted to address the controlling factors of biosolids stability as they relate to mesophilic anaerobic digestion, dewatering processes and digestion enhancement by wet sludge disintegration technologies. The working hypothesis of this study is that digestion performance; nuisance odor generation and the degree of digestion enhancement by wet sludge disintegration are directly related to anaerobic floc structure and its interaction with shearing forces. Mesophilic digestion was studied in two modes of operation, convention high rate and internal recycle mode to enhanced digestion using a wet sludge disintegration device. The internal recycle system operated on the premise that stabilized sludge would be removed from the digester disintegrated, either by mechanical shear or ultrasonic disintegration for this study, and returned it for to the digester further for further stabilization. Both benchscale and full-scale demonstrations found this mode of digestion enhancement to be effective for mechanical shear and ultrasonic disintegration. It was also determined that volatile solids destruction in both conventional and enhanced mesophilic anaerobic digesters can be reasonably predicted by the concentration of cations in the sludge being treated. It was found that depending on the disintegration device used to enhance digestion performance was influenced by different cation associated fractions of the sludge floc. Along with the improvement of digester performance, overall biosolids stability was investigated through of volatile organic sulfur emissions from dewatered biosolids. In doing so, a method to mimic high solids centrifugation in the laboratory was developed. The centrifugation method identified three major factors that contribute to the generation of odors from biosolids: shear, polymer dose, and cake dryness. The inclusion of shearings suggest that one means of reducing odors from biosolids generated by centrifugation is to use a shear enhanced digestion technology to degrade odor precursors, such as amino acids, within the digester prior to dewatering. Furthermore, the mechanical shearing within a digester is thought to be similar to that of mechanical shear enhanced digestion; therefore, the floc properties that control the digestion process would control observed odor generation. / Ph. D.

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Literature shows that production of cottonseed adhesives is feasible to develop an environmentally friendly and competitive bio-based wood adhesive. Defatted cottonseed and water-washed cottonseed meals were prepared from glandless cottonseed and were used in adhesive formulations to produce three-ply yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) plywood panels as the first objective. These two cottonseed meals were compared with the properties of plywood panels made with an adhesive formulated from a commercial soybean meal, as a control. Adhesive resins were prepared from each protein meal with sodium metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) and one of two polyamido-amine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) wet strength agents, and the plywood panels were produced by hot pressing for 7, 8.5 and 10 minutes at 135°C with a constant pressure of 1.241 MPa. Panels prepared from three protein meals had comparable shear strengths. The combinations of the two cottonseed preparations and the two wet strength agents produced panels with acceptable wet resistant properties, whereas the soybean meal only produced acceptable panels with one of the wet strength agents. Because the panels prepared from the two cottonseed meals had comparable properties, there appears to be no benefit to including a water-washing step to increase the meal’s protein level. The second objective of this research was to reduce the hot press time and develop cottonseed meals into adhesives to become comparable to commercial soybean-based adhesives. New cottonseed, water-washed cottonseed, and commercial in-house soybean meals were separately prepared with deionized water, sodium metabisulfite, and PAE to produce three-ply yellow poplar plywood panels. The panels were hot pressed for 4, 5, and 6 minutes at 135°C with a constant pressure of 1.241 MPa. Panels prepared from the three meals and commercial soybean plywood panels had comparable mechanical shear strengths and water resistance properties. Results indicated that press time, meal types, and interactions were statistically significant. Shear strength results indicate that cottonseed could be used alternatively to soybean. The new cottonseed panels were more resistant to delamination than soybean. The cottonseed meals showed great promise for applicability as a formaldehyde-free, bio-based, and environmentally friendly hardwood plywood wood-based adhesives product for use in interior type applications.