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Kinetics and advanced digester design for anaerobic digestion of water hyacinth and primary sludge

Conference · · Biotechnol. Bioeng. Symp.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6061148

A research program centered around a facility located at Walt Disney World (WDW) is in progress to evaluate the use of water hyacinth (WH) for secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment, to optimize growth of WH under these conditions, and to convert the resultant primary sludge (PS) and WH to methane via anaerobic digestion. This article describes the status of the biogasification component of this program, which includes baseline and advanced digestion experiments with individual feeds and blends and the design of an experimental test unit (ETU) to be installed at WDW. Experiments with several blends demonstrated that methane yields can be predicted from the fractional content and methane yield of each component. The process was found to adhere to the Monod kinetic model for microbial growth, and associated kinetic parameters were developed for various feed combinations. A novel upflow digester is achieving significantly higher conversion than a stirred-tank digester. Of several pretreatment techniques used, only alkaline treatment resulted in increased biodegradability. A larger scale (4.5 m/sup 3/) experimental test unit is being designed for installation at WDW in 1982. 13 figures, 4 tables.

Research Organization:
Inst. of Gas Tech., Chicago, IL
OSTI ID:
6061148
Report Number(s):
CONF-820580-
Journal Information:
Biotechnol. Bioeng. Symp.; (United States), Journal Name: Biotechnol. Bioeng. Symp.; (United States) Vol. 12; ISSN BIBSB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English