ISSN 10010742

Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol. 18, No. 4 pp. 810815, 2006 CN 1i 2629/X
Article ID: 1001-0742(2006)04-0810-06 CLC number: X705 Document code: A
Influence of temperature on performance of anaerobic digestion of
municipal solid waste
ZHANG Ji-shiu \ SUN Ke-wei', WU Man-chang2, ZHANG Lei1
(1. National Engineering Research Center of Solid Waste Resource Recovery, Kunming 650033, China. E-mail: lyzhanghua@sohu.com; 2. Faculty of
Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China)
Abstract: The influence of temperature on the performance of anaerobic reactors for treating the organic fraction of municipal solid
waste (OFMSW) was studied. Batch digestion of OFMSW was carried out for 32 d at different temperature (25% 35% 457) and
55% conditions for total solid concentrations (TS) 17% with the ratio of total organic carbon to nitrogen (C/N) being, 25:1 respec
tively, while keeping other parameters constant such as inoculum, start-up pH, reactor volume (2 L) and so on. Temperature can
influence the methanogenic bacteria activity, accordingly inhibiting the OFMSW biodgradation and stabilization efficiency.
Anaerobic reactors excelled at TS reduction, total volatile solid reduction, chemical oxygen demand reduction, increasing cumulative
biogas production, whose rate was at temperature (35T arid 55% conditions. Methane concentration in the biogas was above 65% in
four reactors. In addition, the fluctuation of temperatures resulted in the biogas production variation. The data obtained indicated that
temperature had a significant influence on anaerobic process.
Keywords: municipal solid waste; anaerobic digestion; batch processing; temperature
Introduction
From an environmental viewpoint, there is an
urgent need for appropriate management of municipal
solid waste (MSW). Nearly 1600 X 106t/a of MSW are
generated worldwide with up to 43% contributed by
Asia and Oceania and 28% contributed by North
America and the European Union (Bertolini, 2000).
Sustainable waste treatment concepts that favor waste
recycling and the recirculation of nutrients back to soil
will have the highest benefit for the environment
(Lema and Omil, 2001; Sakai et al., 1996; Braber,
1995). Sanitary landfills represent a common,
economical and environmentally acceptable method
for the disposal of solid waste. Even with
implementation of waste reduction, recycling and
transformation technologies, the disposal of residual
solid waste in landfills still remains an unavoidable
component of an integrated solid waste management
strategy (Chugh et d . , 1999).
However, MSW contains an easily biodegradable
organic fraction (OF) of up to 40%50% (Sosnowski
et d . , 2003; Yu et d . , 2002), which can result in
contaminating air, soil and water by land filling. There
are various methods used for stabilization of organic
waste, including composting and anaerobic digestion.
The composting causes quick decomposition but also
results in uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere which brings about greenhouse effect
without the potential benefit of capturing energy of the
waste. In contrast, the anaerobic digestion appears to
be a promising alternative for the treatment of organic
solid waste due to reducing the volume of the waste,
creating a stable by-product in the form of a humus,
and producing biogas with 40% 60% methane,
which can be achieved (Kayhanian, 1995). Biological
treatment of organic fraction of wastes of municipal
solid wastes (OFMSW) is competing with incineration
as the only alternative treatment since landfilling is
banned in Denmark (Hinrich et d . , 2004). However,
the application of the anaerobic digestion for the
organic solid waste treatment is still not widely spread
into practice due to the lack of appropriate treatment
system configurations and, mainly due to the longer
time required for the biostabilization. Decreasing the
biostabilization time of organic solid waste with the
utilization of inoculum had shown satisfactory results
(Lopes et a/., 2004).
Anaerobic digestion process can be developed
over different temperature ranges including: meso-
pbilic temperature of around 35% and thermophilic
temperatures in the range 5560% . Methanogenic
activity were reported by psychrophilic anaerobic
bacteria at temperatures below 15% (Kettunen and
Rintala, 1997; Vavilin et d . , 1998, 2000) and by
extremophiles at temperatures above 65%. Conven
tional anaerobic digesters operate at mesophilic or
thermophilic temperatures, or in the case of tropical
countries at ambient temperatures. In tropical
countries the control of temperature is not a common
practice and the digestion process will depend on the
changes of temperatures between the day and night
and the weather conditions. The changes of
temperature in these countries can be in the range of
510% round the clock.
Temperature plays a vital role in degrading
organic fracture of municipal solid waste by anaerobic
process (Sung and Santha, 2003), which can
significantly affect the conversion, kinetics, stability,
effluent quality and consequently the methane yield.
Foundation item: The Foundation of Committee for National Development and lnnovation(No. 2002548);'Corresponding author
No.4 Influence of temperature on performance of anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste 811
ZENG et al. (2003) studied that temperature affected
most remarkable followed by total solid (TS); the ON
ratio influence coefficient was the least in the
complete mix anaerobic digestion of municipal solid
waste. It was indicated that the anaerobic degradation
rate of organic matter increase with temperature when
psychrophilic, mesophilic and thermophilic processes
are compared. Gallert et. al. (Gallert and Winter, 1997;
Gallert et al., 1998) reported that inhibition due to
ammonia accumulation affected the mesophilic
process more than the thermophilic one. Mackie and
Bryant (1995) studied the anaerobic digestion of cattle
wastes at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures
and found that methane yield was more affected in
mesophilic digestion when the organic load was
increased and retention time reduced in a completely
mixed digester on a laboratory scale. Sa'nchez et al.
(2002) demonstrated an increase of the methane yield
when mesophilic and thermophilic reactors treating
cattle manure on a laboratory scale were compared.
The rate of organic nitrogen degradation and
phosphorus assimilation also increased with the
temperature. Bodik et al. (2000) compared various
types of anaerobic digesters (upflow anaerobic sludge
blanket (UASB), upflow anaerobic filter and
anaerobic suspended reactors), treating municipal
wastewater under psychrophilic conditions (923C).
The upflow anaerobic filter and anaerobic suspended
reactor were more effective than the UASB reactor.
The comparison of anaerobic digestion of sewage
sludge at different temperatures (20, 25 and 35C) and
retention times demonstrated that when the retention
time decreased, the organic matter removal rate
increased with temperature risen.
Temperature can influence the methanogenic
bacteria activity, accordingly inhibiting the OFMSW
degradation and stabilization efficiency. Temperature
is the most important factor to anaerobic process (Ma,
2005; Wei et al., 2004).
The purpose of this research was to verify the
influence of temperature performance on the
anaerobic treatment process of fermentable organic
fraction of municipal solid waste in batch reactors,
operating with high concentration of solid.
1 Materials and methods
The experimental system was set up and
monitored in the National Engineering Research
Center of Solid Waste Resource Recovery, located in
Kunming City in southwest of China. The experi
mental system consisted of four anaerobic batch
reactors of 2 L capacity each.
The reactors were loaded with the organic
fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW),
inoculated with the active sludge from the anaerobic
digestion pool in Kunming wastewater treatment
plant.
The waste, after being collected, was transported
to the laboratory where it was ground and
characterized physico-chemically. The operational
parameters adopted for the experimental work are
presented in Table 1.
Tablet Operational parameters of the reactors
Reactor
Parameters
L
T; C
Start-up
pH
Inoculum,
%
TS,
%
TVSa,
%
C/N
A 2 25 1 7.5 20 17 83 25
B 2 35+i 7.5 20 17 83 25
C 2 45 + 1 7.5 20 17 83 25
D 2 55 + 1 7.5 20 17 83 25
Eb 2 35 + 1 7.5 20 17 83 25
Fb 2 55+1 7.5 20 17 83 25
Notes: a. Indicatates wt.% in total solid; b. experiment of fluctuation of
temperature; TS. total solid; TVS. total volatile solid; C/N: the ratio of
total organic carbon to total nitrogen
During biodgradation processes the following
organic load factors were analyzed: total solid (TS) by
the gravimetric method after drying at 105^; total
volatile solid (TVS) as a loss of weight between 105
and 450T1 (Krzystek et al., 2001); chemical oxygen
demand (COD) by the dichromate method, total
organic carbon (TOC) (Model 183 Instruments,
China);total nitrogen by Kjeldahl (TKN ) method
volume of biogas produced by means of liquid level
displacement at a fixed time each day; methane
fraction of biogas, composition of pyrolytic and
synthesis gases by gaseous chromatography
(Chromatron GCHF 18.3, Germany); pH (digital pH
meter, China); total volatile fatty (TVFA) by the
distillation-titration method.
The performance of anaerobic reactors was
analyzed after the organic matter had been degraded
for 32 d.
The start-up pH value was adjusted to 7.5 by the
addition of Ca (OH)2in NaOH in 1:1 weight ratio in
reactors in order to make anaerobic digestion operate
successfully. Based on the obtained data, the
efficiency and results of anaerobic digestion were
testified at different temperatures (25, 35, 45 and
55T,).
