Combined thermophilic aerobic process and conventional anaerobic digestion: Effect on sludge biodegradation and methane production

The efficiency of hyper-thermophilic (65 °C) aerobic process coupled with a mesophilic (35 °C) digester was evaluated for the activated sludge degradation and was compared to a conventional mesophilic digester. For two Sludge Retention Time (SRT), 21 and 42 days, the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) solubilisation and biodegradation processes, the methanisation yield and the aerobic oxidation were investigated during 180 days. The best results were obtained at SRT of 44 days; the COD removal yield was 30% higher with the Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion/Thermophilic Aerobic Reactor (MAD–TAR) co-treatment. An increase of the sludge intrinsic biodegradability is also observed (20–40%), showing that the unbiodegradable COD in mesophilic conditions becomes bioavailable. However, the methanisation yield was quite similar for both processes at a same SRT. Finally, such a process enables to divide by two the volume of digester with an equivalent efficiency.