Anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions

In this study, thermal analysis in differential scanning calorimetry associated to Fourier self-deconvolution (FSD) of infrared spectra was applied to the study of anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of domestic solid waste and sewage sludge mixed in 1:1 ratio under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Curves showed an exothermic peak in the high-temperature range and a number of endothermic and/or exothermic peaks in the low- and medium-temperature range. The high-temperature exotherm was a common feature on curves of all samples. Digestates evidenced a shift of this exotherm toward higher temperature with respect to both substrates and feed-in materials as a result of a greater chemical complexity attained by organic matter (OM) during the process. A further shift toward higher temperature values was observed on digestates obtained under thermophilic conditions with respect to digestates obtained under mesophilic conditions. This result was associated to a higher recalcitrance of digestates produced under more drastic conditions. Based on evidence obtained by FSD spectra, the exotherm in the medium-temperature range was assigned to combustion of carbohydrates and to loss of aliphatic structures and carboxylic groups. Enthalpy data associated to the high-temperature exotherm were used to differentiate feed-in materials and their corresponding digestates and to distinguish digestates obtained under different operative conditions.