Simplified mechanistic model for the two-stage anaerobic degradation of sewage sludge

Two-phase anaerobic systems are being increasingly implemented for the treatment of both sewage sludge and organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Despite the good amount of mathematical models in anaerobic digestion, few have been applied in two-phase systems. In this study, a three-reaction mec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental technology 2015-05, Vol.36 (10), p.1334-1346
Main Authors: Donoso-Bravo, Andrés, Pérez-Elvira, Sara, Fdz-Polanco, Fernando
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anaerobic digestion
Anaerobiosis
biogas
bioprocessing
Bioreactors
environmental technology
hydrolysis
Mathematical models
methanogens
modelling
Models, Theoretical
municipal solid waste
organic matter
Sensitivity analysis
Sewage
sewage sludge
Sludge
temperature phased
thermophilic
Waste Management
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two-phase anaerobic systems are being increasingly implemented for the treatment of both sewage sludge and organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Despite the good amount of mathematical models in anaerobic digestion, few have been applied in two-phase systems. In this study, a three-reaction mechanistic model has been developed, implemented and validated by using experimental data from a long-term anaerobic two-phase (TPAD) digester treating sewage sludge. A sensitivity analysis shows that the most influential parameters of the model are the ones related to the hydrolysis reaction and the activity of methanogens in the thermophilic reactor. The calibration procedure highlights a noticeable growth rate of the thermophilic methanogens throughout the evaluation period. Overall, all the measured variables are properly predicted by the model during both the calibration and the cross-validation periods. The model's representation of the organic matter behaviour is quite good. The most important disagreements are observed for the biogas production especially during the validation period. The whole application procedure underlines the ability of the model to properly predict the behaviour of this bioprocess.
ISSN:1479-487X
0959-3330
1479-487X
DOI:10.1080/09593330.2014.988186