Wastewater treatment & energy

production - Pragues experience

Pavel JENICEK

ICT Prague,
CZECH REPUBLIC

Transformation of pollution into

biogas in WWTP

aerobic
WWT

BM

anaerobic
stabilization

anaerobic
WW

WWT

BG

Energy from sludge

Main benefit of anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge
is production of energy in biogas.
Produced energy can cover not only the energy need
for the sludge treatment, but a substantial part of the
energy consumption of the whole treatment plant.
Combined heat and electricity production from
biogas is mostly applied in Europe (subsidized
electricity from renewable sources).

Ways to energy self-sufficiency in

municipal WWT plants
co-digestion of sludge with external organic wastes
improvement of anaerobic digestion
(minimization of energy consumption)

Interdependence of specific biogas

production and potential energy production
specific biogas
production
(L/kg VS)
300

annual biogas
production
(m3/person)
6.1

potential annual
electricity production
(kWh/person)
15.8

400

8.2

21.1

500

10.2

26.4

600

12.3

31.6

700

Annual energy
14.3 per person
consumption
at WWT 31-47 kWh
(Balmer,2000)

36.9

Ways to higher biogas production

higher amount of treated sludge
sludge pretreatment to enhance anaerobic
biodegradability
optimization of the digestion technology

Increase of treated sludge amount

Excess activated sludge
not beneficial (energy, degradability)
Primary sludge
by intensification of primary sedimentation
more pollution removed by AD
worse COD/N(P) for BNR processes

Pre-treatment techniques mainly applied

mechanical disintegration
ultrasonic treatment
thermal or chemical hydrolysis

Waste activated sludge stream is pretreated mostly,

because its degradability is low.
There are two technological options:
a) pre-treatment of total sludge flow
b) pre-treatment of partial sludge stream only

For the selection of pre-treatment method

especially investment and operational costs
(mainly energy consumption) are crucial.
Most promising technologies:
mechanical disintegration by lysate centrifuge
combining thickening of waste activated sludge and
disintegration
thermal process applied to total sludge input,
replacing digester heating

Optimization
of technological conditions of the digestion
based on the improvement of:
the homogeneity of fermentation mixture in
digesters
the way and frequency of feeding
the total solids concentration in the raw sludge
the process temperature
the process configuration - staging
the AD conditions - microaerobic AD

Many of the mentioned measures

have been gradually applied in
the Central Waste Water Treatment Plant of Prague
With the aim of
- higher capacity of digesters
- higher efficiency of digestion
- higher biogas production
- higher self-sufficiency in electricity

Central Wastewater Treatment Plant of Prague

Q - 3.5 m3/s
1 600 000 PE

Sludge treatment

Combined heat and power production

Thickening centrifuges
Dewatering centrifuges

I.stage digesters
II.stage digesters

12 digesters , 4800 m3 each

Gasholder

II. Stage
52oC

I. Stage
mixed
heated

55oC

1) Improvement of mixing efficiency

by installing a better mixing device
I.stage

Theoretical
HRT

Real HRT before

change of mixing

Real HRT after

change f mixing

11 days

8 days

10 days

100 %

72 %

91 %

2) Increase of treated sludge amount

addition of iron salts to pre-precipitation of primary sludge
50000
45000

total solids (t/yr)

40000
35000
30000

PS

25000

TES

20000

RS

15000
10000
5000
0
1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Total solids input into digesters.

PS primary sludge, TES thickened excess sludge, RS raw sludge

3) Sludge disintegration by lysate centrifuge

- improves degradability of the biological cell material,
which is difficult to degrade, breaks up floc structure and
cell walls and releases cell lysate

By anaerobic degradability tests it was proved

the increase of specific biogas production 11 31 %

4) Change of operational temperature

mesophilic (38 oC) thermophilic (55 oC)
biogas production (m3/d.tank)

25000

therm ophilic
20000

m esophilic

15000

10000

5000

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

loading rate of VS ( t /d.tank)

Loading rate of mesophilic digesters:

thermophilic digesters:

13.3
20.7

VS [ t/d.tank]
VS [ t/d.tank]

Operational parameters of digesters

Specific loading rate of
mesophilic digesters:
thermophilic digesters:

2,8 kg /m3.d VS
4,3 kg /m3.d VS

Specific biogas production per volatile solids added

Thermophilic

Mesophilic

Operational
temperature

55 oC

38 oC

(m3/kg)

0.71

0.54

(Nm3/kg)

0.61

0.48

Benefits of intensification measures

higher stability of the process

higher biogas production
improvement of the energy balance of the WWTP
high resistance against foaming
less problems with odor
higher efficiency of pathogens destroying

Daily course of biogas production (------) and

volatile solids input () at CWWTP

Increase of
sludge amount

Improved digestion

The increase of specific biogas production

as a consequence of the intensification measures

The increase of specific biogas production

as a consequence of the intensification measures

Coverage of electricity requirements by biogas

in Prague's central wastewater treatment plant
80
70
60

(%) 50
40
30
20
10
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Conclusions I
Increasing temperature to thermophilic level and
improvement of mixing efficiency have led to a
better utilization of the existing facilities, more
efficient destroying pathogens and avoided digester
overloading and foaming.
The destruction of activated sludge bacteria cells
during the thickening increased the portion of more
easily degradable constituents of the sludge.
The overall higher process efficiency is associated
with the higher biogas production and improvement
of the energy balance of the process.

Conclusions II
Energy self-sufficiency of municipal wastewater
treatment plant can be achieved due to the advanced
anaerobic digestion of the sludge produced during
the treatment process.
The necessary condition for energy balance
improvement is optimization of the total energy
consumption at the wastewater treatment plant.

Wastewater treatment & energy

production - Pragues experience

Thank you
for your attention.

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