Enhancement of digestion through microwave pretreatment

微波预处理剩余活性污泥以促进其厌氧消化最近和当前的工作集中在微波（MW）对废水处理过程中产生的生物固体进行预处理，使其更适合厌氧消化，从而减少最终在陆地上处置或焚烧的残余固体的数量。建议的工作是以前工作的延续，其基础是已证明的改进，MW预处理温度可达100 oC。在目前的研究中，将研究更高的温度和更广泛的预处理条件，以最大限度地提高预处理后的消化效率（消化速度和最终消化量）。将进行更多的基础研究，以了解微波诱导的转化，以开发其潜在的消化改善。该技术的好处包括过程操作的稳定性，更大的病原体减少，更高的沼气（甲烷）产量，更低的固体产量，并改善污泥脱水性能，从而使该技术更经济，更容易操作，对环境的危害较小。沼气能够在废水处理厂从厌氧消化中捕获。通过改进固体废物的消化，减少了温室气体排放，并减少了对自然沃茨的污染。厌氧消化在世界各地普遍使用。

Microwave Pretreatment of Waste Activated Sludge to Enhance Its Anaerobic DigestionRecent and current work has focused on microwave (MW) pretreatment of biological solids produced in wastewater treatment processes to render them more amenable to anaerobic digestion which reduces the quantity of residual solids for ultimate disposal on the land or for incineration.The work proposed is a continuation of the previous work based on the demonstrated improvements that were achieved with MW pretreatment temperatures up to 100oC. Higher temperatures and a wider variety of pretreatment conditions will be studied in the current research to maximize the digestion efficiency (both the rate of digestion and the ultimate amount of digestion that can be achieved) after pretreatment. More basic research will be conducted to understand MW induced transformations to exploit their potential for digestion improvement.The benefits of the technology include stability of process operation, greater pathogen reduction, higher biogas (methane) yield, lower solids production, and improved sludge dewaterability resulting in a technology that is more economical, easier to operate, and less harmful to the environment. Biogas is able to be captured from anaerobic digestion at a wastewater treatment plant. Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and reduction of contamination of natural waters occurs through improved digestion of waste solids. Anaerobic digestion is commonly used around the world.