Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Biogas production from sewage scum through anaerobic co-digestion: the effect of organic fraction of municipal solid waste and landfill leachate blend addition

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is a promising technology for biogas recovery from lipid-based wastes. Although other types of such wastes have been investigated, sewage scum (SS) produced from primary and secondary settling tanks of wastewater treatment plants is yet to be fully explored as an alternative source of biogas. To this end, anaerobic co-digestion and blending were adopted as strategies to enhance biogas production from SS using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay while three kinetic models were used for interpretation. This work examines the synergistic effect of percentage sewage scum loading: 10%, 20%, and 40% (volatile solids basis) during mesophilic co-digestion with various organic substrates, viz., organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), old landfill leachate (OL), new landfill leachate (NL), and a leachate blend (LB) prepared from 67% old leachate and 33% new leachate. After 27 days, results showed that the highest level of improvement in the net cumulative methane yield (CMY) was observed in SS:OL ratio of 40:60 where the yield increased by 67% (105.2 ± 33.1 mL gVS−1) when compared with OL alone (35 ± 0.3 mL gVS−1). This increase was linked to positive synergism and improved anaerobic biodegradability of the mixtures. In addition, reactors containing leachate blends showed a higher methane recovery (338.1 ± 30.6 mL gVS−1) by 5.38-fold over other sets due to the associated effect of leachate blending. Furthermore, the modified Gompertz model achieved a better fit with up to an R2 value of 0.999 while co-digestion substantially reduced the lag time by 2.5-fold (2.1 day) compared with mono-digestion.

Results from this study suggests that existing facilities can incorporate either SS addition or leachate blending as environmentally friendly strategies to improve biogas production during waste treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ACo-D:

Anaerobic co-digestion

AD:

Anaerobic digestion

BMP:

Biomethane potential

C/N:

Carbon-to-nitrogen

CBY:

Cumulative biogas yield

CMY:

Cumulative methane yield

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

CY:

Calculated yield

FO:

First order

EGSB:

Expanded granular sludge bed

FOG:

Fat, oil, and grease

GTS:

Grease trap sludge

LB:

Leachate blend

LCFA:

Long chain fatty acid

LF:

Logistic function

MG:

Modified Gompertz

NL:

New leachate

OFMSW:

Organic fraction of municipal solid waste

OL:

Old leachate

PS:

Primary sludge

SCFA:

Short-chain fatty acid

SS:

Sewage sludge

STP:

Standard temperature and pressure

TAN:

Total ammonia nitrogen

TS:

Total solids

TWAS:

Thickened waste activated sludge

UASB:

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket

VFA:

Volatile fatty acid

VS:

Volatile solids

WWTP:

Wastewater treatment plant

References

  1. Rezaeitavabe F, Saadat S, Talebbeydokhti N, Sartaj M, Tabatabaei M (2020) Enhancing bio-hydrogen production from food waste in single-stage hybrid dark-photo fermentation by addition of two waste materials (exhausted resin and biochar). Biomass Bioenerg. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2020.105846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Baghbanzadeh M, Savage J, Balde H, Sartaj M, VanderZaag AC, Abdehagh N, Strehler B (2021) Enhancing hydrolysis and bio-methane generation of extruded lignocellulosic wood waste using microbial pre-treatment. Renew Energy 170:438–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ara E, Sartaj M, Kennedy K (2015) Enhanced biogas production by anaerobic co-digestion from a trinary mix substrate over a binary mix substrate. Waste Manage Res 33:578–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Young B (2012) Enhancement of the mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sewage and scum. Master's thesis. University of Ottawa, Canada

  5. Long JH, Aziz TN, Reyes FLDL, Ducoste JJ (2012) Anaerobic co-digestion of fat, oil, and grease (FOG): A review of gas production and process limitations. Process Saf Environ Prot 90:231–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fardin JF, de Barros O, Dias APF (2018) Biomass: Some Basics and Biogas. In: Advances in Renewable Energies and Power Technologies. Elsevier, pp 1–37

