Single-stage anaerobic codigestion for mixture wastes of simulated Korean food waste and waste activated sludge

Korean food waste was treated with a single-stage anaerobic codigester (SSAD) using waste activated sludge (WAS) generated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The stability and performance of the system was analyzed. The C/N ratio was improved with increasing food waste fraction of feed mixture. The pH, alkalinity, and free ammonia nitrogen concentration were the parameters used to evaluate the digester’s stability. The experimentally determined values of the parameters indicated that there were no methane inhibitions in the digester. Digester performance was determined by measuring the total chemical oxygen demand TCOD), volate solids (VS) removal, methane content in biogas, methane production rate (MPR), and specific methane productivity. Methane content in biogas and MPR were significantly dependent on hydraulic retention time (HRT) and ratio of food waste to WAS. The methane content in biogas decreased at shorter HRT or higher organic loading rate (OLR) with increased food waste fraction. Concerning the performance of the codigester, the optimum operating condition of the SSAD was found to be at an HRT of 10 d with a feed mixture ratio of 50% food waste and 50% WAS. A TCOD removal efficiency of 53.6% and a VS removal efficiency of 53.7% were obtained at an OLR of 5.96 kg of TCOD/(m3·d) and 3.14 kg of VS/(m3·d), respectively. A maximum MPR of 1.15 m3 CH4/(m3·d) and an SMP of 0.37 m3 CH4/kg of VSfeed were obtained at an HRT of 10 d with a methane content of 63%.