Highly Efficient Anaerobic Digestion with Thermal Pretreatment

The effectiveness of an anaerobic digestion process with thermal pretreatment at a comparatively low temperature was examined. The waste activated sludge was thermally pretreated in the process. A laboratory scale experiment and a pilot plant study were conducted. Changes in volatile acids concentration, in major constituents of sludge and in molecular size distribution were examined before and after thermal pretreatment and anaerobic digestion. Thermal pretreatment resulted in an increase of more than 30 percent in digestion gas production. The major substrates decomposed were fats in the pilot plant study. Glyceride fatty acids are decomposed with thermal pretreatment and produce volatile acids such as acetic and propionic acids. The volatile acids are directly utilized by anaerobes to produce methane. Organic matter such as fats and carbohydrates are depolymerized with thermal pretreatment and produce soluble intermediate compounds such as higher fatty acids. The intermediates are utilized in the anaerobic digestion process. These two major effects facilitate the methane production process.