Abstract
The hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) characteristics and the fate of phosphorus (P) and anaerobic digestion (AD) performance of dewatered sewage sludge (DSS) were investigated at different hydrothermal conditions. The maximum methane yield reached 241 mL CH4/g COD when the hydrothermal conditions were 200 °C-2 h-10% (A4), and the yield was 78.28% higher than that without pretreatment (A0) and 29.62% higher than that of the initial hydrothermal conditions (A1, 140 °C-1 h-5%). Proteins, polysaccharides, and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were the main hydrothermal products of DSS. 3D-EEM analysis revealed that tyrosine, tryptophan proteins, and fulvic acids decreased after HTP, but the content of humic acid-like substances increased, and this phenomenon was more noticeable after AD. Solid-organic P was converted into liquid-P during the hydrothermal process, and nonapatite inorganic P was converted into organic P during AD. All samples achieved positive energy balance, and the energy balance of A4 was 10.50 kJ/g VS. Microbial analysis showed that the composition of the anaerobic microbial degradation community changed as the sludge organic composition was altered. Results showed that the HTP improved the anaerobic digestion of DSS.
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All the authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Luyu Wang, Jun Zhou, and Lei Gong designed the study. Qinwei Jia, Xiaofan Ma, and Yuhang Zhao participated in material preparation, data collection, and analysis. Haonan Zhang provided many valuable suggestions on the interpretation of data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Luyu Wang, and the manuscript was revised by Luyu Wang and Jun Zhou. All the authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, L., Zhou, J., Jia, Q. et al. Anaerobic digestion of hydrothermally pretreated dewatered sewage sludge: effects of process conditions on methane production and the fate of phosphorus. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 66767–66780 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26990-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26990-7