Short-Chain Fatty Acids Production from Anaerobic Fermentation of Sewage Sludge: The Effect of Higher Levels Polyaluminium Chloride

Puli Zhu, Xiaoyun Li, Jing Feng, Rui Zhang, Hui Bai, Duo Bu, Zeng Dan, Wei Li and Xuebin Lu
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Puli Zhu: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Xiaoyun Li: School of Agriculture, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Jing Feng: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Rui Zhang: School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, China
Hui Bai: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Duo Bu: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, School of Science, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
Zeng Dan: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, School of Science, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
Wei Li: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, School of Science, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
Xuebin Lu: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: With the annual increase in the sludge production in China’s sewage treatment plants, the problem of sewage sludge treatment and disposal is becoming more and more serious. Anaerobic fermentation can convert complex organic matter in sewage sludge into short-chain fatty acid, hydrogen, methane and other resources and is an effective method for sewage sludge treatment and disposal. At the same time, sewage sludge often contains flocculants, which will inevitably affect the effect of anaerobic fermentation. As a high-performance flocculant, polyaluminum chloride (PAC) is widely used in wastewater treatment and sewage sludge dewatering processes. Previous studies indicated that lower levels of PAC inhibit the effect of the anaerobic fermentation process of sewage sludge; on the other hand, it is necessary to understand the effects of higher levels of PAC in anaerobically fermented sewage sludge. The results showed that higher levels (0.2–1 g Al/g total solids (TS)) of PAC could promote acid production from anaerobically fermented sewage sludge. Moreover, mechanism studies suggest that higher levels (0.2–1 g Al/g total solids (TS)) of PAC caused excessive adsorption of the charge on the surface of the sewage sludge colloid and reversed the charge. The sewage sludge colloid was stabilized again, which increases the concentration of soluble proteins, polysaccharides, and soluble extracellular polymers (S-EPS) in the fermentation broth, thereby improving the anaerobically fermented sewage sludge efficiency. The results provided from this study may act as technical reference and guidance for the engineering application of sewage sludge anaerobic fermentation.

Keywords: polyaluminum chloride; sewage sludge; anaerobic fermentation; short-chain fatty acids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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