A hybrid anaerobic solid-liquid system for food waste digestion.

A hybrid anaerobic solid - liquid (HASL) system was developed to enhance food waste bioconversion in comparison with the conventional two-phase anaerobic digester. The advantages of the HASL system were the higher efficiency of methane production and smaller volume of effluent from the system. The biogas, which was generated from the methanogenic phase, had an average methane content of 71-72%. Total removal of volatile solids consisted of 78-80%. The HASL system can be operated in both batch and semi-continuous modes with satisfactory performance. The addition of a submerged biofilter for ammonia removal to the HASL system further enhanced the performance of anaerobic digestion. Methane production in the enhanced HASL system was increased by 26% in comparison with the HASL system without submerged filter. This paper describes the development of the enhanced HASL system for anaerobic treatment of food waste.     

Continuous thermal hydrolysis and energy integration in sludge anaerobic digestion plants.

A thermal hydrolysis pilot plant with direct steam injection heating was designed and constructed. In a first period the equipment was operated in batch to verify the effect of sludge type, pressure and temperature, residence time and solids concentration. Optimal operation conditions were reached for secondary sludge at 170 degrees C, 7 bar and 30 minutes residence time, obtaining a disintegration factor higher than 10, methane production increase by 50% and easy centrifugation In a second period the pilot plant was operated working with continuous feed, testing the efficiency by using two continuous anaerobic digester operating in the mesophilic and thermophilic range. Working at 12 days residence time, biogas production increases by 40-50%. Integrating the energy transfer it is possible to design a self-sufficient system that takes advantage of this methane increase to produce 40% more electric energy.     

Sensors network diagnosis in anaerobic digestion processes using evidence theory.

Instrumentation defines a sensors network on a process. Hardware sensors indeed allow one to get different information sources that can be often cross-checked to provide reliable data. However, each of these sources of information contains some uncertainties, either due to the hardware sensors' measurement principles, to their possible fouling, to the estimated parameters of the models used in software sensors and/or to the specific structures of the software sensors. This paper demonstrates that, in this context, the evidence theory is a very well suited formalism for fault detection and diagnosis. This theory indeed allows one to take into account the exact knowledge supported by each source of information and to combine them in order to detect the occurring faults. Moreover, this combination guarantees the best fault isolability from a practical point of view and is suitable for multiple faults occurring at the same time. Finally, the evidence theory is a highly modular formalism since new information sources can be very easily added and old ones can be removed. Validation is performed using real-life experiments from a 1 m3 anaerobic digestion fixed bed process used applied to the treatment of winery wastewaters.     

Application of the IWA anaerobic digestion model (ADM1) for simulating full-scale anaerobic sewage sludge digestion.

A steady-state implementation of the IWA Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) has been applied to the anaerobic digesters in two wastewater treatment plants. The two plants have a wastewater treatment capacity of 76,000 and 820,000 m3/day, respectively, with approximately 12 and 205 dry metric tons sludge fed to digesters per day. The main purpose of this study is to compare the ADM1 model results with full-scale anaerobic digestion performance. For both plants, the prediction of the steady-state ADM1 implementation using the suggested physico-chemical and biochemical parameter values was able to reflect the results from the actual digester operations to a reasonable degree of accuracy on all parameters. The predicted total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) concentration in the digested biosolids, as well as the digester volatile solids destruction (VSD), biogas production and biogas yield are within 10% of the actual digester data. This study demonstrated that the ADM1 is a powerful tool for predicting the steady-state behaviour of anaerobic digesters treating sewage sludges. In addition, it showed that the use of a whole wastewater treatment plant simulator for fractionating the digester influent into the ADM1 input parameters was successful.     

Relative kinetics of anaerobic digestion under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions

With several advantages over the conventional mesophilic anaerobic digestion, such as better sludge quality and higher biogas production, thermophilic anaerobic digestion is regarded as a promising alternative for sludge digestion. Primary and activated sludges are complex materials, and historically, analysis of kinetics has been largely on whole sludge, without analysis of individual components. This paper analyses relative digestion kinetics of pure substrates designed to target main stages of sludge digestion under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. Hydrolysis rate of cellulose was significantly influenced by temperature with hydrolysis coefficients of--at 55 degrees C (0.7 +/- 0.1 day(-1)), 60 degrees C (0.8 +/- 0.2 day(-1)), 65 degrees C (1.1 +/- 0.2 day(-1)) and 70 degrees C (1.2 +/- 0.2 day(-1)) over 38 degrees C (0.4 +/- 0.1 day(-1)). This strongly follows the Arrhenius relationship, with an activation energy (E(A)) of 31 +/- 4 kJ mol(-1), corresponding to an increase of 1.5x for each 10 degrees C of temperature increase. Glucose uptake was rapid with a wide variety of fermentation products detected under mesophilic conditions, while uptake was slower under thermophilic conditions with acetate and propionate being dominant products. Propionate acetogenesis and acetate-utilizing methanogenesis kinetics were not influenced by temperatures. Hydrolysis is widely regarded as a rate-limiting step in sludge digestion, thus improvements in hydrolysis rates as measured during this study have the potential for significant improvements in overall apparent sludge digestion rates.     

Ultrasonic sludge treatment for enhanced anaerobic digestion.

Ultrasound is the term used to describe sound energy at frequencies above 20 kHz. High-powered ultrasound can be applied to a waste stream via purpose-designed tools in order to induce cavitation. This effect results in the rupture of cellular material and reduction of particle size in the waste stream, making the cells more amenable to downstream processing. sonix is a new technology utilising high-powered, concentrated ultrasound for conditioning sludges prior to further treatment. This paper presents recent results from a number of demonstration and full-scale plants treating thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) prior to anaerobic digestion, therefore enhancing the process. The present studies have proved that the use of ultrasound to enhance anaerobic digestion can be achieved at full scale and effectively result in the TWAS (typically difficult to digest) behaving, after sonication, as if it were a "primary" sludge. The technology presents benefits in terms of increased biogas production, better solids reduction, improved dewatering characteristics of the digested sludge mixture and relatively short payback periods of two years or less subject to the site conditions and practices applicable at that time.     

Multi-wavelength fluorometry for anaerobic digestion process monitoring.

Applicability of multi-wavelength fluorometry for anaerobic digestion process monitoring was investigated in a 3.5 L upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) lab-scale reactor. Both off-line and on-line monitoring of key process parameters was tested. Off-line emission spectra were measured at an angle of 90 degrees to the excitation beam using a cuvette. On-line measurements were carried out using a fiber optic probe in the external recirculation line of the digester. Fluorescence spectra were correlated to available analytical measurements to obtain partial least square regression models. An independent set of measurements was used to validate the regression models. Model estimations showed reasonable agreement with analytical measurements with multiple determination coefficients (R2) between 0.6 and 0.95. Results showed that offline fluorescence measurements can be used for fast estimation of anaerobic digestor effluent quality. At the same time, the on-line implementation of multi-wavelength fluorescence measurements can be used for realtime process monitoring and, potentially, for on-line process control.     

Application of ADM1 for the simulation of anaerobic digestion of olive pulp under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions.

The management of the wastewater originating from olive oil producing industries poses a serious environmental problem. Recently, two-phase production of olive oil has been developed, leading to almost complete elimination of the bulk of the generated wastewater and, is thus regarded as an environmentally friendly technology. However, the main waste stream (olive pulp) is a slurry material characterized by high solids concentration (approximately 30%), requiring stabilisation before its final disposal. The anaerobic digestion of olive pulp is studied in this work under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions in CSTR-type digesters. The digesters were fed with water-diluted (1:4) olive pulp at an HRT of 20 days and an OLR of 3.94 kg COD m(-3) d(-1). In order to study the process kinetics, the digesters were subjected to impulse disturbances of different substrates. The IWA anaerobic digestion model was used to simulate the reactors' response. Some key process parameters, such as the specific maximum uptake rate constants and the saturation constants for the volatile fatty acids degradation were estimated and compared with the standard values suggested by the ADM1.     

Improvement of anaerobic digestion of sludge.

Anaerobic digestion improvement can be accomplished by different methods. Besides optimization of the process conditions, pretreatment of input sludge and increase of process temperature is frequently used. The thermophilic process brings a higher solids reduction and biogas production, a high resistance to foaming, no problems with odour, better pathogens destruction and an improvement of the energy balance of the whole treatment plant. Disintegration of excess activated sludge in a lysate centrifuge was proved to cause increase of biogas production in full-scale conditions. The rapid thermal conditioning of digested sludge is an acceptable method of particulate matter disintegration and solubilization.     

