Name: Naveenrajah Tharmarajah
Nationality: Malaysia
Qualification: BENG. Chemical Engineering & MSC. Renewable Energy
Contact Number: +6012-3788200
Contact Email: naveenrajah1998@gmail.com
Topic: Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Textile Sludge with Organic Waste
Introduction
The formation of biogas during the process of anaerobic digestion appears to be a suitable option
for renewable energy technology. A variety of metabolic interactions between various
microorganism types lead to anaerobic digestion. It goes through four processes: hydrolysis,
acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. According to (Perrot & Subiantoro, 2018), the
research found that most attractive waste management in New Zealand is anaerobic digestion due
to environmentally friendly and economical feasible. Furthermore, it is consistent with New
Zealand waste management strategy which New Zealand encounters organic waste as the highest
waste existence (30.7%) which is suitable for anaerobic digestion. As a drawback, biogas
production from anaerobic digestion, anaerobic co-digestion is recommended to improve the
production of biogas. The simultaneous treatment of two or more organic biodegradable waste
streams by anaerobic digestion is known as anaerobic co-digestion. Due to the predicted toxicity,
lower pH (6.6), and low C:N ratio (12.2), recovering energy and nutrients from textile industry
sludge by anaerobic digestion is difficult (Kumar, Samuchiwal, & Malik, 2020). An alternative to
obtaining a better biogas yield is to co-digest textile waste with other organic residues such as food
waste, cow manure and fat, oil and grease (FOG) due to high carbon content, adequate nutritional
supply, the dilution of toxic compounds, and an increase of the biodegradable organic matter load.
Matter of consideration should be taken which the range of C:N ratio should be in range of 20-30
to optimize biogas yield. These organic wastes can also be a ready source of inoculum, providing
microorganisms to accelerate the hydrolysis of organic compounds and biogas production and,
consequently, reducing the residence time of the substrate in the biodigester and the time of
operation. There is a lack of systematic studies on the anaerobic digestion of textile sludge. To
improvise the anaerobic co-digestion, processes can be performed to further enhance the
concentrations of hydrogen. Hydrogen is cleaner gas compared with methane which also can
generate heat, electricity and provided transportation fuel for vehicle (Hajizadeh, MohamadiBaghmolaei, Cata Saady, & Zendehboudi, 2022).
Objectives:
1. Improve the potential co-substrate by demonstrating the stable co-digestion of textile sludge
with new potential organic waste
2. Analyze the potential consequences of using textile sludge to digest both new and old substrates
and determine the ideal mixing and loading rates.
3. Compare the experimental and simulation results of biogas and hydrogen production via
anaerobic co-digestion
4. Evaluate the economic feasibility of hydrogen production technology in conjunction with
anaerobic co-digestion.
Problem Statement:
1. Lack of biogas production from anaerobic digestion of textile sludge.
2. Immature technology for hydrogen production from anaerobic digestion
Methodology
Step 1. Collection and characterization of substrate and co-substrate
-Textile sludge with animal manure/food waste/ FOG
Step 2. Experimental design
a. Anaerobic co-digestion process
- Hydrolysis, Acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis (Inoculum and incubation at 3040℃ requirement-mesophilic digestion)
b. Dry methane reforming process (heterogenous catalyst requirement)
c. Water Gas Shift (heterogenous catalyst requirement)
d. Hydrogen separation (membrane separator)
Step 3. Biogas characterization
-volatile solids (VS), pH Level, sulphate, ammonia, temperature, C/N ratio, nutrients, total solid
content (TS), hydraulic retention time, Carbon Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen
Demand (BOD) and inoculum-to-substrate ratio (ISR).
-Gas chromatography to determine methane and hydrogen yield
Step 4. Simulation Modelling
- Aspen Hysys
Step 5. Statistical analysis
-ANOVA and Origin
Step 6. Economical analysis
- Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH)
- Capital Cost
Sample Schematics of Experimental Arrangement
Reference
Hajizadeh, A., Mohamadi-Baghmolaei, M., Cata Saady, N. M., & Zendehboudi, S. (2022).
Hydrogen production from biomass through integration of anaerobic digestion and biogas
dry reforming. Applied Energy, 309. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118442
Kumar, P., Samuchiwal, S., & Malik, A. (2020). Anaerobic digestion of textile industries wastes
for biogas production. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 10(3), 715-724.
doi:10.1007/s13399-020-00601-8
Perrot, J.-F., & Subiantoro, A. (2018). Municipal Waste Management Strategy Review and Wasteto-Energy Potentials in New Zealand. Sustainability, 10(9). doi:10.3390/su10093114