Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107 www.elsevier.

com/locate/jenvman

Impact of food industrial waste on anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and pig manure
rnsson, B. Mattiasson M. Murto*, L. Bjo
Department of Biotechnology, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden Received 11 April 2003; revised 19 October 2003; accepted 12 November 2003

Abstract The performance of an anaerobic digestion process is much dependent on the type and the composition of the material to be digested. The effects on the degradation process of co-digesting different types of waste were examined in two laboratory-scale studies. In the rst investigation, sewage sludge was co-digested with industrial waste from potato processing. The co-digestion resulted in a low buffered system and when the fraction of starch-rich waste was increased, the result was a more sensitive process, with process overload occurring at a lower organic loading rate (OLR). In the second investigation, pig manure, slaughterhouse waste, vegetable waste and various kinds of industrial waste were digested. This resulted in a highly buffered system as the manure contributed to high amounts of ammonia. However, it is important to note that ammonia might be toxic to the micro-organisms. Although the conversion of volatile fatty acids was incomplete the processes worked well with high gas yields, 0.8 1.0 m3 kg21 VS. q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Alkalinity; Anaerobic; Biogas; Co-digestion; Manure; Sewage sludge; Slaughterhouse waste; Vegetable waste

1. Introduction The EU countries have agreed on a directive stating that the amount of biodegradable organic waste that is deposited in landlls should be decreased by 65% by July 2016 (Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landll of waste, 1999). The Swedish goal is stricter: no biodegradable waste should be landlled after 2005 (SFS, 2001) and a tax of 25 Euro per ton of biodegradable material deposited in landlls was introduced in 2000. While most of the municipalities in Sweden regard incineration as the main alternative, it is also important to investigate and improve techniques for the biological treatment of organic waste. Anaerobic digestion has many environmental benets including the production of a renewable energy carrier, the possibility of nutrient recycling and reduction of waste volumes (Ghosh et al., 1975; Hawkes and Hawkes, 1987; van Lier et al., 2001). Many kinds of organic waste have been digested anaerobically in a successful way, such as sewage sludge, industrial waste, slaughterhouse waste, fruit and vegetable waste, manure and agricultural biomass.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 46-46-2228193; fax: 46-46-2224713. E-mail address: marika.murto@biotek.lu.se (M. Murto). 0301-4797/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2003.11.001

The wastes have been treated both separately and in codigestion processes (Callaghan et al., 2002; Claassen et al., 1999; Gunaseelan, 1997). Our knowledge about the anaerobic digestion process is increasing. Nevertheless, studies are needed to investigate the effects of variations in the input to a digester, and how the waste composition inuences the overall stability of the process. There is a long tradition of treating sewage sludge anaerobically at wastewater treatment plants to reduce the volume of sludge, but the process has not been focused on optimal biogas production. Anaerobic digesters are often very simple in construction and the process is poorly monitored. As a result, they are often run at a low OLR to avoid overload. In a society where landlling of organic waste is prohibited or limited it would be of interest to use the already existing biogas plants for waste treatment. Co-digestion of suitable organic waste with municipal sludge would provide a means of using the extra capacity of the anaerobic digesters. The main steps in anaerobic digestion are hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis (Gujer and Zehnder, 1983). Protein- and carbohydrate-degrading bacteria grow rapidly, and these kinds of substrates are rapidly fermented, with a retention time of less than a day