2 Results and discussion
2.1 Influence of temperature on the start-up time
of anaerobic process
Degradation of substrate started almost
immediately and proceeded smoothly in the reactors
maintained at temperatures (35, 45 and 55U ). It is
evident from Table 2 that the start-up time and
aerogenous time of anaerobic digestion at 55^ was
812 ZHANG J i-shi et ai. Vol. 18
shorter than that at other temperatures. The start-up
time also indicated that biogas was ignited, namely the
content of methane in biogas accounted for more than
50% (volume basis).
Table 2 Influence
anaerobic digestion
of temperature on the start-up time of
Temperature, X 25 + 1 35 + 1 45 + 1 55+1
Reactor A B C D
Aerogenous time, d 6.5 2 0.3 0.125
Start-up time, d 10 6 5.2 2
2.2 Influence of temperature on TS, TVS, COD,
TVFA and alkalinity
The experiments performed in the four reactors at
the same initial TS content of about 17% by weight, at
temperatures 25, 35, 45 and 55X1 . The effect of
temperature on the anaerobic degradation process was
tested. The increase of the process temperature from
25 to 55U had an advantageous effect on the
reduction of organic load (Table 3). Meanwhile, TS
reduction, TVS reduction and COD reduction
increased with temperature rising.
Table 3 Operation results of the four reactors
Parameters
Reactor
COD reduction2,
%
TS reduction11,
%
TVS reduction',
%
Biogas
production,
ml/g TS
Biogas pro
duction rate,
ml/g TSdd
CIE, % TVFA, mg/L
Alkalinity,
mg/L
A 31.4 24.6 35.5 48.6 1.52 65.2 1153 2100
B 44.0 48.1 53.2 113.2 2.76 66.4 868.0 1620
C 43.1 37.7 42.6 152.2 4.76 66.6 982.0 1980
D 57.1 48.6 59.8 159.7 4.99 70.0 943.0 1820
Notes: aCOD reduction in the reactors was calculated on the basis of COD concentration in the reactors feed; bTS reduction in the reactors was
calculated on the basis of TS concentration in the reactors feed;cTVS reduction in the reactors was calculated on the basis of TVS concentration in the
reactors feed;dTSd is the total solid per day
Under the high temperature conditions anaerobic
digestion excelled at TS reduction, TVS reduction,
COD reduction, improving cumulative biogas
productions, biogas production rate and substrate
utilization efficiency. The results of this study also
demonstrated that the variation of TS, VFA, alkalinity,
pH, and biogas production with time during the batch
anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal
solid waste followed the same pattern at mesophilic
and thermophilic temperatures.
2.3 Influence of the fluctuant temperature on the
biogas production variation
Anaerobic digestion was sensitive to temperature
that fluctuated sharply, which gave rise to the
instability of digestion system and broke the balance
of concerted action of several groups of micro-
organisim, and even resulted in stopping the anaerobic
process, accordingly inhibiting the OFMSW biod
gradation. Therefore, the water-bath was adopted in
order to maintain the constant temperature of the
anaerobic process. Relative biogass production was
used for indicating the influence on the anaerobic
digestion. The experimental results of both reactor E
and F revealed that thermophilic anaerobic digestion
was more sensitive to temperature than mesophilic
anaerobic digestion (Fig. la, b). As a result of that the
fluctuant temperature the biogass production dec
reased, and even stopped. The fluctuant temperature,
however, could not bring about the irreversible
influence on the anaerobic process. Namely, the
influence of the instantaneously fluctuant temperature
on the anaerobic process was temporary. Once the
temperature resumed, the digestion efficiency came
back accordingly. The reversion of digestion effi
ciency could be prolonged on the condition that time
of fluctuant temperature was longer.
t, h
60
50
40
30 V
ht
20
10
0
Fig. 1Relative variation of biogas production for changing temperature
a. reactor E (3510X); b. reactor F (5520X1)
No.4 Influence of temperature on performance of anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste
813
2.4 Influence of temperature on biogas pro
duction
Generally, the higher temperature was, the
quicker biogas production rate was, and the shorter
digestion time was, which was nonlinear relations
between temperature and biogas production rate. The
speed limit of anaerobic process was methanogenic
phase where methanogenic bacteria had the differently
optimum temperatures. The results indicated that the
increase of temperature was in accordance with a
linear increase of biochemical velocity under the
mesophilic temperatures (3037X1), Therefore, the
optimum temperature adapting to methanogenic
bacteria was around 35C , while biogas production
and biochemical velocity taking on direct correlativity.
Thermophilic temperatures around 5 5 T! was the other
one which suited the methane-forming microo
rganisms growth, resulting in biogas increasing.
