The effect of different pretreatments on biomethanation kinetics of industrial Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes (OFMSW)

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of both thermochemical (under different pressures, temperatures and alkaline agent dosage) and biological (using mature compost, sludge and the fungus Aspergillus awamori) pretreatments on the kinetic of dry-thermophilic (20% Total Solids and 55°C) anaerobic digestion of industrial organic fraction of the municipal solid wastes (OFMSW).Municipal solid waste, which was not collected separately, from an industrial 30mm-trommel placed in a Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) plant was used in this study. The kinetic equations for substrate-utilization and product-generation from Romero's model (1991) have been used to characterize process kinetics and determine the effect of pretreatments on kinetic parameters. The results obtained in this study indicate than the best pretreatment is precomposting, since an increase of the microorganism's maximum specific growth rate (μmax) between 160 and 205%, with respect to non-pretreated OFMSW, can be achieved. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.