Optimization of Thermal Pretreatment of Food Waste for Maximal Solubilization
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 4
Abstract
Food waste has become an increasing concern across the globe. Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been recognized as an effective approach for handling this waste while generating biogas. AD’s performance could be enhanced by improving the carbon conversion efficiency and leading to the lowest amount of residuals possible. For this purpose, various pretreatment approaches have been investigated. This study focuses on optimizing thermal pretreatment of food waste. In particular, three parameters, namely temperature, treatment time, and total solid content, were evaluated statistically for their effects on the increase of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD). It was found that temperature and time had statistically significant impacts on the SCOD increase compared with the untreated controls. The optimal condition of 170°C, 60 min, and solid content led to a 1.92-fold increase of SCOD. After a 5-day fermentation, the pretreated slurries produced of volatile fatty acids. Results from this study could be used at large scale for pretreating food waste before AD for producing biogas or other valuable products.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Bioenergy Technology Office Award No. DE-EE0008932. The authors also appreciate the City of Watervliet, New York, for providing the inoculum for fermentation.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 4 • April 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 18, 2020
Accepted: Dec 7, 2020
Published online: Jan 31, 2021
Published in print: Apr 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 30, 2021
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