Thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge partially removes organic micropollutants but does not enhance their anaerobic biotransformation. 2019

Anton Taboada-Santos, and Guilherme H R Braz, and Nuria Fernandez-Gonzalez, and Marta Carballa, and Juan M Lema
Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E- 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: anton.taboada@usc.es.

Pretreatment technologies prior to anaerobic digestion (AD) have been developed with the aim of enhancing biogas productivity and reducing the presence of pathogens in digested sludge. Among them, thermal hydrolysis (TH) appears as the most promising one. In wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) sludge is the end point of many organic micropollutants (OMPs), which was proved to lead to important environmental and human risks since sludge is commonly used in agriculture. The objective of this work is to determine the fate OMPs in TH and subsequent AD. Sewage sludge was pretreated in a TH pilot plant at 170 °C for 20 min. Afterwards, two anaerobic digesters with a working volume of 14 L fed with fresh and pretreated sludge were operated in parallel in mesophilic conditions. TH proved to be an effective technology to partially or totally remove the dissolved fraction of OMPs as well as the fraction sorbed into those suspended solids that are solubilised after this pretreatment. However, it did not affect the OMPs sorbed concentration into solids that are not solubilised. Globally, the OMPs removal efficiency during TH appears to be linked to the solids solubilisation during this process. Afterwards, the OMPs biotransformation efficiency in AD of fresh and pretreated sludge was determined. Noticeable differences between the microbiome of both reactors was determined, but the anaerobic biotransformation was not substantially different for most of the OMPs. However, it affected musk fragrances, which presented considerably lower biotransformation efficiency in the reactor fed with pretreated sludge. Therefore, TH was proved effective in partially removing OMPs but not in enhancing their bioavailability and subsequent anaerobic biotransformation.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006868 Hydrolysis The process of cleaving a chemical compound by the addition of a molecule of water.
D000693 Anaerobiosis The complete absence, or (loosely) the paucity, of gaseous or dissolved elemental oxygen in a given place or environment. (From Singleton & Sainsbury, Dictionary of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, 2d ed) Anaerobic Metabolism,Anaerobic Metabolisms,Anaerobioses,Metabolism, Anaerobic,Metabolisms, Anaerobic
D001711 Biotransformation The chemical alteration of an exogenous substance by or in a biological system. The alteration may inactivate the compound or it may result in the production of an active metabolite of an inactive parent compound. The alterations may be divided into METABOLIC DETOXICATION, PHASE I and METABOLIC DETOXICATION, PHASE II.
D012722 Sewage Refuse liquid or waste matter carried off by sewers. Sludge,Sludge Flocs
D014865 Waste Disposal, Fluid The discarding or destroying of liquid waste products or their transformation into something useful or innocuous. Disposal, Fluid Waste,Disposals, Fluid Waste,Fluid Waste Disposal,Fluid Waste Disposals,Waste Disposals, Fluid
D014873 Water Pollutants Substances or organisms which pollute the water or bodies of water. Use for water pollutants in general or those for which there is no specific heading. Water Pollutant,Pollutant, Water,Pollutants, Water
D062065 Wastewater Contaminated water generated as a waste product of human activity. Waste Water,Waste Waters,Wastewaters,Water, Waste,Waters, Waste

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