Effect of various pretreatments on anaerobic biodegradability and quality microbiology of waste activated sludge

 

S.E. Vigueras Carmona, G. Zafra Jiménez, M. García Rivero, M.A. Martínez Trujillo and J. Pérez Vargas

 

 

In this paper was evaluated the effect of different pretreatments on the solubilization, biodegradability and microbiological quality of waste activated sludge. Six pre-treatments were assayed: thermal, alkaline, ultrasonic, thermal-alkaline, alkaline ultrasonic, ultrasonic-alkaline. Pretreatment with that achieved the highest solubilization was ultrasonic-alkaline pretreatment with 85% and this had the highest biodegradability of 65%. Besides, we observed a reactivation of pathogens in all cases, except thermal-alkaline, which implies a decrease in their microbiological quality and biosolids do not fulfill with the classification type A. The phenomenon of reactivation of pathogens may involve a review of the classification criteria of the biosolids or the inclusion of a parameter storage time prior to final disposal, which would raise the costs of disposal.