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Evaluation of a two stage anaerobic digester for the treatment of mixed abattoir wastes

Evaluation of a two stage anaerobic digester for the treatment of mixed abattoir wastes
Evaluation of a two stage anaerobic digester for the treatment of mixed abattoir wastes
A two-stage anaerobic digestion system for treating mixed abattoir wastes was compared with a conventional single-pass reactor (SPR). The aim of the work was to investigate a means of overcoming the problems caused by accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and ammonia in conventional completely mixed SPRs, which are thought to arise as a result of the low carbon: nitrogen ratio of the feedstock. The two-stage digester consisted of a first stage 30 1 working volume completely mixed reactor in which the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was significantly shorter than the solid retention time (SRT). This mode of operation was referred to as a hydraulic flush, and was designed to retain the fibrous components of the feedstock within the reactor whilst rapidly washing out hydrolysis and fermentation intermediates. The hydraulic flush reactor (HFR) operated at a 10-day SRT and 2-day HRT. The performance of the HFR was compared with that of an SPR at total solids (TS) loading rates of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 kg TS m(-3) per day. The SPR reactor failed at a solids loading rate of 5 kg TS m(-3) per day and only showed a maximum of 41% solids reduction whereas the HFR showed up to 66% solids reductions and performed satisfactorily up to 7 kg TS m(-3) per day. An anaerobic filter (AF) was employed as second stage to the HFR to provide a means of treating the liquid effluents derived from first stage. The AF was run at a HRT of I day with loading rates in the range 4.0-13.1 kg COD m(-3) per day. A COD removal of around 95% and a methane production rate of up to 0.34 m(3) CH4 per kg COD removed was achieved. The best performance of the two-stage system m(3) was 6.6% solids reduction, 81.7% COD removal and an overall methane yield of 0.21 m(3) CH4 per kg TS added, at a solids loading. rate of 7.02 kg TS m(-3) per day.
anaerobic digestion, abattoir waste, slaughterhouse waste, ammonia toxicity, two-stage process, hydraulic flush reactor
1359-5113
1267-1273
Wang, Z.J.
ed9525b7-c9e5-432e-a9e6-131c0afbe93e
Banks, C.J.
5c6c8c4b-5b25-4e37-9058-50fa8d2e926f
Wang, Z.J.
ed9525b7-c9e5-432e-a9e6-131c0afbe93e
Banks, C.J.
5c6c8c4b-5b25-4e37-9058-50fa8d2e926f

Wang, Z.J. and Banks, C.J. (2003) Evaluation of a two stage anaerobic digester for the treatment of mixed abattoir wastes. Process Biochemistry, 38 (9), 1267-1273. (doi:10.1016/S0032-9592(02)00324-2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A two-stage anaerobic digestion system for treating mixed abattoir wastes was compared with a conventional single-pass reactor (SPR). The aim of the work was to investigate a means of overcoming the problems caused by accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and ammonia in conventional completely mixed SPRs, which are thought to arise as a result of the low carbon: nitrogen ratio of the feedstock. The two-stage digester consisted of a first stage 30 1 working volume completely mixed reactor in which the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was significantly shorter than the solid retention time (SRT). This mode of operation was referred to as a hydraulic flush, and was designed to retain the fibrous components of the feedstock within the reactor whilst rapidly washing out hydrolysis and fermentation intermediates. The hydraulic flush reactor (HFR) operated at a 10-day SRT and 2-day HRT. The performance of the HFR was compared with that of an SPR at total solids (TS) loading rates of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 kg TS m(-3) per day. The SPR reactor failed at a solids loading rate of 5 kg TS m(-3) per day and only showed a maximum of 41% solids reduction whereas the HFR showed up to 66% solids reductions and performed satisfactorily up to 7 kg TS m(-3) per day. An anaerobic filter (AF) was employed as second stage to the HFR to provide a means of treating the liquid effluents derived from first stage. The AF was run at a HRT of I day with loading rates in the range 4.0-13.1 kg COD m(-3) per day. A COD removal of around 95% and a methane production rate of up to 0.34 m(3) CH4 per kg COD removed was achieved. The best performance of the two-stage system m(3) was 6.6% solids reduction, 81.7% COD removal and an overall methane yield of 0.21 m(3) CH4 per kg TS added, at a solids loading. rate of 7.02 kg TS m(-3) per day.

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More information

Published date: 2003
Keywords: anaerobic digestion, abattoir waste, slaughterhouse waste, ammonia toxicity, two-stage process, hydraulic flush reactor

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 39412
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/39412
ISSN: 1359-5113
PURE UUID: 0ad1d58c-3ae7-47f9-a06b-c854b57c416c
ORCID for C.J. Banks: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6795-814X

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Date deposited: 28 Jun 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:52

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Contributors

Author: Z.J. Wang
Author: C.J. Banks ORCID iD

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