A combined anaerobic digestion system for energetic brewery spent grain application in co-digestion with a sewage sludge.

Abstract

In the present study, a combined technology for energetic brewery spent grain (BSG) use in co-digestion with sewage sludge (SS) was presented. A holistic approach that includes the impact of co-substrates and their carriers on the anaerobic digestion (AD) process, and the energetic aspects, was involved. Prior to AD, BSG was pretreated involving the hydrodynamic cavitation (HC); two different carriers were applied: MPW (municipal pre-settled wastewater) and mature landfill leachate (MLL). An orifice plate with a conical concentric hole of 3/10mm (inlet/outlet diameter) was applied as cavitation device. The initial pressure was 7bar and the number of recirculation passes through the cavitation zone was 30. The AD experiments were performed in semi-flow reactors, under mesophilic conditions at HRT of 20 and 21 d. In both co-digestion series, the constant co-substrate dose of 6% v/v was adopted. In the presence of cavitated BSG and MPW, a significant increase in biogas/methane production was provided as compared to SS mono-digestion, with the related improvement in kinetic constant by 3.5%. The average biogas yield was 0.48±0.03m3 kg-1 VS added, while in the control run 0.41±0.03m3 kg-1 VS added. Using cavitated BSG and MLL, such a beneficial effect was not observed. In both co-digestion series, slightly lower VS removal (as for the control) and stable process performance occurred. Moreover, the improved energy balance was provided. Due to the technological aspects, only co-digestion of cavitated BSG and MPW with SS is recommended for implementation into a full-scale.