Date of Award:

5-2016

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Michael J. McFarland

Committee

Michael J. McFarland

Committee

Darwin L. Sorensen

Committee

Conly L. Hansen

Committee

David K. Stevens

Committee

Gilberto E. Urroz

Committee

Shaun Dustin

Abstract

The anaerobic digestion process is used to treat and convert waste organic matter to biogas (principally methane and carbon dioxide) through biological, chemical and physical reactions. The biogas can be used as a source of energy recovery. In order to increase the biogas production rate, two different kinds of waste (municipal wastewater treatment sludge and bakery waste) were mixed together to enhance the anaerobic process and increase the biogas production in pilot scale reactors. The process succeeded in increasing biogas production and at the same time kept the process of treatment effective when high rates of organics were fed to the reactor.

This process can provide communities with both economic and environmental benefits. The anaerobic process converted the large quantity of waste to biogas that can be used as a fuel for heating.

In this research an existing mathematical model was modified in order to easily predict the performance of the process. This modified model can be used to determine the benefits of the process and to predict the point of failure of the treatment process as increasing amounts of the wastes reach concentrations that cannot be handled by the anaerobic microorganisms. The model is a useful tool to reduce the uncertainty regarding the operation of the process.

Checksum

fb135852e02ab3bf48c51fc56fe54fc8

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .