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Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food waste and Primary Sludge

Chari, Pooja Surendra
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561610829611

Abstract Details

2017, MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Environmental Engineering.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological process that converts organic matter into biogas and digestate. Advantages of AD are that it controls the production of greenhouse gases and produces a by-product that can be used as a fertilizer. The digestion of organic waste, eg., food waste with wastewater solids, is considered to be a low-cost and commercially flexible approach to generate renewable energy that can be used for heat, power, electricity or biomethane. To improve biogas production for food waste (FW), AD with addition of a co-substrate is gaining importance. In this study, food waste was obtained from a campus cafeteria, while primary sludge (PS) and anaerobic digester inoculum was collected from a wastewater treatment plant in Fairfield, OH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the most important parameters that affect anaerobic co-digestion of FW and PS with the ultimate goal of optimizing CH&sub4; gas production. Secondarily, a pilot-scale anaerobic digester was operated to assess the performance of a larger scale system in conjunction with an algal growth reactor that utilized CO&sub2; in the biogas as a carbon source. The optimum FW to PS ratio for generating the maximum CH&sub4; production was investigated by conducting Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests. The studies were conducted in two parts: (1) A pilot-scale study that consisted of a 200-gallon plastic tank was loaded with FW and PS. The digestate was sampled thrice weekly and analyzed for pH, total⁄volatile suspended solids (TSS⁄VSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Carbon-Nitrogen ratio (C:N), NH&sub3;-N and alkalinity, and (2) Bench-scale experiments using 100 mL serum bottles to determine the optimal FW to PS ratio for maximum CH&sub4; production. The samples were analyzed for TSS, VSS, pH, COD and NH&sub3;-N on specific sampling days. Gas production and composition (CH&sub4;, CO&sub2;, O&sub2;, N&sub2;) were also measured in all experiments. The biogas obtained from pilot-scale reactor had a CH&sub4; composition of up to 75% as compared to industry values of 60-65%. Bench-scale studies were extremely useful in understanding the FW to PS ratio required for maximizing CH&sub4; production. The optimum food waste to primary sludge ratio on a VSS basis was in the range of 25-33%..
Drew McAvoy, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Timothy Keener, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Margaret Kupferle, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
93 p.
Environmental Engineering
Anaerobic codigestion; food waste; primary sludge

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chari, P. S. (2017). Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food waste and Primary Sludge [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561610829611

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chari, Pooja. Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food waste and Primary Sludge. 2017. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561610829611.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chari, Pooja. "Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food waste and Primary Sludge." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491561610829611

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1491561610829611
433
© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food waste and Primary Sludge by Pooja Surendra Chari is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.