Impact of sludge thickening on energy recovery from anaerobic digestion.

This paper presents energy balances for various digestion systems, which include single mesophilic digestion, single thermophilic digestion, two-stage thermophilic-mesophilic digestion system and systems at elevated solids content in sludge. On the basis of a sludge flow containing 30 tons TS/day (equivalent to a 100 ML/d WWTP plant) it was shown that a two-stage thermophilic-mesophilic digestion system generated more available energy than single mesophilic digestion and single thermophilic digestion systems. Sludge thickening offered the greatest amount of available energy; however that energy surplus was offset by the cost of thickening. After the cost of thickening was converted into equivalent energy units it was shown that the price of energy is important in calculation of equivalent energy units related to operation of the thickening plant. Sludge thickening may be beneficial from energy view point compared to conventional mesophilic digestion when price of energy exceeds dollars 0.08 CAN kW-hr.