102

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107

(Bryant, 1979). If the substrate is easily hydrolysed, the last degradation step is often rate limiting since methanogens grow more slowly than the acidogens upstream in the degradation chain. This can give rise to negative effects in the case of organic overload or exposure to toxic compounds that may induce a build-up of the metabolic intermediates, mainly volatile fatty acids (VFAs) (Rozzi, 1991). The acid-consuming methanogenic species are more inhibited by a decrease in pH than are the acid-producing species (Anderson and Yang, 1992). This causes further acid accumulation and eventually leads to process failure. The resistance to a pH-change in the digester liquid depends on the buffering capacity, which is mainly comprised of the bicarbonate/carbon dioxide buffer (Rozzi, 1991). If other ions are present they also contribute to the alkalinity. For example, when proteins are degraded, ammonium is released forming ammonium bicarbonate, which results in additional buffering of the digester liquid (Gallert et al., 1998; Nyns, 1986) and thereby gives higher resistance to organic overload. However, the anaerobic degradation process may be inhibited by high amounts of ammonia (Hansen et al., 1998). The toxicity is related to temperature and the pH-dependent concentration of free ammonia (Gallert et al., 1998). In unadapted cultures, a free ammonia level of 0.15 g l21 can cause growth inhibition (Braun et al., 1981). If the culture has undergone gradual adaptation, a level of up to 1.1 g l21 free ammonia can be tolerated and it has been reported that the aceticlastic methanogens are most sensitive to ammonia toxicity (Hansen et al., 1998). In co-digestion, it is important to consider the effects of the different incoming waste streams. Better handling and digestibility can be achieved by mixing solid waste with diluted waste. Furthermore, successful mixing of different wastes results in better digestion performance by improving the content of the nutrients and even reduces the negative effect of toxic compounds on the digestion process. Pig and poultry manure have high amounts of ammonia (4 g l21 as ammonia-N). These are preferably co-digested with waste that has high carbon content to improve the C/N ratio. Sievers and Brune (1978) have reported that the C/N ratio should be 16/1 for optimal operation. The number of full-scale co-digestion plants is increasing and there are many full-scale digesters in operation

co-digesting manure and industrial organic waste (Danish Energy Agency, 1995; Hedegaard and Jaensch, 1999). This paper reports on two investigations: co-digestion of sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste, and co-digestion of manure, slaughterhouse and agricultural waste, both performed in laboratory-scale reactors. The aim was to investigate how the co-digestion of the different kinds of waste affected the conditions in and performance of the anaerobic digestion process.

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Co-digestion of sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste The model for the rst study was a full-scale anaerobic digester co-digesting sludge from wastewater treatment with starch-rich waste from a potato processing facility. The full-scale plant consists of two serially connected mesophilic reactors of 3500 m3 each. The substrate for this plant has, on average, a total solids (TS) content of 3.4%, with 85% of this being volatile solids (VS). The main volumetric contribution to the plant is excess sludge from municipal wastewater treatment (64% of the volumetric ow rate). However, in terms of organic material the main constituent is starch-rich waste from a food industry facility (72% of the VS). The average OLR is 1.4 kg VS m23 d21 and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) is 20 days. 2.1.1. Reactor design In the laboratory-scale study, the experimental set-up consisted of a jacketed glass reactor (35 8C) with a volume of 500 ml, sealed with a rubber stopper. A magnetic stirrer was used for mixing. The mixed substrate was fed from a cooled vessel (4 8C) once per day into the reactor. The amount of gas was measured according to the water displacement principle. Four reactor set-ups were used in parallel. 2.1.2. Inoculum and feedstocks The inoculum for the reactors was taken from the fullscale anaerobic digester described above. The two sludge fractions, primary sludge and excess activated sludge, and the starch-rich food industrial waste were collected at

Table 1 Composition of feedstocks as a percentage of the volume and organic material fed to the four reactors co-digesting sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste Reference and reactor 1 (% vol) Food industrial waste Primary sludge Excess activated sludge 36 11 53 (% VS) 72 9 19 Reactor 2 (% vol) 44 9 47 (% VS) 80 6 14 Reactor 3 (% vol) 49 8 43 (% VS) 84 5 11

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107 Table 2 Composition of the mixture of industrial waste fed to reactors A C Waste fraction Grease trap residues Confectionary waste Dairy product waste Bakery waste Fodder/mill waste (wt%) 87 7 2 3 1

