Environmental
Biotechnology |
Process Biotechnology |
Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458
| Vol. 5 No. 3, Issue of December 15, 2002 |
© 2002 by Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile
| Received November 19, 2001 / Accepted October 31, 2002 | Operation
of a slow rate anaerobic digester treating municipal secondary sludge
Cláudia Telles Benatti
Departamento
de Engenharia Química Universidade Estadual de Maringá Av. Colombo, 5790,
Bl. E46, S. 9, CEP 87020-900 Maringá, Paraná, Brasil Fax: 55 44 263 2652
Tel: 55 44 261 4772 E-mail: claudiatb@deq.uem.br Célia
Regina Granhen Tavares* Departamento
de Engenharia Química Universidade Estadual de Maringá Av. Colombo, 5790,
Bl. E46, S. 9, CEP 87020-900 Maringá, Paraná, Brasil Fax: 55 44 263 2652
Tel: 55 44 261 4746 E-mail: celia@deq.uem.br Benedito
Prado Dias Filho Departamento de Análises
Clínicas Universidade Estadual de Maringá Av. Colombo, 5790, Bl. I90,
S. 123, CEP 87020-900 Maringá, Paraná, Brasil Fax: 55 44 261 4490
Tel: 55 44 261 4429 E-mail: bpdf@uem.br Maria
da Luz Ribeiro Moitinho Departamento
de Análises Clínicas Universidade Estadual de Maringá Av. Colombo, 5790,
Bl. J90, S. 1, CEP 87020-900 Maringá, Paraná, Brasil Fax: 55 44 263 6044
Tel: 55 44 261 4796 E-mail: mlrmoitinho@uem.br
* Corresponding author
Financial support:
CAPES and State University of Maringá - Brazil. Keywords:
anaerobic digestion, enteric bacteria, enteric
protozoa, sewage sludge, stabilisation.
This study was
designed to evaluate the performance of a slow rate anaerobic digester
in treating secondary sewage sludge received from one local municipal
wastewater treatment plant. The digester was fed by secondary sewage
sludge without any previous thickening. A series of three independent
batch experiments was investigated at an operation time of 60 days.
The total solids (TS) in the influent sludge contained a percentage
of organic matter of 59, 63 and 54%, a concentration of volatile suspended
solids (VSS) of 23.7, 29.2 and 27.8 g L-1 and a chemical
oxygen demand (COD) of 51.8, 32.9 and 65.7 g L-1 for the
three experiments, respectively. The operation of anaerobic digestion
was stable, with no noticeable scum or foaming problems. The COD reduction
in each experiment reached 29, 21 and 45% in the sludge and 95, 85 and
82% in the supernatant. The microbial indicators were surveyed by sampling
the sludge throughout the digester operation and counting the number
of bacteria in the sampled sludge. Counted bacteria included the total
culturable, the total and fecal coliform groups, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
and fecal streptococci. The percentage removal of the indicator bacteria
was higher for fecal streptococci (99.9%) than for coliform bacteria
(96.3%), which in turn was higher than for P. aeruginosa (95.6%).
Parasitological analysis was also performed on multiple sludge samples
by determination of protozoa and helminth eggs. Protozoa (Eimeria
and Entamoeba), helminth eggs (Ascaris, Trichuris,
Toxocara, Hymenolepis) and mites were detected in the
influent sludge, and particularly among the helminth eggs, only Trichuris
was detected in the effluent sludge.
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