Anaerobic Treatment and Biogas Generation
Anaerobic Treatment and Biogas Generation
Anaerobic Treatment and Biogas Generation
Industrial Wastewater
Popularity of anaerobic processes
Energy crisis in 70 and 80’s- a renewed interest in anaerobic process
1200
1000
No. of plants
800
600
400
200
0
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
Anaerobic treatment plants for industrial applications (Source: Franklin, 2001)
Anaerobic treatment within wastewater processing
Primary sludge
Primary sedimentation
(35)
(65)
e.g. Activated sludge,
Trickling filter, RBC Aerobic treatment
Oxidized to CO2 (30)
Converted to sludge (35)
Secondary sludge
Secondary sedimentation (25)
Effluent (10)
Anaerobic treatment of solids
Anaerobic microbes
Organic materials + Nutrients CH4 + CO2 +NH3 + Biomass
Anaerobic processes
Energy
Electron
Energy
CH4 gas
Anaerobic process > 0.9 kg
Biodegradable
COD
1 kg New biomass
< 0.1 kg
…Advantages of anaerobic processes
6. Space saving
Higher loading rates require smaller reactor volumes thereby saving on
disposal cost
Anaerobic Aerobic
Organic loading rate
High loading rates:10-40 kg COD/m3-day Low loading rates:0.5-1.5 kg COD/m3-day
(for high rate reactors, e.g. AF,UASB, E/FBR) (for activated sludge process)
Biomass yield
Low biomass yield:0.05-0.15 kg VSS/kg COD High biomass yield:0.35-0.45 kg VSS/kg COD
(biomass yield is not constant but depends (biomass yield is fairly constant irrespective
on types of substrates metabolized) of types of substrates metabolized)
Start-up time
Long start-up: 1-2 months for mesophilic Short start-up: 1-2 weeks
: 2-3 months for thermophilic
Comparison between anaerobic and aerobic processes
Anaerobic Aerobic
SRT
Longer SRT is essential to retain the slow SRT of 4-10 days is enough for the
growing methanogens within the reactor activated sludge process
Microbiology
Anaerobic processes involve multi-step Aerobic process is mainly a one-
chemical conversions and a diverse species phenomenon, except for
group of microorganisms degrade the nutrient-removal processes
organic matter in a sequential order
Environmental factors
The process is highly susceptible to The process is more robust to
changes in environmental conditions changing environmental conditions
How much methane gas can be generated through
complete anaerobic degradation of 1 kg COD at STP ?
16 g 64g
16 g CH4 ~ 64 g O2 (COD)
INTERMEDIARY PRODUCTS
(C>2; Propionate, Butyrate etc)
methanogenesis
72 28
Methane
Carbon dioxide
Essential conditions for efficient anaerobic treatment
• Enough nutrients (N & P) and trace metals especially, Fe, Co, Ni, etc.
COD:N:P = 350:7:1 (for highly loaded system) 1000:7:1 (lightly
loaded system)
• Alcohol production
• Brewery and Winery
• Sugar processing
• Starch (barley, corn, potato, wheat, tapioca) and desizing
waste from textile industry.
• Food processing
• Bakery plant
• Pulp and paper
• Dairy
• Slaughterhouse
• Petrochemical waste
Environmental factors
The successful operation of anaerobic reactor depends on maintaining
the environmental factors close to the comfort of the microorganisms
involved in the process.
Temperature
Psychrophilic (5 - 15oC)
Mesophilic (35 – 40 C)
Thermophilic (50-55 oC)
pH
There exist two microbial domains in terms of pH optima namely
acidogens and methanogens. The best pH range for acidogens is 5.5 –
6.5 and for methanogens is 7.8 – 8.2. The operating pH for combined
cultures is 6.8-7.4 with neutral pH being the optimum. Since methano-
genesis is considered as a rate limiting step, it is necessary to maintain
the reactor pH close to neutral.
Low pH reduces the activity of methanogens causing accumulation of
VFA and H2. At higher partial pressure of H2, propionic acid degrading
bacteria will be severely inhibited thereby causing excessive accumulation
of higher molecular weight VFAs such as propionic and butyric acids and
the pH drops further. If the situation is left uncorrected, the process may
eventually fail. This condition is known as going “SOUR” or STUCK”.
Remedial measures: Reduce the loading rates and supplement
chemicals to adjust the pH: alkaline chemicals such as NaHCO3, NaOH,
Na2CO3, quick lime (CaO), slaked lime [Ca(OH)2], limestone (or
softening sludge) CaCO3, and NH3 can be used.
Cont..
pH dependence of methanogens
1.3
1.0
Activity
0.8
0.5
0.3
0.0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
pH
Cont..
Natural buffering
Inhibition/Toxicity
The toxicity is caused by substances present in the influent waste
or byproducts of metabolic activities. Heavy metals, halogenated
compounds, and cyanide are examples of the former type whereas
sulfide and VFAs belong to latter . Ammonia from either group
Types of anaerobic reactors
Low-rate anaerobic reactors High-rate anaerobic reactors
Anaerobic contact process
Anaerobic pond
Anaerobic filter (AF)
Septic tank Upflow anaerobic sludge
blanket (UASB)
Imhoff tank Fluidized bed reactor
Biogas Biogas
Settling tank
Influent Effluent
Degassifier
Completely mixed
reactor
Recycled sludge
Waste sludge
Cont..
…Anaerobic contact process (ACP)
Effluent
Perforated
Al plate Sampling
port
Water bath
Peristaltic pump
Media
Peristaltic pump
Cont..
Anaerobic Filter Packing
Effluent
biogas
Influent
Effect of sulfate on methane production
• COD/SO42- ~ 0.67
(7000 x 10-6)
Total COD removed = ----------------- x (2) kg/d
(10-3)
= 14 kg/d
(7000 x 10-6)
Total COD removed = ------------- x (2) x 0.85 kg/d
(10-3)
= 11.9 kg/d
Cont..
As 10% of the removed COD has been utilized for biomass synthesis
remaining 90% of the removed COD has thus been converted to CH4 gas.
= 10.71 kg/d
From eq. (3) in example 1, we have:
= 4.02 m3/d
The bio-gas generation rate is larger as it also contains CO2 and H2S4C.02/0.80
= 5.03 m3/d
Cont..
= 11.33 kg/d
Sludge
Anaerobic Sequential Bed Reactor
BIOGAS RECYCLE
BIOGAS
SUPERNATANT
DECANT
PORTS
SETTLED
BIOMASS
So . Q
VOLR = ---------
V
Efficiency, %
VOLR can be selected!
VOLR
How do we select VOLR?
Conducting a pilot scale studies
Volume V (m3)
HRT, days = = day
Flow rate Q (m3/day)
Influent VS
kg/day
V, m3
Volatile solids Influent VS (kg/day)
loading rate, =
(kg VS/m3- day) Reactor volume (m3)
For a given volatile solids loading rate, the size of reactor can
be easily determined since influent VS (kg/day) is known to us.
Influent VS (kg/day)
Digester volume, V (m3) =
Volatile solids loading rate,(kg VS/m3- day)
Green cow power
Methane for power generation
The digester uses feeder cattle manure from Amana Farms and
industrial and food processing waste from such industries as
Genencor International, Cargill and International Paper’s Cedar
River Mill in Cedar Rapids.
What happens to the left-overs?