Publication: Influence of Continuous Flow Microwave Pre-Treatment on Anaerobic Digestion of Secondary Thickened Sludge for Sustainable Energy Recovery in Sewage Treatment Plant
Date
2016
Authors
Hephzibah D.
Kumaran P.
Saifuddin N.M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing
Abstract
This work elucidates the effects of pre-treatment of secondary thickened sludge (STS) for enhancement of biogas production that has great potential to generate energy for the utilization of the sewage treatment plant (STP) itself. Microwave pre-treatment has been adopted for this study. Experiment works have been designed and conducted to examine the effectiveness of continuous flow microwave pre-treatment on the solubility of STS, digestibility of STS and biogas production at a power level of 80 W for 5, 10 and 15 minutes. A few characteristics of the sewage sludge were monitored daily to identify the effect of pre-treatment on the sludge. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD)/total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) ratio increased by 0.1, 1.0 and 1.8%, while the volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration of the pre-treated sludge improved by 4.4, 5.1, 5.9% at the irradiation time of 5, 10 and 15 minutes, respectively at a microwave power level of 80 W. Besides that, the digestate also indicates that the pre-treated sludge undergoes efficient VS removal and TCOD removal after anaerobic digestion compared to the untreated sludge. Moreover, the biogas quantity increased by an average of 19.2, 24.1 and 32.2% in 5, 10 and 15 minutes irradiation time respectively compared to the untreated sludge. The additional quantity of biogas generated has shown a great potential for sustainable energy generation that can be utilized internally by the STP.
Description
Anaerobic digestion; Biogas; Chemical oxygen demand; Energy conservation; Fatty acids; Irradiation; Microwave irradiation; Microwaves; River pollution; Secondary recovery; Sewage sludge; Sewage treatment plants; Volatile fatty acids; Biogas production; Biogas quantities; Continuous flows; Irradiation time; Microwave power levels; Pre-Treatment; Soluble chemical oxygen demands; Sustainable energy; Sludge digestion; anoxic conditions; biogas; chemical oxygen demand; concentration (composition); digestibility; experimental study; fatty acid; irradiation; pollutant removal; power generation; sewage; sewage treatment; sludge; solubility