103

digester was intended to treat around 45,000 tonnes of organic waste per year. The base fractions constituted of pig manure (35,000 tonnes per year) and various industrial waste (7000 tonnes), to which it was possible to add two other waste fractions, slaughterhouse waste (5000 tonnes) and restaurant, fruit and vegetable waste (2000 tonnes), to obtain a more favourable carbon/nitrogen ratio in the feedstocks. 2.2.1. Reactor design The experimental set-up consisted of a cooled substrate vessel (4 8C) and a 3-litre jacketed glass reactor (35 8C). An impeller (200 rpm) was used for mixing and was turned off every second hour for 15 min. The substrate was fed into the reactor once every 4 h with a peristaltic pump. The produced gas was collected in a gas-tight bag and the volume was measured with a wettype precision gas meter (Schlumberger, Karlsruhe, Germany). Three reactor set-ups (reactors A C) were used in parallel. 2.2.2. Inoculum and feedstocks The inoculum was taken from a full-scale anaerobic digester in Karpalund, Kristianstad, Sweden, where manure and slaughterhouse waste are co-digested with small amounts of household waste and industrial waste. The waste fractions were collected from local industries. The composition of the mixture of industrial waste is given in Table 2. The three different combinations of feedstocks used in the experiments are given in Table 3. The different substrates were homogenised, mixed and stored in bottles at 2 20 8C until use. The substrate was thawed, and sanitised for 1 h at 70 8C before use to mimic the procedure at full-scale operation. The characteristics of the separate waste fractions are listed in Table 4, and those of the three different substrate mixtures in Table 5. 2.2.3. Experimental procedure During a start-up period of 30 days, the HRT was set at 50 days and thereafter it was decreased to around 30 days, giving OLRs of 2.6, 3.1 and 3.7 kg VS m23 d21 for reactors A, B and C, respectively. When the HRT was decreased reactor C became unstable and foam was

Table 3 Compositions of feedstocks co-digested in the three reactors, A C Reactor A (% vol) B (% vol) C (% vol) 17 71 12 17 66 12 5

Mixture of industrial waste 17 Pig manure 83 Slaughterhouse wastea Restaurant, fruit and vegetable waste
a

50% sludge, 25% rumen and intestinal contents and 25% manure.

the full-scale biogas plant, dispersed with a blender, and stored at 2 20 8C until use. 2.1.3. Experimental procedure During a start-up period of 40 days the reference reactor and reactors 1 3 were run at an OLR of 1.5 kg VS m23 d21 and with a substrate composition as in the full-scale anaerobic digester (Table 1). The substrates for the reference reactor and reactor 1 had this composition during the whole study. The reference reactor, used as a control, was maintained at this OLR throughout the study to verify that the substrate remained unchanged during storage. On day 40, the composition of the substrates for reactors 2 and 3 was changed, in that the fraction of starch-rich sludge was increased (Table 1). The OLR was then increased stepwise in the reactors 1 3 by decreasing the HRT until failure of the process. The reactors were maintained at each OLR for a minimum of three HRTs. 2.2. Co-digestion of manure, slaughterhouse and agricultural waste The model for the second investigation was a planned full-scale co-digestion plant. The full-scale anaerobic
Table 4 Characteristics of the waste fractions pH Total solids (%) 19 9 13 21

Volatile solids (% of TS) 93 76 96 95

Total nitrogen (% of TS) 0.4 7.4 1.0 3.8

Total carbon (% of TS) 20 40 60 49

Phosphorus (% of TS) 0.9 2.1 0.3 0.4

C/N ratio

Mixture of industrial waste Pig manure Slaughterhouse waste Restaurant, fruit and vegetable waste

5.4 7.2 5.9 4.5

49 5 58 13

104

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107

Table 5 Characteristics of the feedstocks fed to reactors, A C, co-digesting manure, slaughterhouse and agricultural waste Reactor Total solids (%) Volatile solids (% of TS) Total nitrogen (% of TS) NH4 N (% of TS) Total carbon (% of TS) Phosphorous (% of TS) C/N ratio A 9.7 78 6.3 4.1 53 1.9 8 B 10.0 81 5.4 3.5 58 1.7 11 C 10.3 82 5.2 3.1 54 1.6 10

028101:1-92 mod), ammonium nitrogen (KLK nr7 1950 mod), total carbon (M-1011) and phosphorus (SS 028150, IC-AES).

