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The Role of Anaerobic Digestion in Wastewater Management
Citation:
Vutai, V., Cissy Ma, AND M. Lu. The Role of Anaerobic Digestion in Wastewater Management. EM Magazine. Air and Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, , 12-16, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
This study is to explore the concept of resource recovery in wastewater treatment plant. The case studies of anaerobic digestion showed a comparison of biogas generation and potential benefits.
Description:
Wastewater systems potentially contribute significant negative impacts not only on regional water bodies, but also on global energy, climate, and sustainability. Energy recovery from wastewater is one way to reduce the negative impacts and achieve greater resource recovery. The most common form of energy recovery is anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is the biological degradation of organic matters in the absence of oxygen and converts the chemical energy in organic carbon to biogas. Typically, anaerobic digestion has been used for wastewater sludge treatment and reduction, agricultural manure management, and food waste management. To accomplish more sustainable resource recovery and reduce overall energy footprint, wastewater can be regarded as renewable resource to convert embedded chemical energy to biogas. And as a result, anaerobic digestion can play a significant role in energy recovery from wastewater.
