Impact of solid content on hydrothermal pretreatment of municipal sludge prior to fermentation and anaerobic digestion

This study investigated the impact of the solid sludge content concentrations (SC) on hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) before fermentation and anaerobic digestion. Five different SC of 3.5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, and 16% were investigated in two different scenarios. The first scenario entailed using only the pretreated samples as substrates, whereas in scenario two, the substrates included pretreated samples combined with the supernatant. Results revealed that the highest overall pCOD solubilization (considering HTP and fermentation) of 64% was achieved for the sample with 12% SC combined with supernatant. The maximum volatile fatty acids production of 2.8 g COD/L occurred with 10% SC without supernatant. The maximum methane yield of 291 mL CH4/g VSS added was attained at 7% SC without supernatant. Furthermore, the results indicated that increasing the SC beyond 7% in scenario 1 and 10% in scenario two led to a decrease in methane yield. Additionally, optimizing for all desired endpoints may be difficult, and there are limits on the increase in SC concerning methane production.