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Co-digestion of sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste The values of the parameters monitored in the four reactors at different levels of OLR are given in Table 6. The gas yields, 0.6 m3 kg21 VS, for the three reactors (1 3) did not change upon increasing the OLR and were independent of substrate composition during stable digestion. The correlation between gas production rate and OLR was linear and equal for all four reactors. The highest biogas production rate was achieved in reactor 2, 1.2 l d21 at an OLR of 4.2 kg VS m23 d21 (data not shown). Hawkes and Hawkes (1987) reported a gas yield of 0.6 m3 kg21 VS from the digestion of sewage sludge and Gunaseelan (1997) a methane yield of 0.42 CH4 m3 kg21 VS for potato waste. In the reference reactor, the gas composition was very uniform at 67 ^ 2% methane and 30 ^ 2% carbon dioxide. For the other reactors, the gas composition was in the same range until the load was increased to around 4 kg VS m23 d21, which resulted in a decrease in methane to 64 ^ 4%. No H2S was present in the gas, probably because the chemicals that are used at the wastewater treatment plant to precipitate phosphorus also react with the sulphide. The pH values were 6.8 7.0 in all reactors during stable operation. The PA values varied in the three different reactors (1 3) depending on OLRs between 1.5 2.0 g CaCO 3 l 21, 1.2 2.0 g CaCO3 l2 1 and 1.0 2.0 g CaCO3 l21, respectively. Jenkins et al. (1991) reported that the PA should be above 1.2 g CaCO3 l21 for stable operation. The maximum concentration of TVFAs was

produced. The foam caused clogging in the reactor, which was then reconstructed, allowing a larger headspace, and restarted. The OLR had to be decreased to 2.6 kg VS m23 d-1 (HRT 36 days) before the foaming stopped, and the reactor was operated at these conditions throughout the remaining time of the study. 2.3. Analytical methods The partial alkalinity (PA), total alkalinity (TA), VFA concentrations measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), TS, VS and gas composition rnsson were measured by the methods described in (Bjo et al., 2000). Samples were centrifuged (3,000 g) for 3 min and the supernatant was used for alkalinity and VFA measurements. The VFA samples were acidied and stored at 2 20 8C. They were then ltered (0.45 mm Minisart, ttingen, Germany) before analysis. The Sartorius AG, Go VFAs are given only as the total VFAs (TVFAs) expressed as g acetic acid (HAc) l21. A number of chemical characteristics of the feedstocks were determined by AgroLab AB, Kristianstad, Sweden, as follows: total nitrogen, (Swedish Standard SS

Table 6 Steady-state values for the measured parameters at different organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the four reactors co-digesting sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste OLR (kg VS m23 d21) Reference Reactor 1 1.6 ^ 0.2 1.5 ^ 0.2 1.9 ^ 0.2 3.1 ^ 0.2 4.2 ^ 0.3 5.9 ^ 0.7 1.6 ^ 0.2 2.7 ^ 0.2 4.0 ^ 0.2 5.3 ^ 0.3 1.5 ^ 0.3 3.9 ^ 0.4 4.4 ^ 0.9 HRT (d) 19.7 ^ 1.8 19.0 ^ 2.2 13.4 ^ 1.2 9.3 ^ 0.7 7.1 ^ 0.5 5.3 ^ 0.6 18.0 ^ 2.1 12.6 ^ 1.2 9.1 ^ 0.4 7.0 ^ 0.4 20.2 ^ 3.6 10.4 ^ 0.6 9.7 ^ 1.7 Gas yield (m3 kg21 VS) 0.6 ^ 0.1 0.6 ^ 0.2 0.6 ^ 0.1 0.6 ^ 0.1 0.6 ^ 0.1 Process overload 0.6 ^ 0.1 0.6 ^ 0.1 0.6 ^ 0.1 Process overload 0.6 ^ 0.2 0.6 ^ 0.1 Process overload pH 7.2 ^ 0.1 7.2 ^ 0.1 7.1 ^ 0.1 7.1 ^ 0.1 7.0 ^ 0.1 7.2 ^ 0.1 7.0 ^ 0.1 6.9 ^ 0.1 7.2 ^ 0.1 6.8 ^ 0.1 PA (g CaCO3 l21) 1.93 ^ 0.04 1.96 ^ 0.08 1.65 ^ 0.05 1.57 ^ 0.07 1.48 ^ 0.08 2.00 ^ 0.07 1.62 ^ 0.09 1.18 ^ 0.09 1.99 ^ 0.06 1.05 ^ 0.09 TA (g CaCO3 l21) 2.34 ^ 0.05 2.45 ^ 0.07 2.00 ^ 0.04 1.92 ^ 0.05 1.99 ^ 0.05 2.49 ^ 0.09 1.94 ^ 0.04 1.57 ^ 0.10 2.47 ^ 0.07 1.51 ^ 0.08 TVFA (g HAc l21) 0 0 0 0.05 ^ 0.05 0.25 ^ 0.10 0 0 0.18 ^ 0.08 0 0.22 ^ 0.11

Reactor 2

Reactor 3

The values are averages of 10 consecutive measurements.

