Analysis of the possibility of obtaining a positive energy balance by wastewater treatment plant through the application of pretreatment of substrate directed to the anaerobic digestion process

Project title: Analysis of the possibility of obtaining a positive energy balance by wastewater treatment plant through the application of pretreatment of substrate directed to the anaerobic digestion process
Project leader: mgr inż. Katarzyna Sytek-Szmeichel
Lead entity implementing the project at the WUT: Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology
Call, programme or project name: The YOUNG PW, IDUB

The objective of the project is the analysis of the possibility of obtaining a positive energy balance by wastewater treatment plants through the application of pretreatment of sewage sludge before the stabilisation process in the digestion chamber. Research on mesophilic digestion will be conducted with the application of AMPTS (Automatic Methane Potential Test System) in a continuous culture mode, permitting detailed determination of the digestion time and identification of the potential phenomenon of process inhibition. The analysis will cover pretreatment in the form of the disintegration process implemented in two technological variants: separated disintegration (Task No. 1) and hybrid disintegration (Task No. 3). The analysis of the effect of separated disintegration is planned to involve the investigation of the pretreatment by means of hydrodynamic disintegration (hydrodynamic disintegrator in possession of the contractor team) and chemical disintegration (medium disintegrating NaOH). In the second variant, hybrid disintegration will be a combination of both methods analysed in the first variant. Each of the variants will be divided into study series, also involving the analysis of the effect of process parameters such as: energy density (hydrodynamic disintegration) and dose of the disintegrating medium (chemical disintegration). The project will cover the analysis of the rheological properties of raw sludge (before pretreatment) and sludge disintegrated in different variants (Task No. 2 and 4) and digested sludge (Task No. 5), as well as the dewatering properties of digested sludge (Task No. 5), allowing for the analysis of the effect of the applied pretreatment on the functioning of the entire technological system, including the energy management of the wastewater treatment plant. Conducting such complex research will be possible due to combining the scientific potential of the project contractors specialising in particular areas, i.e. technology of sewage sludge management, with particular consideration of its disintegration process, flow rheology and hydraulics, and calculation of the energy consumption of technological processes.