Jump to main content
US EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Search
Search
Main menu
Environmental Topics
Laws & Regulations
About EPA
Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)
Contact Us
Print
Feedback
Export to File
Search:
This record has one attached file:
Add More Files
Attach File(s):
Display Name for File*:
Save
Citation
Tags
HERO ID
6086591
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Pretreatment and co-digestion of wastewater sludge for biogas production: Recent research advances and trends
Author(s)
Elalami, D; Carrere, H; Monlau, F; Abdelouahdi, K; Oukarroum, A; Barakat, A
Year
2019
Is Peer Reviewed?
1
Journal
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
ISSN:
1364-0321
Volume
114
Page Numbers
109287
DOI
10.1016/j.rser.2019.109287
Web of Science Id
WOS:000488871200035
URL
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119304952
Exit
Abstract
Currently, sludge is not considered as a waste any more, since it is capable of producing valuable products. Besides land disposal and thermochemical processes (i.e. pyrolysis, combustion, gasification), biological processes appear as promising valorisation routes to treat wastewater sludge efficiently. Anaerobic digestion (AD) processes are already being applied at industrial scales for the effective disposal and valorisation of sludge. However, methane yields from sludge anaerobic digestion remain low compared to other types of organic waste. Thus, pretreatment and co-digestion contribute to improve the degradability of organic matter and methane potential of sludge, respectively. This paper reviews the recent achievements in sludge pretreatment and co-digestion with other substrates such as the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, fatty waste, lignocellulosic and algal biomass. Furthermore, recent studies combining co-digestion and pretreatment are examined. The paper also provides recommendations to better manage sludge recovery by taking into account multiple aspects such as techno-economic feasibility, the effect of pretreatment on both the physico-chemical properties of sludge and the quality of digestate. The socio-environmental and legislative aspects are also essential in order to ensure the sustainability of the process.
Keywords
Sewage sludge; Valorisation; Anaerobic digestion; Pretreatment; Co-digestion; Process combination
Home
Learn about HERO
Using HERO
Search HERO
Projects in HERO
Risk Assessment
Transparency & Integrity