Title: Comparison of performance of three different seeding sludge under three different hyper-thermophilic temperatures

Authors: Isaac Mbir Bryant; Marko Burkhardt; Marion Martienssen

Addresses: Department of Biotechnology of Water Treatment, Institute of Environmental Technology, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, 03046, Germany; Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana ' Department of Waste Management, Institute of Environmental Technology, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, 03046, Germany ' Department of Biotechnology of Water Treatment, Institute of Environmental Technology, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, 03046, Germany

Abstract: Performance of three seeding sludge under three different hyper-thermophilic temperatures, 60°C, 65°C and 70°C was investigated and compared with mesophilic (37°C) and thermophilic (55°C) temperatures using the same seeding sludge and substrate in batch tests. Based on German guidelines for batch tests, the seeding sludge were selected for the batch tests using eudiometer tubes. Daily volumes of methane production for the three sludge were measured. Methane yields and degrees of COD degradation of the black water were also calculated and compared. Cow manure at 65°C recorded the highest net normalised cumulative volume of methane content (387.2 mlNCH₄-%), methane yield (231.7 mlNCH₄/gVS) and degree of COD degradation (79.1%) while BTU at 70°C recorded the least performance of methane yield (0.0 mlNCH₄/gVS) and content (0.0 mlNCH₄-%) and degree of COD degradation (0.0%). Cow manure at 65°C should be considered when setting-up large-scale hyper-thermophilic digesters.

Keywords: methane yield; net cumulative methane content; degree of COD degradation; hyper-thermophilic temperatures; seeding sludge; biogas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2019.099979

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2019 Vol.10 No.1, pp.1 - 16

Received: 20 Mar 2018
Accepted: 24 Jul 2018
Published online: 03 Jun 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article