State of the art and future perspectives of thermophilic anaerobic digestion

Abstract

The state of the art of thermophilic digestion is discussed. Thermophilic digestion is a well established technology in Europe for treatment of mixtures of waste in common large scale biogas plants or for treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Due to a large number of failures over time with thermophilic digestion of sewage sludge this process has lost its appeal in the USA. New demands on sanitation of biosolids before land use will, however, bring the attention back to the use of elevated temperatures during sludge stabilization. In the paper we show how the use of a start-up strategy based on the actual activity of key microbes can be used to ensure proper and fast transfer of mesophilic digesters into thermophilic operation. Extreme thermophilic temperatures of 65 degrees C or more may be necessary in the future to meet the demands for full sanitation of the waste material before final disposal. We show data of anaerobic digestion at extreme thermophilic temperatures.

Characterization and application of a novel class II thermophilic peroxidase from Myceliophthora thermophila in biosynthesis of polycatechol

“…One of the most important factors affecting anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes is temperature. Generally, anaerobic digestion process is operated under mesophilic or thermophilic conditions, in which thermophilic digestion is reported more efficient method [60].…”

Salmonella and Tomatoes

“…Some of the physico-chemical approaches to treatment include thermal conversion (combustion, gasification and pyrolysis), solid-liquid separation and filtration, advanced alkaline treatment, and aeration/ mixing. Some of the biological approaches to treatment include thermophilic composting (Rynk, 1992), vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion (Bicudo andGoyal, 2003), thermophilic digestion (Ahring et al, 2002;Aitken et al, 2007), autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (Layden et al, 2007), sequencing batch reactors (Juteau et al, 2004), and constructed wetlands (Cirelli et al, 2007;Humenik, 2001;Karim et al, 2008).…”

“…Some of the physico-chemical approaches to treatment include thermal conversion (combustion, gasification and pyrolysis), solid-liquid separation and filtration, advanced alkaline treatment, and aeration/ mixing. Some of the biological approaches to treatment include thermophilic composting (Rynk, 1992), vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion (Bicudo andGoyal, 2003), thermophilic digestion (Ahring et al, 2002;Aitken et al, 2007), autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (Layden et al, 2007), sequencing batch reactors (Juteau et al, 2004), and constructed wetlands (Cirelli et al, 2007;Humenik, 2001;Karim et al, 2008).In general, thermophilic processes, particularly those operated in-vessel, are designed to expose all treated material to extreme lethal temperatures (60-65°C), while still maintaining sufficient metabolic activity by the nonpathogenic bacteria to sustain the process heat (Juteau et al, 2004). Thermophilic composting remains one of the most cost-effective treatment technologies for manure solids; it functions well in a variety of environments.…”

Primary and Activated Sludge Biogas Production: Effect of Temperature

“…Activated sewage sludge is characterized by lower biodegradability than primary sludge (Eskicioglu et al, 2008;Kavitha et al, 2014). During anaerobic stabilization either mesophilic (30 -40 °C) or thermophilic (50 -60 °C) conditions are used (Ahring, 1995;Buhr & Andrews, 1977;Ahring et al, 2002). Most of the anaerobic fermenters in Europe were started and is operated in mesophilic conditions (Baere, 2000).…”