Effect of Ecuadorian natural zeolite on the performance of anaerobic digestion of swine waste in semicontinuous regime.

This study explores the potential of zeolite as an amendment to mitigate ammonium inhibition in the anaerobic digestion of swine waste. Two 50 L reactors, one with and one without zeolite amendment were operated at an OLR of 3.0 g VS L-1d-1 for 130 days, and fed with swine waste from a full-scale pig farm. Under these conditions, zeolite doses of 4 g L-1 allowed total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations to be kept below 1000 mgNH3-N L-1. The zeolite-amended reactor not only showed an average increase of 8% in methane production under stable conditions but also exhibited 34% reduction in H2S concentrations in the biogas, compared to the reactor without zeolite. The community of archaea originating from the inoculum was conserved in the reactor with zeolite amendment, particularly the acetoclastic methanogens of the genus Methanosaeta. On the other hand, in the reactor without zeolite addition, the microbial community went from being dominated by the acetoclastic methanogen Methanosaeta to having a high relative abundance of hydrogenotrophic methanogens. The zeolite addition also favoured the reactor stability, prevented foaming, and produced an enriched natural zeolite with N, P and K. However, additional studies on the potential of enriched zeolite as a fertilizer are required, which could make the use of zeolite in Anaerobic Digestion of swine waste not only energetically favourable but also economically feasible.

Natural Ecuadorian zeolite: An effective ammonia adsorbent to enhance methane production from swine waste.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine waste allows obtaining renewable energy, biofertilizer and the reduction of environmental impacts. However, the low C:N ratio of pig manure generates high concentrations of ammonia nitrogen in the digestion process, reducing methane production. Zeolite is an effective ammonia adsorbent; thus, in this research the ammonia adsorption capacity of natural Ecuadorian zeolite was studied under different operating conditions. Subsequently, its effect on methane production from swine waste was evaluated using three doses of zeolite, 1.0, 4.0 and 8.0 g, in 1 L batch bioreactors. The results showed that the Ecuadorian natural zeolite has an adsorption capacity of around 19 mgNH3-N gZ-1 when using ammonium chloride solution and, an adsorption capacity between 37 and 65 mgNH3-N gZ-1 using swine waste. On the other hand, the addition of zeolite had a significant effect on methane production (p < 0.01). The zeolite doses that provided the highest methane production were 4.0 and 8.0 g L-1, which led to values of 0.375 and 0.365 Nm3CH4 kgVS-1, compared to the values of 0.350 and 0.343 Nm3CH4 kgVS-1 that were obtained for the treatments without addition of zeolite and using a dose of 1.0 g L-1, respectively. Addition of natural Ecuadorian zeolite meant not only a significant increase on methane production in the AD of swine waste, but also a better quality of the biogas with higher percentages of methane and lower concentrations of H2S.

Production of volatile fatty acids from wastewater screenings using a leach-bed reactor.

Screenings recovered from the inlet works of wastewater treatment plants were digested without pre-treatment or dilution using a lab-scale, leach-bed reactor. Variations in recirculation ratio of the leachate of 4 and 8 l/lreactor/day and pH values of 5 and 6 were evaluated in order to determine the optimal operating conditions for maximum total volatile fatty acids (VFA) production. By increasing the recirculation ratio of the leachate from 4 to 8 l/lreactor/day it was possible to increase VFA production (11%) and soluble COD (17%) and thus generate up to 264 g VFA/kg-dry screenings. These VFA were predominantly acetic acid with some propionic and butyric acid. The optimum pH for VFA production was 6.0, when the methanogenic phase was inhibited. Below pH 5.0, acid-producing fermentation was inhibited and some alcohols were produced. Ammonia release during the hydrolysis of screenings provided adequate alkalinity; consequently, a digestion process without pH adjustment could be recommended. The leach-bed reactor was able to achieve rapid rates of screenings degradation with the production of valuable end-products that will reduce the carbon footprint associated with current screenings disposal techniques.