Ultrasonic cell disruption of stabilised sludge with subsequent anaerobic digestion

The world-wide increasing environmental awareness and its subsequent regulations have led to the application of improved technologies in wastewater purification plants. This has resulted in higher wastewater and sludge productions. Sludge is the by-product of such plants and it is not only rich in organic carbon and pathogens but also in heavy metals and other environmental pollutants. In Europe, agricultural application of dried sludge (bio-solids) is confronted with negative reactions from the citizens, governmental organisations, farmers and the food industry. Ultrasonic disruption of sludge is a popular mechanical disruption process in sludge treatment. During ultrasonic treatment, high frequency acoustic signals are used to initiate the cavitation process. The applied ultrasonic field leads to a breakdown of cohesive forces of the liquid molecules resulting in the generation of cavitation bubbles. A shock wave is released by the collapse of the cavitation bubbles and propagates in the surrounding medium forming jet streams that cause the disruption of cells in sludge. Disruption of sludge cells enables the release of light organic substances into the sludge water thereby exposing them for further anaerobic digestion. This paper presents results on the disruption of conventionally stabilised sludge through the application of the ultrasonic field. In order to reduce the specific energy input (i.e. ratio of the consumed energy during ultrasonic disruption to the input sludge mass) and improve biogas production, the total solids content of the stabilised sludge was increased before disruption. The anaerobic digestion of sludge samples was carried out in a set of specially constructed laboratory anaerobic digesters. Results showed that subsequent anaerobic digestion of the ultrasonically disrupted sludge could improve biogas production with reduced sludge quantity that is vital to the economic consideration of the wastewater treatment plants. This process encourages the exploitation of valuable materials and energy from stabilised sewage sludge just before its final disposal. The negative effects of mixing disrupted sludge with its separated sludge water are also shown in this paper. This expresses the microbiological instability of the anaerobic process caused by the mixing process.