Digestion Properties of Intracellular Polymers and Extracellular Polymeric Substances and Influences of Extracellular Polymeric Substances on Anaerobic Digestion of Sludge
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 10
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion is a method adopted to treat sludge, but its effectiveness is limited by the existence of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). For the first time, this study separated sludge into intracellular polymeric substances (IPSs) and EPSs to investigate each of their digestion properties and the influences of EPSs. It was found that (1) EPS anaerobic digestion was completed in 3 days and was much quicker than by IPS; (2) the removal of organic matter in EPSs was higher than in IPSs; and (3) the biogas yield of EPSs [ volatile solids (VS)] was higher than that of IPSs (). To examine the influences of EPS on sludge anaerobic digestion, an EPS-removal sample was compared with the control sample, and it was found that EPSs could restrict biogas production during sludge anaerobic digestion. After removing EPSs, cumulative biogas production and biogas yield were improved by 9.4% and 28.8%, respectively. The whole biogas production process was also shortened by 7 days after removing EPSs. Future studies could decide whether EPSs should be removed based on their role in anaerobic digestion outcomes (e.g., prioritize the production of biogas or the removal of organic matter).
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request, including, for example, methodology of sampling procedure for evaluating carbohydrates and proteins, characteristics of inoculum (TS, VS, pH), and reactor design.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Chinese Academy of Engineering major consultation project “Study on Several Important Measures for Environmental Comprehensive Management of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei” (2017-ZD-09-02-01).
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 10 • October 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 11, 2019
Accepted: May 8, 2020
Published online: Jul 24, 2020
Published in print: Oct 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Dec 24, 2020
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