Co-digestion of sewage sludge with glycerol to boost biogas production

Journal Article · Fri Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.04.011· OSTI ID:21418125

Petousi, I; Manios, T ^[1]

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1. School of Agricultural Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece)

The feasibility of adding crude glycerol from the biodiesel industry to the anaerobic digesters treating sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants was studied in both batch and continuous experiments at 35 {sup o}C. Glycerol addition can boost biogas yields, if it does not exceed a limiting 1% (v/v) concentration in the feed. Any further increase of glycerol causes a high imbalance in the anaerobic digestion process. The reactor treating the sewage sludge produced 1106 {+-} 36 ml CH{sub 4}/d before the addition of glycerol and 2353 {+-} 94 ml CH{sub 4}/d after the addition of glycerol (1% v/v in the feed). The extra glycerol-COD added to the feed did not have a negative effect on reactor performance, but seemed to increase the active biomass (volatile solids) concentration in the system. Batch kinetic experiments showed that the maximum specific utilization rate ({mu}{sub max}) and the saturation constant (K{sub S}) of glycerol were 0.149 {+-} 0.015 h{sup -1} and 0.276 {+-} 0.095 g/l, respectively. Comparing the estimated values with the kinetics constants for propionate reported in the literature, it can be concluded that glycerol uptake is not the rate-limiting step during the process.

• OSTI ID: 21418125
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 30, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2010.04.011; PII: S0956-053X(10)00220-5; Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOFUELS
BIOMASS
GLYCEROL
METHANE
SEWAGE SLUDGE
VOLATILE MATTER
WASTE WATER
WATER TREATMENT
YIELDS
ALCOHOLS
ALKANES
BIOCONVERSION
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
DIGESTION
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LIQUID WASTES
MATERIALS
MATTER
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SEWAGE
SLUDGES
WASTES
WATER