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Enhancement of anaerobic digestibility of waste activated sludge using photo-Fenton pretreatment

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Abstract

Biological treatments, such as activated sludge process, are common methods to treat municipal and industrial wastewaters. However, they produce huge amounts of waste activated sludge (WAS). The excess sludge treatment and disposal are a challenge for wastewater treatment plants due to economic, environmental, and regulatory factors. In this study, photo-Fenton pretreatment (oxidation using hydrogen peroxide and iron catalyst aided with UV light) was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) to determine the effects of three operating parameters (H2O2 dosage, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio, and irradiation time) on disintegration and dewaterability of WAS. MLVSS removal, capillary suction time (CST) reduction, sCOD, and EPS were obtained as 70%, 25%, 12,000 mg/L, and 500 mg/L, respectively, at the optimal conditions, i.e., 725 g H2O2/kg TS, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 80, and irradiation time 40 min. Two batch-fed completely mixed mesophilic anaerobic digesters were then operated at 15-day solid retention time (SRT) and 37 ± 0.5 °C to compare the digestibility of untreated and photo-Fenton pretreated sludge in terms of volatile solids (VS) reduction, COD removal, and biogas production at steady-state operations. Photo-Fenton pretreatment followed by anaerobic digestion of WAS was very effective and yielded 75.7% total VS reduction, 81.5% COD removal, and 0.29–0.31 m3/kg VSfed·d biogas production rate, compared to 40.7% total VS solid reduction, 54.7% COD removal, and 0.12–0.17 m3/kg VSfed·d biogas production rate for control. Thus, photo-Fenton can be a useful pretreatment step in sludge management.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS for providing facilities and support for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

    Gan Chin Heng, Mohamed Hasnain Isa & Yeek-Chia Ho

  2. Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

    Jun-Wei Lim

  3. Environmental Research Center, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Ali Akbar Lorestani Zinatizadeh

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  1. Gan Chin Heng
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  2. Mohamed Hasnain Isa
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Heng, G.C., Isa, M.H., Lim, JW. et al. Enhancement of anaerobic digestibility of waste activated sludge using photo-Fenton pretreatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 27113–27124 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0287-5

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