Thermal treatment’s enhancement on high solid anaerobic digestion: effects of temperature and reaction time

The methane production rate of high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) was poor although it was a promising technology with the advantages of small reactor, low energy consumption, and less digestate. In our research before, thermal treatment was proved to enhance HSAD’s methane production rate via both batch experiments and continuous experiments of swine manure. However, the effect or investigation of thermal treatment’s temperature-time combinations was not yet reported. In this study, swine manure was firstly thermally treated in 500-mL glass bottles with 400-mL work volume at 45–65 °C for 1–4 days. HSAD experiment of 10% solid content was then set up. The VS ratio of substrate to inoculum was 1:1. Thermal treatment at 45 °C (3 days), 55 °C (1 day), and 65 °C (3 days) could obtain the highest methane production rate, which was around 40% higher. Kinetics analysis suggested that the degradation of swine manure was quite different at different temperatures. Furthermore, energy assessment indicated that “thermal treatment + HSAD” had significant advantages in improving HSAD economic feasibility, because the improved methane production rate could compensate for the extra energy utilized for thermal treatment. Heat treatment at 45 °C (4 days) was preferred when the heating equipment was limited. Heat treatment at 55 °C (1 day) was preferred when the floor space and reactor volume were restricted. Heat treatment at 65°C (3 days) was preferred when the requirement of the digestate’s sanitary condition is strict.