Enhancement Of Sludge Anaerobic Digestability By Fenton And Photo-Fenton Pretreatments

Activated Sludge Process is widely used to treat wastewater biologically due to low
running cost, high degradation efficiency and efficient removal of organic and
inorganic compounds. However, the process will produce considerable amount of
excess sludge and various handling methods can cost up to 50% of wastewater
treatment plant operation cost. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has been recognized as the
best stabilization process for excess sludge due to energy recovery via methane
production, odorless sludge production and pathogen destruction ability. Two major
problems for AD in sludge solids reduction and methane production are biological
hydrolysis stage as rate limiting step and the inability of anaerobic microbes to further
digest the sludge mass trapped by cell membranes (extracellular polymeric substances).