Abstract
Management of waste activated sludge generated from the sewage treatment plant has become a serious problem in recent years. For the enhancement of the efficiency of anaerobic digestion as well as the utility of sludge constitutive biomass, we examined the effect of pretreatments of waste activated sludge on the methane fermentation.Experiments were performed at 35±1°C with the mixtures of pretreated activated sludges and the seed sludge (1 : 3 v/v) in anaerobic digesters, in order to clarify the relationship between the solubilization ratios of activated sludge and the changes of methane generation.Organic constituents of the sludge were solubilizated by representative pretreatments such as ultrasonic disintegration, thermal treatments and freezing, and remarkable quantities of soluble protein and carbohydrate appeared in treated sludges. Thus, the anaerobic biodegradability of sludge and methane production were improved and then the retention time required for the digestion was diminished. Therefore, total quantities of methane generated were increased over 64, 58, 30 and 27% with the sludges pretreated by ultrasonic disintegration, an autoclave, hot water and freezing, respectively, as compared with that of the control digestion; a linear correlation being observed between the solubilization ratio of waste activated sludge and the amount of methane generated.
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