title: Thermal hydrolysis integration in the anaerobic digestion process of different solid wastes: energy and economic feasibility study.
abstract: An economic assessment of thermal hydrolysis as a pretreatment to anaerobic digestion has been achieved to evaluate its implementation in full-scale plants. Six different solid wastes have been studied, among them municipal solid waste (MSW). Thermal hydrolysis has been tested with batch lab-scale tests, from which an energy and economic assessment of three scenarios is performed: with and without energy integration (recovering heat to produce steam in a cogeneration plant), finally including the digestate management costs. Thermal hydrolysis has lead to an increase of the methane productions (up to 50%) and kinetics parameters (even double). The study has determined that a proper energy integration design could lead to important economic savings (5 €/t) and thermal hydrolysis can enhance up to 40% the incomes of the digestion plant, even doubling them when digestate management costs are considered. In a full-scale MSW treatment plant (30,000 t/year), thermal hydrolysis would provide almost 0.5 M€/year net benefits.
authors.affiliation: University of Valladolid, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology Department, Prado de la Magdalena 47011, Valladolid, Spain. Electronic address: raulcano@iq.uva.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cano
authors.affiliation: University of Valladolid, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology Department, Prado de la Magdalena 47011, Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nielfa
authors.affiliation: University of Valladolid, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology Department, Prado de la Magdalena 47011, Valladolid, Spain. Electronic address: maria@iq.uva.es.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fdz-Polanco
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007753:Laboratories; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000191:economics*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste; D008697:Methane
keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas; Energy integration; Solid waste; Thermal hydrolysis