title: Peracetic acid oxidation as an alternative pre-treatment for the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.
abstract: Anaerobic digestion is generally considered to be an economic and environmentally friendly technology for treating waste activated sludge, but has some limitations, such as the time it takes for the sludge to be digested and also the ineffectiveness of degrading the solids. Various pre-treatment technologies have been suggested to overcome these limitations and to improve the biogas production rate by enhancing the hydrolysis of organic matter. This paper studies the use of peracetic acid for disintegrating sludge as a pre-treatment of anaerobic digestion. It has been proved that this treatment effectively leads to a solubilisation of organic material. A maximum increase in biogas production by 21% is achieved. High dosages of PAA lead to a decrease in biogas production. This is due to the inhibition of the anaerobic micro-organisms by the high VFA-concentrations. The evolution of the various VFAs during digestion is studied and the observed trends support this hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biochemical Process Technology and Control Section, Department of Chemical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem De Croylaan 46, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium. lise.appels@cit.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Appels
authors.forename: Ado
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Assche
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Degrève
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Impe
authors.forename: Raf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dewil
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000378:metabolism*; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010463:Peracetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D012722:Sewage; D010463:Peracetic Acid; D008697:Methane