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Recent Developments in Energy Recovery from Sewage Treatment Plant Sludge via Anaerobic Digestion

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Environmental Management in India: Waste to Wealth

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Abstract

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift towards exploring renewable sources of energy to reduce the dependence on fast depleting fossil fuels. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a process that has potential to manage ever-increasing municipal sewage treatment plant (STP) sludge to protect our environment and recover energy in the form of biogas. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the basic principles, process control, reactor design, biogas purification technologies and the energy utilization systems with a special focus on recent developments in the field for improving the process performance. Among the four stages in the process, hydrolysis is recognized to limit the process rate due to the recalcitrant properties of the sludge. Various physical, chemical and biological pre-treatment technologies have recently been implemented to accelerate the digestion through enhancing the rate of hydrolysis. These process parameters and their interactions are crucial to AD because they play a vital role in biogas production and regulate the metabolic conditions for growth of microorganisms. The centre of interest in the reactor design is the optimal utilization of sludge by enhancing its attachment to biomass. Besides, various biogas refinement techniques and systems for their utilization have been discussed. In a nutshell, this chapter reveals the current research and development trends of technological advancement in the energy recovery from STP sludge via its AD.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for providing the financial assistantship.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247667, India

    Raja Sonal Anand & Pramod Kumar

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  1. Raja Sonal Anand
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Correspondence to Raja Sonal Anand .

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  1. Centre of Excellence in Advanced Water and Environmental Research, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Shalini Yadav

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Water and Water Structures Engineering Department, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

  3. Research and International Affairs, Madhyanchal Professional University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Ram Narayan Yadava

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Anand, R.S., Kumar, P. (2022). Recent Developments in Energy Recovery from Sewage Treatment Plant Sludge via Anaerobic Digestion. In: Yadav, S., Negm, A.M., Yadava, R.N. (eds) Environmental Management in India: Waste to Wealth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93897-0_10

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