BMP tests of source selected OFMSW to evaluate anaerobic codigestion with sewage sludge

The aim of this study is to characterize different types of source selected organic fraction of municipal solid waste (SS-OFMSW) in order to optimize the upgrade of a sewage sludge anaerobic digestion unit by codigestion. Various SS-OFMSW samples were collected from canteens, supermarkets, restaurants, households, fruit–vegetable markets and bakery shops. The substrates characterization was carried out getting traditional chemical–physical parameters, performing elemental analysis and measuring fundamental anaerobic digestion macromolecular compounds such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and volatile fatty acids. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were conducted at mesophilic temperature both on single substrates and in codigestion regime with different substrates mixing ratios. The maximum methane yield was observed for restaurant (675 NmlCH₄/gVS) and canteens organic wastes (571 and 645 NmlCH₄/gVS). The best codigestion BMP test has highlighted an increase of 47% in methane production respect sewage sludge digestion.     

易腐有机垃圾单级高固体厌氧消化实验研究

在中温(35～37℃)条件下,对连续式单级高固体厌氧消化反应器处理易腐有机垃圾进行了试验研究,连续试验时间达半年以上.结果表明,系统稳定运行时,在进料TS为24.79%、VS为23.06%的情况下,单位体积反应器产气效率最高达到3.69L/(L·d),易腐有机垃圾的产气能力(以VS计)为746.33 L/kg,有机负荷(以VS计)达到4.94 kg/(m3·d),水力停留时间47 d,此时期处理效果理想;试验启动之初易发生酸化,其抑制情况严重,出现0产气,经碱性溶液调节后情况得到较好解决;反应进行至80 d后产气速率降至最高速率的一半以下,推断是氨氮浓度超过2000mg/L而产生氨氮抑制,经过投加化学药剂和调节进料C/N抑制情况得到缓解.     

城市有机生活垃圾厌氧发酵处理研究

在适当的PH值和搅拌条件下，研究了反应温度、总固体含量、pH值、碳氮比、碳磷比以及接种物量对有机牛活垃圾厌氧发酵产沼气的影响。实验结果表明：有机生活垃圾厌氧消化产沼气的适宜条件是：反应温度50～55℃，总固体含量23％～28％，pH=6．8～7．4，w(C)／w（N)=(20～30)，w(C)／w(P)=50，60％～75％的生物气，可实现能量回收；发酵剩余物可制有机肥，时间为15～20d。接种物量为25％～30％。在厌氧的条件下，可以制取含甲烷实现物质再利用。有机生活垃圾在厌氧消化反应器的停留时间为15～20d。     

城市有机生活垃圾溶胞处理对其厌氧消化的影响机理

由于城市有机生活垃圾成分的复杂性和厌氧消化的限速步骤的影响,导致厌氧发酵的速度比较缓慢、产气量较少和工艺不稳定等问题。文章综述了国内外有机生活垃圾的各种溶胞处理技术,如物理法、化学法、生物法及其联合处理等方法,以便改善发酵物料的性质,消除厌氧发酵的限速步骤。研究认为,通过溶胞处理能够改善有机垃圾的物理化学性质如发酵物料的溶解度、酸碱度等,提高微生物对难降解有机物的分解,增加可溶性COD和挥发性酸的浓度,优化发酵细菌的代谢途径以及产物的组成等,从而增加生物气产量,缩短水力停留时间,强化厌氧发酵过程,减轻了后续处理的负担。     

Parameters affecting the stability of the digestate from a two-stage anaerobic process treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste

This paper focused on the factors affecting the respiration rate of the digestate taken from a continuous anaerobic two-stage process treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). The process involved a hydrolytic reactor (HR) that produced a leachate fed to a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SAMBR). It was found that a volatile solids (VS) removal in the range 40-75% and an operating temperature in the HR between 21 and 35 °C resulted in digestates with similar respiration rates, with all digestates requiring 17 days of aeration before satisfying the British Standard Institution stability threshold of 16 mg CO₂ g VS⁻¹ day⁻¹. Sanitization of the digestate at 65 °C for 7 days allowed a mature digestate to be obtained. At 4 g VS L⁻¹ d⁻¹ and Solid Retention Times (SRT) greater than 70 days, all the digestates emitted CO₂ at a rate lower than 25 mg CO₂ g VS⁻¹ d⁻¹ after 3 days of aeration, while at SRT lower than 20 days all the digestates displayed a respiration rate greater than 25 mg CO₂ g VS⁻¹ d⁻¹. The compliance criteria for Class I digestate set by the European Commission (EC) and British Standard Institution (BSI) could not be met because of nickel and chromium contamination, which was probably due to attrition of the stainless steel stirrer in the HR.     

Distributed generation by energy from waste technology: A life cycle perspective

Municipal Solid Waste in general and its organic fraction in particular is a potential renewable and non-seasonal resource. In this work, a life cycle assessment has been performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of two future scenarios using biogas produced from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) to supply energy to a group of dwellings, respectively comprising distributed generation using solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) micro-CHP systems and condensing boilers. The London Borough of Greenwich is taken as the reference case study. The system is designed to assess how much energy demand can be met and what is the best way to use the digestible waste for distributed energy purposes.The system is compared with two alternative scenarios fuelled by natural gas: a reference scenario, where the electricity is supplied by the grid and the heat is supplied from condensing boilers, and a fuel cell micro-CHP system. The results show that, although OFMSW alone can only supply between 1% and 4% of the total energy demand of the Borough, a saving of ∼130 tonnes of CO₂ eq per year per dwelling equipped with micro-CHP is still achievable compared with the reference scenario. This is primarily due to the surplus electricity produced by the fuel cell when the micro-CHP unit is operated to meet the heat demand. Use of biogas to produce heat only is therefore a less desirable option compared with combined heat and power production. Further investigation is required to identify locally available feedstock other than OFMSW in order to increase the proportion of energy demand that can be met in this way.     

Micro-treatment options for components of organic fraction of MSW in residential areas

There is a growing interest in management of MSW through micro-treatment of organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) in many cities of India. The OFMSW fraction is high (>80%) in many pockets within South Indian cities like Bangalore, Chikkamagalur, etc. and is largely represented by vegetable, fruit, packing and garden wastes. Among these, the last three have shown problems for easy decomposition. Fruit wastes are characterized by a large pectin supported fraction that decomposes quickly to organic acids (becomes pulpy) that eventually slow down anaerobic and aerobic decomposition processes. Paper fraction (newsprint and photocopying paper) as well as paddy straw (packing), bagasse (from cane juice stalls) and tree leaf litter (typical garden waste and street sweepings) are found in reasonably large proportions in MSW. These decompose slowly due to poor nutrients or physical state. We have examined the suitability of these substrates for micro-composting in plastic bins by tracking decomposition pattern and physical changes. It was found that fruit wastes decompose rapidly to produce organic acids and large leachate fraction such that it may need to be mixed with leachate absorbing materials (dry wastes) for good composting. Leaf litter, paddy straw and bagasse decompose to the tune of 90, 68 and 60% VS and are suitable for composting micro-treatment. Paper fractions even when augmented with 10% leaf compost failed to show appreciable decomposition in 50 days. All these feedstocks were found to have good biological methane potential (BMP) and showed promise for conversion to biogas under a mixed feed operation. Suitability of this approach was verified by operating a plug-flow type anaerobic digester where only leaf litter gathered nearby (as street sweepings) was used as feedstock. Here only a third of the BMP was realized at this scale (0.18 m³ biogas/kg VS 0.55 m³/kg in BMP). We conclude that anaerobic digestion in plug-flow like digesters appear a more suitable micro-treatment option (2–10 kg VS/day) because in addition to compost it also produces biogas for domestic use nearby.