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107

105

Fig. 1. Co-digestion of sewage sludge and potato processing industrial waste. Inuence of feed composition and organic loading rate (OLR) in the reference reactor (a) and reactors 13 (b)(d).

reactors were fed once daily and the time at which samples were collected, 10 14 h after feeding, might also have caused variations. The change in composition of the substrate fed to the laboratory-scale reactors and the stepwise increase in the OLR are shown in Fig. 1a d. The nal increase in OLR caused digester failure. The maximum OLR of the three reactors before organic overload decreased as the proportion of carbohydrate-rich sludge increased in the substrate. Reactor 1, which had the lowest amount of starch-rich sludge, could be run at an OLR of 4.2 kg VS m23 d21 with a retention time of 7 days without decreased biogas yield. The other two reactors, with higher amounts of starch-rich sludge, could be run at an OLR of about 4.0 kg VS m23 d21 and HRT of 9.1 days (reactor 2) and at an OLR of 3.9 kg VS m23 d21 and HRT 10.4 days (reactor 3) without decreased biogas yield. One cause of failure of the reactors might be hydraulic overload causing a wash-out of the micro-organisms. Another cause could be organic overload, where the inhibition of the micro-organisms was caused by the accumulation of VFAs, and due to the low buffering capacity in the digester liquid pH decreased, causing further inhibition. The full-scale digester used as a model for these experiments is operated at around 1.4 kg VS m23 d21. This shows that the full-scale plant has extra capacity, which could be utilised. Provided that the laboratory-scale results are applicable to the full-scale system, and that the system is run either with the two reactors in parallel or with the material completely mixed by recirculation, the present organic load could be increased at least threefold. 3.2. Co-digestion of manure, slaughterhouse and agricultural waste OLR, HRT and steady-state values of the measured parameters are given in Table 7. The gas yields were 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0 m3 kg21 VS for reactors A, B and C, respectively. The theoretical gas yields are 1.5, 0.9 and 0.8 m3 kg21 for pure substrates of fatty acids, protein and starch, respectively (Hawkes and Hawkes, 1987). Reported gas yield for pig manure is 0.4 m3 kg21 VS (Hashimoto, 1983). The methane contents in the biogas produced from the three reactors were around 70%. Hydrogen sulphide was present in the biogas in each of the reactors: to up to 2500 ppm in reactor A and up to 1500 ppm in reactors B and C. Hydrogen sulphide was

around 0.20 g HAc l21. The measured parameters reected the changing conditions in the reactors as the composition of the substrate was changed or the OLR was increased. Even small accumulations of VFAs in the reactors resulted in the consumption of bicarbonate and, due to the low buffering capacity, a decrease in pH. The concentration of VFAs has been found to be a very good indicator of the metabolic rnsson et al., status of an anaerobic degradation process (Bjo 2000; Cobb and Hill, 1991). Thus in the case of an anaerobic digestion system with low buffering capacity, PA and pH measurements also could be as useful for process monitoring. The high standard deviations in the concentrations of VFAs may be due to inhomogeneous substrate and variations in the feed rate caused by inlet clogging. The

Table 7 Steady-state values for the measured parameters in the three reactors co-digesting manure, slaughterhouse and agricultural waste OLR (kg VS m23 d21) Reactor A Reactor B Reactor C 2.6 ^ 0.1 3.1 ^ 0.2 2.6 ^ 0.3 HRT (d) 30 ^ 2 28 ^ 2 36 ^ 6 Gas yield (m3 kg21 VS) 0.8 ^ 0.1 0.9 ^ 0.1 1.0 ^ 0.1 CH4 (%) 70.5 ^ 1.1 69.3 ^ 0.6 68.2 ^ 1.1 pH PA (g CaCO3 l21) 14.9 ^ 0.6 14.2 ^ 0.3 13.8 ^ 0.5 TA (g CaCO3 l21) 19.8 ^ 0.4 17.8 ^ 0.3 17.2 ^ 0.3 TVFA (g HAc l21) 1.13.4 0.52.6 0.21.3

7.9 ^ 0.1 7.9 ^ 0.1 7.9 ^ 0.1

The values are averages of 12 consecutive measurements.

