Thermal-alkaline solubilization of waste activated sludge as a pre-treatment stage for anaerobic digestion

This work studied the hydrolysis kinetics and the solubilization of waste activated sludge under a medium range temperature (50-90 degreesC) and pH in the alkaline region (8-11), as a pretreatment stage for anaerobic digestion. The hydrolysis rate for the solubilization of volatile suspended solids (VSS) followed a first-order rate. A linear polynomial hydrolysis model was derived from the experimental results leading to a satisfactory correlation between the hydrolysis rate coefficient, pH, and temperature. At pH 11 and a temperature of 90 degreesC the concentration of the VSS was 6.82%, the VSS reduction reached 45% within ten hours and at the same time the soluble COD was 70.000 mg/l and the total efficiency for methane production 0.28 l of CH4 per g of VSS loading. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.