Studies on Production of Biogas by Co-digestion of Sewage Sludge, Wastepaper and Waste Grown Algae

Abstract

Abundantly produced sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants and algae grown in wastewater are the potentially important biomass for the production of biogas. Experimental investigations have been conducted to study the feasibility of co-digestion of the organic fraction of municipal sludge, waste paper, and waste grown algae under anaerobic mesophilic (37oC) conditions in lab-scale bioreactors. Quantity and quality of the biogas, volatile solid reduction and start-up period for the reactions were taken into consideration. Single substrate digestion and co-digestion of the three substrates with different organic loading rates were analyzed in the study. Results show that in the co-digestion by the addition of waste grown algae and paper to the sewage sludge, the biogas volume is increased to 60% and considerable volatile solid reduction is observed as 50% for an organic loading rate of 5.0 gmvs/l. Moreover, co-digestion improved the performance of the bioreactor by stimulating the anaerobic digestion yield and balancing the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the reactor.

Cite this Article

Amritha Ajeej, Joseph V. Thanikal, C.M. Narayanan. Studies on Production of Biogas by Co-digestion of Sewage Sludge, Wastepaper and Waste Grown Algae. Journal of Modern Chemistry & Chemical Technology. 2016; 7(1): 74–81p.