106

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107

produced by the degradation of proteins. This may cause microbial inhibition, but it is also problematic due to the strong smell and must be removed from the biogas (Chynoweth et al., 1999). Manure with a low C/N ratio should be co-digested with waste containing low levels of nitrogen to give a stable process (Bryant, 1979). This has also been shown by Callaghan et al. (2002) where the addition of fruit and vegetable waste to cattle slurry increased the methane yield in the process. However, when nitrogen-rich chicken manure was added to cattle slurry the process performance deteriorated, and this was assumed to be due to ammonia inhibition. In the performed experiments organic waste with high C/N ratio was mixed with pig manure to improve the C/N ratio, but the ratios were still low (Table 5), for the substrates fed to reactors A C. The values of the monitored parameters in the three reactors were similar despite the fact that the substrate compositions were different. The pH values were stable at 7.9 in all three reactors. The PA values were very high in each reactor, 13.8 14.9 g CaCO3 l21, and the TA values were 17.2 19.8 g CaCO3 l21. The digested sludge from the three reactors contained high levels of 21 ammonium, 4.0 4.5 g NH 4 N l , which at pH 7.9 means free ammonia values of 0.48 0.54 g l21 according to Hansen et al. (1998). In this kind of process there is a danger that ammonia may inhibit the process. The high ammonia concentrations contributed to the high buffering capacities. High levels of VFAs were accumulated, up to 3.4 g HAc l21, consisting mainly of acetic acid. The high amount of VFAs in spite of a relatively low OLR and high HRT shows that the degradation was unbalanced but that the high buffering capacity resulted in stable pH and high gas yield. The dominating VFA was acetic acid, indicating that the acetate-utilising methanogens were inhibited and this effect was likely caused by ammonia (Hansen et al., 1998). The amount of free ammonia was high enough to disturb the sensitive aceticlastic methanogens (Braun et al., 1981).

from the wastewater treatment plant due to the stabilising effect of this sludge on pH and alkalinity. In the other case, the system was not affected by the high amounts of VFAs and even worked well with concentrations of several g l21 due to the production of ammonia, which kept the pH at neutral levels. It seemed likely, however, that the VFA accumulation was caused by the toxic effect of ammonia on acetate-degrading methanogens. The cause of process imbalance and failure differed depending on whether the process was a low or high buffered system. In the rst experiment wash-out and pH/VFA inhibition caused digester failures, and in the second experiment ammonia caused imbalance of the degradation process. In the low buffered system pH, PA and VFA measurements were useful for process monitoring whereas in the highly buffered system only VFA measurements indicated imbalance in the degradation process. Thus, it is important to know how the different waste fractions inuence the digestion process so that correct monitoring parameters are measured. Furthermore, it is important to perform laboratory-scale experiments before running in large scale to obtain information about what effects the mixing of different waste has on the co-digestion process. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swedish National Energy Administration (STEM). The collaboration with Sysav AB and the assistance of the staff at Ellinge wastewater treatment plant are gratefully acknowledged. References
Anderson, G.K., Yang, G., 1992. pH control in anaerobic treatment of industrial wastewaters. Journal of Environmental Engineering 118 (4), 551 567. rnsson, L., Murto, M., Mattiasson, B., 2000. Evaluation of parameters Bjo for monitoring an anaerobic co-digestion process. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 54 (6), 844 849. Braun, R., Huber, P., Meyrath, J., 1981. Ammonia toxicity in liquid piggery manure digestion. Biotechnology Letters 3 (4), 159164. Bryant, M.P., 1979. Microbial methane production-theoretical aspects. Journal of Animal Science 48 (1), 193 201. Callaghan, F.J., Wase, D.A.J., Thayanithy, K., Forster, C.F., 2002. Continuous co-digestion of cattle slurry with fruit and vegetable wastes and chicken manure. Biomass and Bioenergy 27, 7177. Chynoweth, D.P., Wilkie, A.C., Owens, J.M., 1999. Anaerobic treatment of piggery slurry-review. AsianAustralian Journal of Animal Science 12 (4), 607 628. Claassen, P.A.M., van Lier, J.B., Lopez Contreras, A.M., van Niel, E.W., Sijtsma, J., Stams, A.J.M., de Vries, S.S, Weusthuis, R.A., 1999. Utilisation of biomass for the supply of energy carriers. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 52, 741755. Cobb, S.A., Hill, D.T., 1991. Volatile fatty acid relationships in attached growth anaerobic fermenters. Transactions of the ASAE 34 (6), 25642572.

