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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Continuously-stirred Anaerobic Digester to Convert Organic Wastes into Biogas: System Setup and Basic Operation
Published on: July 13, 2012
Performance and microbial community composition of full-scale high-rate cascade sludge digestion system via
Hongxiao Guo1, Maaike McIntyre2, André Visser3
1Section Sanitary Engineering, Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
A full-scale high-rate cascade anaerobic digestion (CAD) system was evaluated for its ability to enhance enzymatic sludge hydrolysis. The system included a newly built digester, innovatively divided into three pie-shaped compartments (500 m3 each), followed by an existing, larger digester (1500 m3). The system treated a mixture of waste activated sludge and primary sludge, achieving a stable total chemical oxygen demand reduction efficiency (56.1 ± 6.8 %), and enhanced sludge hydrolytic enzyme activities at a 14.5-day total solids retention time (SRT). High-throughput sequencing data revealed a consistent microbial community across reactors, dominated by consortia that govern hydrolysis and acidogenesis. Despite relatively short SRTs in the initial reactors of the CAD system, acetoclastic methanogens belonging to Methanosaeta became the most abundant archaea. This study proves that the CAD system achieves stable sludge reduction, accelerates enzymatic hydrolysis at full-scale, and paves the way for its industrialization in municipal waste sewage sludge treatment.
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