Optimising the anaerobic digestion process through improved understanding of fundamental operational parameters

STREAM: Industrial Doctorate Centre for the Water Sector

Imperial College London

Anaerobic
digestion is the principal method of treatment for sewage sludge. The process
is generally robust and provides several advantages for the treatment of
biodegradable waste, in particular, stabilising the residual fraction and producing
biogas for renewable energy. However, process management is based largely on
operational experience and a greater understanding of scientific principles to
optimise energy recovery is required. Through experimental and statistical
approaches, this project will quantify the critical and fundamental parameters
controlling the process, to maximise treatment capacities and biogas production,
leading to development of an operational model for full scale application at
sludge treatment centres.