4. Conclusions The feedstocks were successfully co-digested anaerobically. In co-digestion it is important to consider the effect that the composition of the incoming substrate will have on the digester performance. The rst system studied was an example of an anaerobic process with low buffering capacity, while the other system had very high buffering capacity. The process treating the starch-rich waste was sensitive to changes in the feed, e.g. increasing the OLR or varying the composition. Due to the low buffering capacity, the accumulation of VFAs resulted in decreasing pH and nally led to digester failure. When considering the full-scale anaerobic digester (CSTR) it is of great importance that the carbohydrate-rich sludge is co-digested with sludge

M. Murto et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 70 (2004) 101107 Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landll of waste, Article 5. Danish Energy Agency, 1995. Overview report on biogas plants in Denmark. Danish Energy Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark. Gallert, C., Bauer, S., Winter, J., 1998. Effect of ammonia on the anaerobic degradation of protein by a mesophilic and thermophilic biowaste population. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 50, 495501. Ghosh, S., Conrad, J.R., Klass, D.L., 1975. Anaerobic acidogenesis of wastewater sludge. Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation 47 (1), 3045. Gujer, W., Zehnder, A.J.B., 1983. Conversion processes in anaerobic digestion. Water Science and Technology 15, 127167. Gunaseelan, V.N., 1997. Anaerobic digestion of biomass for methnae production: a review. Biomass and Bioenergy 13 (1/2), 83 114. Hansen, K.H., Angelidaki, I., Ahring, B.K., 1998. Anaerobic digestion of swine manure: inhibition by ammonia. Water Research 32 (1), 512. Hashimoto, A.G., 1983. Thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic fermentation of swine manure. Agricultural Wastes 6, 175191. Hawkes, F.R., Hawkes, D.L., 1987. Anaerobic digestion. In: Bulock, J., Kristiansen, B. (Eds.), Basic Biotechnology, Academic Press, London, pp. 337 358.

107

Hedegaard, M., Jaensch, V., 1999. Anaerobic co-digestion of urban and rural wastes. Renewable Energy 16, 10641069. Jenkins, S.R., Morgan, J.M., Zhang, X., 1991. Measuring the usable carbonate alkalinity of operating anaerobic digesters. Research Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation 63 (1), 2834. nborn, W., (Ed.), Nyns, E.-J., 1986. Biomethanation processes. In: Scho Microbial Degradations, vol. 8. Wiley/VCH Weinheim, Berlin, pp. 207 267. Rozzi, A., 1991. Alkalinity considerations with respect to anaerobic digesters. Mededelingen Faculteit Landbouwwetenschappen Rijksuniversiteit Gent 56 (4a), 14991514. rordning (2001:512) om deponering av avfall, http:/www.notisum.se/ Fo rnp/sls/lag/20010512.htm. Date: 5/31/02, 2001. Sievers, D.M., Brune, D.E., 1978. Carbon/nitrogen ratio and anaerobic digestion of swine waste. Transactions of the ASAE 21, 537549. van Lier, J.B., Tilche, E., Ahring, B.K., Macarie, H., Moletta, R., Dohanyos, M., 2001. New perspectives in anaerobic digestion. Water Science and Technology 43 (1), 118.