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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Evaluation of Integrated Anaerobic Digestion and Hydrothermal Carbonization for Bioenergy Production
Published on: June 15, 2014
Upgrading of anaerobic digestion by incorporating two different hydrolysis processes
Chulhwan Park1, Chunyeon Lee, Sangyong Kim
1Cambridge Unit for Bioscience Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3RA, UK. chpark@kitech.re.kr
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). Either thermochemical or biological hydrolysis was used as a pretreatment and the effects of both were investigated and compared. Two different three-stage digestion systems showed improved performance, although thermochemical hydrolysis showed better results than biological hydrolysis in a bench-scale operation. After anaerobic digestion with thermochemical pretreatment, the total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) reduction, volatile solid (VS) reduction, methane yield and methane biogas content were 88.9%, 77.5%, 0.52 m3/kg VS and 79.5%, respectively. These results should help in determining the best hydrolysis pretreatment process for anaerobic digestion and in improving the design and operation of the large-scale treatment of WAS by anaerobic digestion with hydrolysis systems.
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