A new process for efficiently producing methane from waste activated sludge: alkaline pretreatment of sludge followed by treatment of fermentation liquid in an EGSB reactor.

In the literature the production of methane from waste activated sludge (WAS) was usually conducted in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) after sludge was pretreated. It was reported in our previous publication that compared with other pretreatment methods the methane production in CSTR could be significantly enhanced when sludge was pretreated by NaOH at pH 10 for 8 days. In order to further improve methane production, this study reported a new process for efficiently producing methane from sludge, that is, sludge was fermented at pH 10 for 8 days, which was adjusted by Ca(OH)(2), and then the fermentation liquid was treated in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) for methane generation. First, for comparing the methane production observed in this study with that reported in the literature, the conventional operational model was applied to produce methane from the pH 10 pretreated sludge, that is, directly using the pH 10 pretreated sludge to produce methane in a CSTR. It was observed that the maximal methane production was only 0.61 m(3)CH(4)/m(3)-reactor/day. Then, the use of fermentation liquid of pH 10 pretreated sludge to produce methane in the reactors of up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB), anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) and EGSB was compared. The maximal methane production in UASB, ASBR, and EGSB reached 1.41, 3.01, and 12.43 m(3)CH(4)/m(3)-reactor/day, respectively. Finally, the mechanisms for EGSB exhibiting remarkably higher methane production were investigated by enzyme, adenosine-triphosphate (ATP), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses. It was found that the granular sludge in EGSB had the highest conversion efficiency of acetic acid to methane, and the greatest activity of hydrolysis and acidification enzymes and general physiology with much more Methanosarcinaceae.