Microaerobic condition as pretreatment for improving anaerobic digestion: A review.

Pretreatment of waste before anaerobic digestion (AD) has been extensively studied during the last decades. One of the biological pretreatments studied is the microaeration. This review examines this process, including parameters and applications to different substrates at the lab, pilot and industrial scales, to guide further improvement in large-scale applications. The underlying mechanisms of accelerating hydrolysis and its effects on microbial diversity and enzymatic production were reviewed. In addition, modelling of the process and energetic and financial analysis is presented, showing that microaerobic pretreatment is commercially attractive under certain conditions. Finally, challenges and future perspectives were also highlighted to promote the development of microaeration as a pretreatment before AD.

To dream or not to dream in Havana: multi-criteria decision-making for material and energy recovery from municipal solid wastes.

Currently, solid waste management strategies in Havana are outdated. This paper aimed to select the most suitable alternative for integrating material recovery facilities (MRF) with waste-to-energy technologies in the city of Havana, Cuba. Seven scenarios were considered: combustion, gasification, and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) with and without carbon capture, and anaerobic digestion (AD). The selection was based on environmental, techno-economic, and social parameters using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision-making tool (MCDM). The MCDM-AHP accounted for qualitative criteria (based on experts' judgments) and quantitative (based on Aspen Plus simulation models). From the MRF, 63% of the input recyclable materials were recovered, representing an energy saving of 256 kW-h/tMSW. The AHP results showed that environmental criteria had the highest priority, resulting in ~63% and ~73% higher than social and techno-economic criteria, respectively. Likewise, from the techno-economic, environmental, and social sub-criteria analysis, investment risk, pollution, and work safety had the major concern compared with the other sub-criteria levels. Overall, MRF+AD was the most suitable scenario (21% preference) for treating Havana's municipal solid waste (MSW), followed by combustion and gasification with carbon capture, respectively. This study confirms that AD is a preference option for emerging economies like Cuba, mainly due to low environmental pollution, high social acceptance, and financial stability in the long term.

Valorization of oat husk by hydrothermal carbonization: Optimization of process parameters and anaerobic digestion of spent liquors.

The hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) optimization of oat husk was performed using a response surface methodology. Furthermore, anaerobic digestion (AD) of spent liquor and hydrochar addition were evaluated in the biomethane potential (BMP) test. Results found that temperature influences the most in the studied responses (i.e., mass yield (MY) and higher heating value (HHV)). Optimal hydrochar MY (53.8%) and HHV (21.5 MJ/kg) were obtained for 219.2 °C, 30 min, and 0.08 of biomass/water ratio. A successful prediction capability of the optimization approach was observed, archiving an error < 1% between predicted and validated responses. The BMP experiment showed the feasibility of spent liquor as a potential substrate to be treated by AD (144 NmLCH4/gCOD). Hydrochar boosted the methane production of spent liquor increasing up to 17% compared to digestion with no hydrochar addition. These findings provide new insights regarding oat husk valorization by integrating HTC and AD for energy production.

Valorization of the liquid fraction of co-hydrothermal carbonization of mixed biomass by anaerobic digestion: Effect of the substrate to inoculum ratio and hydrochar addition.

The effect of the substrate to inoculum ratio (SIR) on the anaerobic digestion (AD) of the liquid fractions (LFs) of co-hydrothermally treated mixed biomass (sewage sludge (SS) and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW)) was evaluated. The impact of SS + MSW-hydrochar was also studied at different hydrochar concentrations (0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 ghydrochar/L), in two of the LFs studied. The SIR had a significant impact on methane yield (YCH4) and organic matter degradation, with low methane production (4-44 NmLCH4/g tCODadded) observed for all LFs at SIR = 1:3. Hydrochar significantly improved YCH4 and specific methane production rate. Compared with the AD without hydrochar, the YCH4 improved up to 1.95 times at 15 g/L. Hydrochar doses from 1 to 10 g/L shortened the lag phase, while higher concentrations (15 to 25 g/L) showed an increment with respect to the control reactor without hydrochar.

A comparison of process performance during the anaerobic mono- and co-digestion of slaughterhouse waste through different operational modes.

The use of consecutive feeding was applied to investigate the response of the microbial biomass to a second addition of substrates in terms of biodegradation using batch tests as a promising alternative to predict the behavior of the process. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the slaughterhouse waste (SB) and its co-digestion with manure (M), various crops (VC), and municipal solid waste were evaluated. The results were then correlated to previous findings obtained by the authors for similar mixtures in batch and semi-continuous operation modes. AD of the SB failed showing total inhibition after a second feeding. Co-digestion of the SB+M showed a significant improvement for all of the response variables investigated after the second feeding, while co-digestion of the SB+VC resulted in a decline in all of these response variables. Similar patterns were previously detected, during both the batch and the semi-continuous modes.

Co-digestion of different waste mixtures from agro-industrial activities: kinetic evaluation and synergetic effects.

Several wastes from agro-industrial activities were mixed in different ratios to evaluate the co-digestion process. Methane yield YCH4, specific methanogenic activity (SMA) and a kinetic parameter (k0) were determined. A second feeding was also performed to examine the recovery of bacterial activity after exhaustion. Mixture ratios of 1:1:1:1 and 1:3:4:0.5 (w/w) showed the best performance, with YCH4 of 664; 582 NmL CH4/gVSsubstrate, as well as SMA of 0.12; 0.13 gCODNmLCH4/gVSinoculum/d, respectively, during the digestion of the first feed. It was possible to relate synergetic effects with enhancement in YCH4 by up to 43%, compared with values calculated from YCH4 of the individual substrates. All batches started up the biogas production after an exhaustion period, when a second feed was added. However, long lag phases (up to 21 days) were observed due to stressed conditions caused by the substrate limitation prior to the second feed.