  7. Rasapoor M, Young B, Brar R, Sarmah A, Zhuang WQ, Baroutian S (2020) Recognizing the challenges of anaerobic digestion: Critical steps toward improving biogas generation. Fuel. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2019.116497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Semeraro B, Summa D, Costa S, Zappaterra F, Tamburini E (2021) Bio-delignification of green waste (Gw) in co-digestion with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (ofmsw) to enhance biogas production. Applied Sciences (Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ning Z, Zhang H, Li W, Zhang R, Liu G, Chen C (2018) Anaerobic digestion of lipid-rich swine slaughterhouse waste: Methane production performance, long-chain fatty acids profile and predominant microorganisms. Biores Technol 269:426–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Adghim M, Sartaj M, Abdehagh N (2021) Enhancing Mono- and Co-digestion of Poultry Manure by a Novel Post-hydrolysis Ammonia Stripping Approach in a Two-Stage Anaerobic Digestion Process. Waste Biomass Valorization 12:6045–6056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Odejobi OJ, Ajala OO, Osuolale FN (2021) Anaerobic co-digestion of kitchen waste and animal manure: a review of operating parameters, inhibiting factors, and pretreatment with their impact on process performance. Biomass Convers Biorefinery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01626-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Akindele AA, Sartaj M (2018) The toxicity effects of ammonia on anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Waste Manage 71:757–766

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Mehariya S, Patel AK, Obulisamy PK, Punniyakotti E, Wong JWC (2018) Co-digestion of food waste and sewage sludge for methane production: Current status and perspective. Biores Technol 265:519–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ziaee F, Mokhtarani N, Pourrostami Niavol K (2021) Solid-state anaerobic co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal waste and sawdust: impact of co-digestion ratio, inoculum-to-substrate ratio, and total solids. Biodegradation 32:299–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Abudi ZN, Hu Z, Sun N, Xiao B, Rajaa N, Liu C, Guo D (2016) Batch anaerobic co-digestion of OFMSW (organic fraction of municipal solid waste), TWAS (thickened waste activated sludge) and RS (rice straw): Influence of TWAS and RS pretreatment and mixing ratio. Energy 107:131–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Panigrahi S, Dubey BK (2019) A critical review on operating parameters and strategies to improve the biogas yield from anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Renew Energy 143:779–797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Salama ES, Saha S, Kurade MB, Dev S, Chang SW, Jeon BH (2019) Recent trends in anaerobic co-digestion: Fat, oil, and grease (FOG) for enhanced biomethanation. Prog Energy Combust Sci 70:22–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Alqaralleh RM, Kennedy K, Delatolla R, Sartaj M (2016) Thermophilic and hyper-thermophilic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and fat, oil and grease: Evaluating and modeling methane production. J Environ Manage 183:551–561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Pagés-Díaz J, Westman J, Taherzadeh MJ, Pereda-Reyes I, Sárvári Horváth I (2015) Semi-continuous co-digestion of solid cattle slaughterhouse wastes with other waste streams: Interactions within the mixtures and methanogenic community structure. Chem Eng J 273:28–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Wu LJ, Kobayashi T, Li YY, Xu KQ (2015) Comparison of single-stage and temperature-phased two-stage anaerobic digestion of oily food waste. Energy Convers Manage 106:1174–1182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Shakourifar N, Krisa D, Eskicioglu C (2020) Anaerobic co-digestion of municipal waste sludge with grease trap waste mixture: Point of process failure determination. Renew Energy 154:117–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Diamantis V, Eftaxias A, Stamatelatou K, Noutsopoulos C, Vlachokostas C, Aivasidis A (2021) Bioenergy in the era of circular economy: Anaerobic digestion technological solutions to produce biogas from lipid-rich wastes. Renew Energy 168:438–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Cavaleiro AJ, Pereira MA, Alves M (2008) Enhancement of methane production from long chain fatty acid based effluents. Biores Technol 99:4086–4095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Bai X, Folk S, Chen YC (2021) Co-digestion of sewage sludge and fat, oil, and grease with BioAmp pretreatment under mesophilic conditions. Biomass Convers Biorefinery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01418-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lutze R, Engelhart M (2020) Comparison of CSTR and AnMBR for anaerobic digestion of WAS and lipid-rich flotation sludge from the dairy industry. Water Resour Ind. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wri.2019.100122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Szabo-Corbacho MA, Pacheco-Ruiz S, Míguez D, Hooijmans CM, García HA, Brdjanovic D, van Lier JB (2021) Impact of solids retention time on the biological performance of an AnMBR treating lipid-rich synthetic dairy wastewater. Environ Technol (United Kingdom) 42:597–608