At low temperature conditions, the biogas
production from anaerobic reactors for treating
municipal solid waste was lower whose cumulative
biogas production and biogas production rate was
8757 ml and 1.52 ml/g TSd respectively. 90% of
cumulative biogas production appeared on the 27 d.
Fig.2a, b, c show that biogas yields under high
temperature were better than those under low
temperatures. Furthermore, methane concentration in
the biogas was above 65% in four reactors (reactor A,
B, C, D).
Digestion time, d Digestion time, d
T. V
Fig.2 Influence of temperature on biogas production rate(a); cumulative biogas production(b) and biogas composition(c)
The biogas production rate was slow at the low
temperature (25T1). Therefore, the digestion period
was long, which the peak of biogas production was
found on the day 18. Even though the digestion had
been for 26 d, there was a few biogas produced from
digesters. While under the mesophilic temperature
(3545X ) conditions, the peak of biogas production
appeared on the day 3. Subsequently, the cumulative
biogas production exceeded 1000 ml in a week, whose
digestion period was around 30 d. The biogas prod
uction rate was higher at thermophilic temperature
(55A ) than that at low temperature. The digestion
period was about 20 d, whose peak of biogas
production was found on the day 3. It can be
concluded that the biogas production rate increased
and reached a certain peak value in the range of
temperatures, which showed that anaerobic process
was characteristic of periodicity. Microorganism
adapted themselves to the fluctuant temperature.
These phenomena accorded with the three-phase
814 ZHANG J i-shi et al. Vol. 18
theory of anaerobic digestion.
At the low temperature condition microorganism
was lack of activity, which resulted in biodegrading
municipal solid waste slowly and prolonging the
digestion period. The activity of microorganism
increased with the raise of temperature, which biode
graded substrate quickly, so the peak of biogas
production appeared early.
The effect of anaerobic digestion at 35^ was as
much as that at 4 5 X because the optimal temperature
(35T; ) was suitable for the methanogenic bacteria
activity.
2.5 Influence of temperature on TKN content in
anaerobic process
Influence of temperature on total kjeldahl
nitrogen(TKN) content of anaerobic process was weak
at 25, 35, 45 and 55C. From Fig.3, it can be seen that
TKN content varied with digestion time. During the
digestion metaphase (about on the day 18) TKN
content decreased appreciably. TKN was decomposed
intensively into ammonia which disappeared because
of the biogas transpiration. However, during the
digestion, anaphase TKN content increased
appreciably as a result of the transpiration of carbon
dioxide and water, and the reduction of digestion. The
digested residues became smaller and smaller; and it
resulted in relatively concentrated TKN (Charest and
Beauchamp, 2002). C/N was most often used to
indicate both the stability of organic matter and the
quality of the digested substrate for its fUrther
utilization. C/N ratio of digested substrate in the range
15 17 ri was considered to be stable and high
quality compost (Molnar and Bartha, 1988). Table 4
and Fig.3 show that the composition of the digested
residues may be utilized respectively as compost or
biofertilizer.
Fig, 3Influence of temperature on TKN content in the anaerobic process
Table 4 Influence of temperature on C/N
Parameter
Reactor A Reactor B Reactor C Reactor D
Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final
C/N 25 16.6 25 12.6 25 131 25 11.9
3 Conclusions
From the results, it can be concluded that
digesters should preferably be run at temperature
(353C, 55^) with a digestion time close to 32 d for
optimum energy yield. Reactor B (at 55^) was the
best biodgradation and bioprocess conversion
efficiency among reactors, where TS reduction, TVS
reduction, COD reduction and biogas production was
48.6%, 59.8%, 57.1% and 159.7 ml/gTS respectively.
Methane concentration in the biogas was above 65%
in four reactors. Temperature affects the flow
direction and intermediate of OFMSW, consequently
affecting biogas composition, yields and so on.
The low C/N weight ratio (1517) in the
digested substrate indicated that it can be utilized as
biofertilizer or soil conditioner. However, the effluent
COD concentration indicated that it should be treated
before use for other purpose.
Further study should be required to determine the
effect of winter season temperatures on biogas
production and enhancement of gas production rates
during winter at higher temperatures provided by a
non-conventional energy input such as a solar
greenhouse.
The results indicated that temperature had a
significant influence on anaerobic process.
Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to
co-workers from National Engineering Research
Center of Solid Waste Resource Recovery of China
for their assistance in the experiments and also like to
thank Dr. Zhang Mingji from the University of Kansas
for proof reading of the manuscript.
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(Received for review September 21, 2005. Accepted December 1,2005)