The use of laboratory scale reactors to predict sensitivity to changes in operating conditions for full-scale anaerobic digestion treating municipal sewage sludge

Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is highly complex and prone to inhibition, which can cause major issues for digester operators. The result is that there have been numerous investigations into changes in operational conditions, however to date all have focused on the qualitative sensitivities, n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBioresource technology Vol. 189; pp. 384 - 390
Main Authors McLeod, James D., Othman, Maazuza Z., Beale, David J., Joshi, Deepak
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.08.2015
Subjects
Alkalies - pharmacology
Ammonia - analysis
anaerobic digestion
Anaerobiosis - drug effects
Biodegradation, Environmental - drug effects
Biofuels - analysis
biogas
Bioreactors - microbiology
experimental design
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Linear Models
regression analysis
Sewage - microbiology
sewage sludge
temperature
Time Factors
Waste Disposal, Fluid - instrumentation
Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
Water Purification
Design of experiments (DOE)
Primary sludge
Waste activated sludge
Sludge management
Anaerobic digestion
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Summary:Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is highly complex and prone to inhibition, which can cause major issues for digester operators. The result is that there have been numerous investigations into changes in operational conditions, however to date all have focused on the qualitative sensitivities, neglecting the quantitative. This study therefore aimed to determine the quantitative sensitivities by using factorial design of experiments and small semi continuous reactors. Analysis showed total and volatile solids removals are chiefly influenced by retention time, with 79% and 59% of the observed results being attributed to retention time respectively, whereas biogas was mainly influenced by loading rate, 38%, and temperature, 22%. Notably the regression model fitted to the experimental data predicted full-scale performance with a high level of precision, indicating that small reactors are subject to the same sensitivity of full-scale digesters and thus can be used to predict changes loading, retention time, and temperature.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0960-8524
1873-2976
1873-2976
DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.049