    Google Scholar 

  27. Pereira MA, Roest K, Stams AJM, Mota M, Alves M, Akkermans ADL (2006) Molecular monitoring of microbial diversity in expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors treating oleic acid. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 41:95–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Jeganathan J, Nakhla G, Bassi A (2006) Long-term performance of high-rate anaerobic reactors for the treatment of oily wastewater. Environ Sci Technol 40:6466–6472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Kim SH, Han SK, Shin HS (2004) Two-phase anaerobic treatment system for fat-containing wastewater. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 79:63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Gomes DRS, Papa LG, Cichello GCV, Belançon D, Pozzi EG, Balieiro JCC, Monterrey-Quintero ES, Tommaso G (2011) Effect of enzymatic pretreatment and increasing the organic loading rate of lipid-rich wastewater treated in a hybrid UASB reactor. Desalination 279:96–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Caixia W, Quancheng Z, Guiming F, Yebo L (2011) Semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge and fat, oil and grease. Waste Manage 31:1752–1758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Eftaxias A, Diamantis V, Michailidis C, Stamatelatou K, Aivasidis A (2020) Comparison of anaerobic digesters performance treating palmitic, stearic and oleic acid: determination of the LCFA kinetic constants using ADM1. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 43:1329–1338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Cirne DG, Paloumet X, Björnsson L, Alves MM, Mattiasson B (2007) Anaerobic digestion of lipid-rich waste-Effects of lipid concentration. Renew Energy 32:965–975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Silvestre G, Rodríguez-Abalde A, Fernández B, Flotats X, Bonmatí A (2011) Biomass adaptation over anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and trapped grease waste. Biores Technol 102:6830–6836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Usman M, Salama ES, Arif M, Jeon BH, Li X (2020) Determination of the inhibitory concentration level of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) towards bacterial and archaeal communities in anaerobic digestion. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Hachicha R, Hachicha S, Trabelsi I, Woodward S, Mechichi T (2009) Evolution of the fatty fraction during co-composting of olive oil industry wastes with animal manure: Maturity assessment of the end product. Chemosphere 75:1382–1386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kurade MB, Saha S, Salama ES, Patil SM, Govindwar SP, Jeon BH (2019) Acetoclastic methanogenesis led by Methanosarcina in anaerobic co-digestion of fats, oil and grease for enhanced production of methane. Biores Technol 272:351–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Chow WL, Chong S, Lim JW, Chan YJ, Chong MF, Tiong TJ, Chin JK, Pan GT (2020) Anaerobic co-digestion of wastewater sludge: A review of potential co-substrates and operating factors for improved methane yield. Processes. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8010039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Li C, Champagne P, Anderson BC (2015) Enhanced biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of municipal wastewater treatment sludge and fat, oil and grease (FOG) by a modified two-stage thermophilic digester system with selected thermo-chemical pre-treatment. Renew Energy 83:474–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Grosser A, Neczaj E, Jasinska A, Celary P (2020) The influence of grease trap sludge sterilization on the performance of anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge. Renew Energy 161:988–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Siddique MNI, Wahid ZA (2018) Achievements and perspectives of anaerobic co-digestion: A review. J Clean Prod 194:359–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Kashi S, Satari B, Lundin M, Horváth IS, Othman M (2017) Application of a mixture design to identify the effects of substrates ratios and interactions on anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge, grease trap waste, and meat processing waste. J Environ Chem Eng 5:6156–6164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Achinas S, Euverink GJW (2019) Elevated biogas production from the anaerobic co-digestion of farmhouse waste: Insight into the process performance and kinetics. Waste Manage Res 37:1240–1249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Crolla A, Kinsley C (2008) Optimzing Energy producton fram anaerobically digested manure and co-substrates for medim sized dairy farms, final report to OMAFRA. University of Guelph, Alfred Campus

  45. Martín-González L, Castro R, Pereira MA, Alves MM, Font X, Vicent T (2011) Thermophilic co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid wastes with FOG wastes from a sewage treatment plant: Reactor performance and microbial community monitoring. Biores Technol 102:4734–4741

