Influence of Sewage Sludge and Leachate on Biochemical Methane Potential of Waste Biomass

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Abstract

In this study, biochemical methane potential assays of mixed municipal solid wastes and other types of waste such as, cellulosic, vegetable and food wastes were performed over 60 days with two different volatile solid amendments, namely domestic sewage sludge and leachate. With sewage sludge, cumulative methane (CH₄) production from cellulose, food and vegetable wastes and municipal solid wastes varied from 0.23-1.51, 0.25-0.92, 0.14-0.55 and 0.07-0.21 L/g volatile solids, respectively. With leachate, the corresponding cumulative CH₄ generations were 0.93-3.50, 0.97-1.81, 0.24-1.05 and 0.10-0.57 L/g VS, respectively. The individual cumulative CH₄ production data fitted very well with the modified Gompertz equation and maximum methane production rates, methane production potential and lag phase time were estimated using the SigmaPlot® 11 software and this was validated by the algorithms of the Grofit software. Results showed that cumulative methane production with leachate were twice as high as with sewage slsudge. The cumulative CH₄ production after 60 days varied in the order cellulose wastes>food wastes>vegetable wastes> municipal solid wastes.