A hydrogen-based variable-gain controller for anaerobic digestion processes.

An easy-to-implement controller based on gas phase measurements for anaerobic digestion processes was developed. The controller is based on the indirect control of COD in the effluent by means of controlling the hydrogen concentration in the biogas. The fast response of hydrogen under destabilizations, such as those caused by overloads, guarantees an early actuation on the system before it destabilizes. The controller is designed such that it brings the anaerobic digestion process to maximum capacity by pushing it to maximum methane production as long as hydrogen remains low. Experiments have been conducted to test the controller under organic over- and underload situations and promising performance was achieved. Further experiments must be carried out to validate the controller under a wider spectrum of situations to enable its robust industrial application.     

Application of enzymes in anaerobic digestion.

Owing to the very low economic value of brewer's spent grains, its utilisation for biogas production is very promising. The hydrolysis of ligno-cellulose is the rate limiting step in anaerobic digestion. Enzymatic pre-treatment promotes the hydrolysis of ligno-cellulose, breaking it down to lower molecular weight substances which are ready to be utilised by the bacteria. A cheap raw multi-enzyme produced by a solid state fermentation (SSF) process is a good substitute for expensive conventional enzyme. The SSF enzyme application to spent grain has been investigated by carrying out enzymatic solubility tests, hydrolytic experiments and two-step anaerobic fermentation of spent grain. Gas chromatograph analysis was conducted to quantify fatty acids concentrations, while CH(4), CO(2), O(2), H(2) and H(2)S were measured to determine biogas quality by means of a gas analyser. DS, oDS, pH were also measured to analyse the anaerobic digestion. The result shows that enzyme application promotes the hydrolysis of ligno-cellulose, indicated by higher enzymatic solubility and fatty acid concentration in a hydrolytic bioreactor. Moreover, biogas production is also increased. The quality of the gases produced is also enhanced. Since the anaerobic digestion can be operated in a stable performance, it can also be concluded that SSF enzyme is compatible with anaerobic digestion.     

Enhancement of food waste digestion in the hybrid anaerobic solid-liquid system

The hybrid anaerobic solid-liquid (HASL) system is a modified two-phase anaerobic digester for food waste treatment. To enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion in the HASL system, thermal pre-treatment (heating at 150 degrees C for 1 h) and freezing/thawing (freezing for 24 h at-20 degrees C and then thawing for 12 h at 25 degrees C) were proposed for food waste pre-treatment before the anaerobic digestion. Both processes were able to alter the characteristics and structure of food waste favoring substance solubilization, and hence production of methane. However, there was no net energy gain when the energy required by the pre-treatment processes was taken into account.     

大坝安全远程专家会商系统设计

提出了一种基于现代网络和多媒体技术的大坝安全远程专家会商系统设计方案。该方案将C／S和B／S两种结构模式的优点有机地结合起来,并提出用虚拟专用网解决系统安全性问题,使专家会商系统具有先进性和实用性。大坝安全远程专家会商系统作为大坝安全决策的一种有益尝试,将有待于在实际应用中不断完善和提高。     

大型污泥厌氧消化系统的启动与运行调控

北京小红门污水处理厂建有5座单体容积12 300m3的卵形污泥厌氧消化设施,设计沼气产量30 000m3/d。以运行数据为基础,总结了大型厌氧消化系统的启动、运行与调控经验,分析大型污泥厌氧消化系统的启动与运行特点。提出建议与措施,并提出系统优化的具体目标。     

Membrane-coupled anaerobic digestion of municipal sewage sludge.

Membrane-coupled anaerobic digestion utilizes a concept of simultaneous sludge digestion and thickening. Membranes may successfully be applied to eliminate the need for thickening polymers and avoid their likely inhibitory effect on anaerobic biomass. A 550 L completely mixed anaerobic digester was operated under mesophilic conditions (35 degrees C). Two ultrafiltration membrane systems were evaluated for their potential in membrane-coupled anaerobic digestion: vibrating and cross flow. A volatile solids reduction of 590% was achieved at an average mixed liquor suspended solids concentration of 1.8%. The substrate utilization rate was 1.3 d(-1). The vibrating membrane operated at a flux of 1.6-2.0 m3/m2-d and the tubular membrane fluxes in the range 3.4-3.6 m3/m2-d.     

Application of Methanobrevibacter acididurans in anaerobic digestion.

To operate anaerobic digesters successfully under acidic conditions, hydrogen utilizing methanogens which can grow efficiently at low pH and tolerate high volatile fatty acids (VFA) are desirable. An acid tolerant hydrogenotrophic methanogen viz. Methanobrevibacter acididurans isolated from slurry of an anaerobic digester running on alcohol distillery wastewater has been described earlier by this lab. This organism could grow optimally at pH 6.0. In the experiments reported herein, M. acididurans showed better methanogenesis under acidic conditions with high VFA, particularly acetate, than Methanobacterium bryantii, a common hydrogenotrophic inhabitant of anaerobic digesters. Addition of M. acididurans culture to digesting slurry of acidogenic as well as methanogenic digesters running on distillery wastewater showed increase in methane production and decrease in accumulation of volatile fatty acids. The results proved the feasibility of application of M. acididurans in anaerobic digesters.     

Effect of operating conditions and reactor configuration on efficiency of full-scale biogas plants.

A study on 18 full-scale centralized biogas plants was carried out in order to find significant operational factors influencing productivity and stability of the plants. It was found that the most plants were operating relatively stable with volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration below 1.5 g/l. VFA concentration increase was observed in occasions with dramatic overloading or other disturbances such as operational temperature changes. Ammonia was found to be a significant factor for stability. A correlation between increased residual biogas production and high ammonia was found. When ammonia was higher than approx. 4g-N/l the degradation efficiency of the plant decreased and as a consequence, the residual methane potential was high. Decrease of the residual methane potential with increasing hydraulic retention time was found. Digestion temperature was very important for effective post-digestion. Post-digestion for recovering the residual methane potential at temperatures below 15 degrees C was very inefficient.     

Towards new indicators for the prediction of solid waste anaerobic digestion properties.

The biochemical composition can be seen as a good indicator of both the biodegradability and the methane potential of a given waste. The work presented here is an attempt to elaborate a typology of wastes and to compare it to the anaerobic degradation characteristics. The first data indicate that there is a link between the ligno-cellulosic content of the waste and the biodegradability. When dealing with application to anaerobic digestion processes, having a tool to predict the ability of the waste to be degraded could be of the greatest interest for preventing failures, estimating biogas production, methane content, or for the management of co-digestion processes.     

Use of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor for parameter estimation in modelling of anaerobic digestion.

The model structure in anaerobic digestion has been clarified following publication of the IWA Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). However, parameter values are not well known, and uncertainty and variability in the parameter values given is almost unknown. Additionally, platforms for identification of parameters, namely continuous-flow laboratory digesters, and batch tests suffer from disadvantages such as long run times, and difficulty in defining initial conditions, respectively. Anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBRs) are sequenced into fill-react-settle-decant phases, and offer promising possibilities for estimation of parameters, as they are by nature, dynamic in behaviour, and allow repeatable behaviour to establish initial conditions, and evaluate parameters. In this study, we estimated parameters describing winery wastewater (most COD as ethanol) degradation using data from sequencing operation, and validated these parameters using unsequenced pulses of ethanol and acetate. The model used was the ADM1, with an extension for ethanol degradation. Parameter confidence spaces were found by non-linear, correlated analysis of the two main Monod parameters; maximum uptake rate (k(m)), and half saturation concentration (K(S)). These parameters could be estimated together using only the measured acetate concentration (20 points per cycle). From interpolating the single cycle acetate data to multiple cycles, we estimate that a practical "optimal" identifiability could be achieved after two cycles for the acetate parameters, and three cycles for the ethanol parameters. The parameters found performed well in the short term, and represented the pulses of acetate and ethanol (within 4 days of the winery-fed cycles) very well. The main discrepancy was poor prediction of pH dynamics, which could be due to an unidentified buffer with an overall influence the same as a weak base (possibly CaCO3). Based on this work, ASBR systems are effective for parameter estimation, especially for comparative wastewater characterisation. The main disadvantages are heavy computational requirements for multiple cycles, and difficulty in establishing the correct biomass concentration in the reactor, though the last is also a disadvantage for continuous fixed film reactors, and especially, batch tests.     

水轮机故障诊断专家系统的一种模糊诊断方法

水轮机故障诊断专家系统是针对解决水轮机故障诊断问题研制的计算机智能软件。结合该研究课题,介绍了专家系统的基本结构,模糊诊断的一种方法以及水轮机故障诊断实例等内容。