Overcoming the Difficulties of Thermophilic Co-Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Beverage Industry Wastes in the Presence of Zeolite

Aleksandra Szaja (), Agnieszka Montusiewicz and Magdalena Lebiocka
Additional contact information
Aleksandra Szaja: Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 40B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Agnieszka Montusiewicz: Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 40B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Magdalena Lebiocka: Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 40B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: The thermophilic anaerobic bioconversion of various wastes is still challenging, mainly due to process instability and economic profitability. This group includes orange wastes (OWs) and brewery spent grain (BSG), the main by-products generated by the beverage industry. In this study, a strategy allowing for improving methane production by the multicomponent co-digestion of sewage sludge (SS), OW, and BSG was proposed. To overcome the difficulties in the thermophilic co-digestion of those wastes, the application of natural zeolite (Z), i.e., clinoptilolite, was proposed. The experiment was performed in the batch mode at a temperature of 55 °C. Four experimental series were conducted with differing feedstock compositions, one of which was a control supplied only by SS. As compared with the control, in the series supplied by OW and OW with BSG, methane production decreased by 20% and 13%, respectively. In turn, significant improvements were achieved in the presence of Z. The most beneficial results were observed in the reactor supplied by SS, OW, and Z, characterized by a methane yield of 420.2 mLCH 4 /gVS, which is an increase of almost 14% as compared with the control. In this case, significantly improved stability parameters, as well as decreased presence of inhibitors, i.e., limonene and phenols, were achieved. It was also characterized by enhanced energy balance by 69%, as compared with the control.

Keywords: methane production; orange waste; brewery spent grain; limonene; phenols; kinetics; energy balance (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: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/8/2085/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/8/2085/ (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:18:y:2025:i:8:p:2085-:d:1637183

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 ().