Effects of total solids content on waste activated sludge thermophilic anaerobic digestion and its sludge dewaterability

• Estimate the lowest inhibitory FAN and TAN.
• TS influence volumetric biogas production rate and biogas yield.
• Dewaterability do not determine final dewatering effect at different TS.

The role of total solids content on sludge thermophilic anaerobic digestion was investigated in batch reactors. A range of total solids content from 2% to 10% was evaluated with two replicates. The lowest inhibitory concentration for free ammonia and total ammonia of sludge thermophilic anaerobic digestion was 110.9–171.4 mg/L and 1313.1–1806.7 mg/L, respectively. The volumetric biogas production rate increased with increasing of total solids content, but the corresponding biogas yield per gram volatile solid decreased. The result of normalized capillary suction time indicated that the dewaterability of digested sludge at high total solids content was poor, while solid content of sediment obtained by centrifuging sludge at 2000g for 10 min increased with increasing of total solids content of sludge. The results suggest that thickened sludge mixed with dewatered sludge at an appropriate ratio could get high organic loading rate, high biogas yield and adequate dewatering effort.