하수슬러지의 혐기성 소화에 미치는 가용화 전처리의 효과

Effects of Solubilization Pretreatment of Wastewater Sludge on Anaerobic Digestion

Solubilization pretreatments were conducted to enhance the anaerobic digestion of the waste activated sludge. Four pretreatment techniques including heating, sonication freezing and thawing, and enzyme addition were employed to solubilize the waste activated sludge under various conditions. Thermal pretreatment by heating showed the highest efficiency compared with other methods, and freezing and thawing was confirmed as a feasible alternative of solubilization as well as the pretreatment of dewatering. There is a clear correlation between the solubilization efficiency of the waste activated sludge and the gas production. Batch digestion results showed the cumulative gas production as much as four times after thermal pretreatment as compared with that by the control sludge without pretreatment. As a result, hydrolysis or solubilization pretreatment might play a significant role in the high rate digestion of the waste activated sludge.