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Assessment of microbial viability in municipal sludge following ultrasound and microwave pretreatments and resulting impacts on the efficiency of anaerobic sludge digestion

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

A range of ultrasonication (US) and microwave irradiation (MW) sludge pretreatments were compared to determine the extent of cellular destruction in micro-organisms within secondary sludge and how this cellular destruction translated to anaerobic digestion (AD). Cellular lysis/inactivation was measured using two microbial viability assays, (1) Syto 16® Green and Sytox® Orange counter-assay to discern the integrity of cellular membranes and (2) a fluorescein diacetate assay to understand relative enzymatic activity. A range of MW intensities (2.17–6.48 kJ/g total solids or TS, coinciding temperatures of 60–160 °C) were selected for comparison via viability assays; a range of corresponding US intensities (2.37–27.71 kJ/g TS, coinciding sonication times of 10–60 min at different amplitudes) were also compared to this MW range. The MW pretreatment of thickened waste activated sludge (tWAS) caused fourfold to fivefold greater cell death than non-pretreated and US-pretreated tWAS. The greatest microbial destruction occurred at MW intensities greater than 2.62 kJ/g TS of sludge, after which increased energy input via MW did not appear to cause greater microbial death. In addition, the optimal MW pretreatment (80 °C, 2.62 kJ/g TS) and corresponding US pretreatment (10 min, 60 % amplitude, 2.37 kJ/g TS) were administered to the tWAS of a mixed sludge and fed to anaerobic digesters over sludge retention times (SRTs) of 20, 14, and 7 days to compare effects of feed pretreatment on AD efficiency. The digester utilizing MW-pretreated tWAS (80 °C, 2.62 kJ/g TS) had the greatest fecal coliform removal (73.4 and 69.8 % reduction, respectively), greatest solids removal (44.2 % TS reduction), and highest overall methane production (248.2 L CH4/kg volatile solids) at 14- and 7-day SRTs. However, despite the fourfold to fivefold increases in cell death upon pretreatment, improvements from the digester fed MW-pretreated sludge were marginal (i.e., increases in efficiency of less than 3–10 %) and likely due to a smaller proportion of cells (10–20 %) in the polymeric network and mixed sludge fed to digesters.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the City of Kelowna and the Government of British Columbia Ministry of Environment for supporting this project. This work has been carried out under the sponsorships of the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) Strategic Project Grant (#396519-10) and the financial support of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UBC Bioreactor Technology Group, School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, 1137 Alumni Ave., Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Monica Angela Cella, Deniz Akgul & Cigdem Eskicioglu

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Marmara University, Goztepe Campus, Kadikoy, 34722, Istanbul, Turkey

    Deniz Akgul

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  1. Monica Angela Cella
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  2. Deniz Akgul
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  3. Cigdem Eskicioglu
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Correspondence to Cigdem Eskicioglu.

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Cella, M.A., Akgul, D. & Eskicioglu, C. Assessment of microbial viability in municipal sludge following ultrasound and microwave pretreatments and resulting impacts on the efficiency of anaerobic sludge digestion. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 2855–2868 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-7139-3

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