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Nair A, Sartaj M, Kennedy K, Coelho NMG (2014) Enhancing biogas production from anaerobic biodegradation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste through leachate blending and recirculation. Waste Manage Res 32:939–946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Aromolaran A, Sartaj M (2021) Enhancing biogas production from municipal solid waste through recirculation of blended leachate in simulated bioreactor landfills. Biomass Convers Biorefinery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01260-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Pan Y, Zhi Z, Zhen G, Lu X, Bakonyi P, Li YY, Zhao Y, Rajesh Banu J (2019) Synergistic effect and biodegradation kinetics of sewage sludge and food waste mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion and the underlying stimulation mechanisms. Fuel 253:40–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Martín MA, Fernández R, Gutiérrez MC, Siles JA (2018) Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of pre-treated orange peel: Modelling of methane production. Process Saf Environ Prot 117:245–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Ponsá S, Gea T, Sánchez A (2011) Anaerobic co-digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste with several pure organic co-substrates. Biosys Eng 108:352–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Nielfa A, Cano R, Vinot M, Fernández E, Fdz-Polanco M (2015) Anaerobic digestion modeling of the main components of organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Process Saf Environ Prot 94:180–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Nguyen DD, Jeon BH, Jeung JH, Rene ER, Banu JR, Ravindran B, Vu CM, Ngo HH, Guo W, Chang SW (2019) Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of model organic wastes: Evaluation of biomethane production and multiple kinetic models analysis. Biores Technol 280:269–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Speece RE (1983) Anaerobic biotechnology for industrial wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Technol 17:416A-427A

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Trabelsi I, Horibe H, Tanaka N, Matsuto T (2000) Origin of low carbon/nitrogen ratios in leachate from old municipal solid waste landfills. Waste Manage Res 18:224–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Prabhu MS, Mutnuri S (2016) Anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste. Waste Manage Res 34:307–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Kafle GK, Kim S-H (2012) Kinetic Study of the Anaerobic Digestion of Swine Manure at Mesophilic Temperature: A Lab Scale Batch Operation. J Biosyst Eng 37:233–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. American Public Health Association, Baird R, Eaton AD, Rice EW, Bridgewater L (2017) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater

  58. Angus MB (2001) A step-by-step guide to non-linear regression analysis of experimental data using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 65:191–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Pastor L, Ruiz L, Pascual A, Ruiz B (2013) Co-digestion of used oils and urban landfill leachates with sewage sludge and the effect on the biogas production. Appl Energy 107:438–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Bala R, Gautam V, Mondal MK (2019) Improved biogas yield from organic fraction of municipal solid waste as preliminary step for fuel cell technology and hydrogen generation. Int J Hydrogen Energy 44(1):164–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.02.072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Pavi S, Kramer LE, Gomes LP, Miranda LAS (2017) Biogas production from co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste and fruit and vegetable waste. Biores Technol 228:362–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Markou G, Ilkiv B, Brulé M, Antonopoulos D, Chakalis L, Arapoglou D, Chatzipavlidis I (2020) Methane production through anaerobic digestion of residual microalgal biomass after the extraction of valuable compounds. Biomass Convers Biorefinery. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00703-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Kim MJ, Kim SH (2017) Minimization of diauxic growth lag-phase for high-efficiency biogas production. J Environ Manage 187:456–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Ashekuzzaman SM, Poulsen TG (2011) Optimizing feed composition for improved methane yield during anaerobic digestion of cow manure based waste mixtures. Biores Technol 102:2213–2218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Walter A, Silberberger S, Juárez MFD, Insam H, Franke-Whittle IH (2016) Biomethane potential of industrial paper wastes and investigation of the methanogenic communities involved. Biotechnol Biofuels. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-016-0435-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Xie S, Wickham R, Nghiem LD (2017) Synergistic effect from anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and organic wastes. Int Biodeterior Biodegradation 116:191–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Filer J, Ding HH, Chang S (2019) Biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay method for anaerobic digestion research. Water (Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/w11050921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Morales G, Llorente I, Montesinos E, Moragrega C (2017) A model for predicting Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni growth as a function of temperature. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177583

  69. Swinnen IAM, Bernaerts K, Dens EJJ, Geeraerd AH, van Impe JF (2004) Predictive modelling of the microbial lag phase: A review. Int J Food Microbiol 94:137–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The funding provided by NSERC (211162) is acknowledged and appreciated.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Adewale Aromolaran & Majid Sartaj

  2. Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Mu’tah University, Mu’tah, Jordan

    Rania Mona Zeid Alqaralleh

Authors
  1. Adewale Aromolaran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Majid Sartaj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rania Mona Zeid Alqaralleh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adewale Aromolaran.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aromolaran, A., Sartaj, M. & Alqaralleh, R.M.Z. Biogas production from sewage scum through anaerobic co-digestion: the effect of organic fraction of municipal solid waste and landfill leachate blend addition. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 16049–16065 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-02152-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-02152-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation