Abstract: Sewage sludge is an undesirable organic matter, which is most frequently generated from the treatment process in wastewater treatment plants and causes environmental pollution if not well treated or used for energy generation. Sludge mostly contains biodegradable materials, which can produce methane as a generated biogas. Therefore, biogas production from sludge is a promising method of wastes treatment because it provides a good energy recovery as well as resolves environmental problems. In this study, secondary sludge and thickened sludge of a traditional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant were provided to determine the total solids content. The sludge types were digested for 30 days where generator exhaust was used for stirring for 15 minutes daily. Three experimental trials were conducted with a steel fixed dome, square-shaped anaerobic digester. Produced biogas was analyzed for the quantitative determination of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The produced CH4 was recorded to be zero, 60.7 % and 41.8 % when using secondary sludge, thickened sludge, and thickened sludge without stirring, respectively. Cumulative CH4 production was studied for seven, 15 and 30 days. For thickened sludge, the results showed that approximately 80 % of produced CH4 was between 15 and 21 days. A comparison between stirred digested thickened sludge and the digested thickened sludge without stirring was conducted and showed a good effect of the exhaust gas stirring. Increasing rate due to exhaust gas stirring was calculated and it was 31.14 %, 29.82 % and 20.39 % for 30, 15, 7 days, respectively.
Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Batch digester, Methane production, Sludge, biomass, biogas.
Title: Effect of Exhaust Gas Stirring on CH4 Production in Batch Digester
Author: Mostafa Ashmawy, Osaid Abu El-Yazeed, Yousef Ahmed Atay, Mina Danial
International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online)
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