Cross comparative analysis of liquid phase anaerobic digestion

This work developed and used performance indicators to quantitatively cross-compare over 82 liquid phase anaerobic digestion treatment processes/technologies. Results showed that anaerobic membrane reactors generally performed best in terms of reduction of total chemical oxygen demand, while upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors exceled with respect to the volumetric reduction of total chemical oxygen demand. Although packed bed and moving bed reactors showed large variations in reduction of total chemical oxygen demand, they generally produced higher methane yields (i.e. > 0.25 m(3) methane produced per kg total chemical oxygen demand reduced). While high performance was desired across all performance indicators, it was generally not achieved by any specific reactor type. The performance indicators were also used to directly cross-compare performance of two separate reactors treating identical wastewater streams. Result showed that both systems demonstrated good performance relative to the literature but neither was dominant in head-to-head comparison.