Energy Valorization of Fine Screenings from a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Ioannis Lemonidis, Dimitra C. Banti, Christos A. Tzenos, Sotirios D. Kalamaras, Thomas A. Kotsopoulos and Petros Samaras ()
Additional contact information
Ioannis Lemonidis: Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Geotechnical Sciences, International Hellenic University, GR-57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Dimitra C. Banti: Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Geotechnical Sciences, International Hellenic University, GR-57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Christos A. Tzenos: Department of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Sotirios D. Kalamaras: Department of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Thomas A. Kotsopoulos: Department of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Petros Samaras: Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Geotechnical Sciences, International Hellenic University, GR-57400 Thessaloniki, Greece

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the characteristics and the energy potential for the methane production of fine screenings collected from the primary stage of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, and assess the impact on the properties and the oxygen demand of the aqueous effluents downstream from the sieves. Commercial filter bags with sieve openings of 3000, 1250, 1000, and 300 μm were used for the collection of screenings following a measurement of their biochemical methane potential. It was revealed that solid fractions from the sieves with a large size presented a high net methane production capacity exceeding 900 mL/g VS, but the gas production rate was rather slow, requiring a long time to reach the final value. However, cumulative solid fractions containing particles with a size larger than 300 μm had a lower net methane production, about 700 mL/g VS, but with a faster rate, resulting in almost 80% of the total volume released in 30 days. Aqueous samples downstream from the sieves presented decreasing organic matter content by sieve size and reduced the requirements for aeration oxygen. The installation of fine sieves in existing municipal wastewater treatment plants, therefore, may be beneficial due to the enhancement of biogas production and a reduction in the oxygen consumption of the activated sludge process.

Keywords: fine screenings; biochemical methane production potential; wastewater treatment plant; energy recovery; anaerobic digestion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/8236/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/8236/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:21:p:8236-:d:963195

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().