This thesis investigated the effect of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) treatment on three different waste sludge (WS) samples sourced from three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), using two rotary generators of hydrodynamic cavitation (RGHC), with the aim of improving methane production in the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The first system, a pinned disc RGHC (PD-RGHC), was tested using five different rotor-stator configurations on a complex WS mixture (TS 4.7 %) comprising pre-thickened primary sludge and waste activated sludge (WAS), with added fat, oil, and grease, septic sludge from smaller WWTPs, and hospital water. The same five PD-RGHC configurations were then applied to a more uniform WAS sample (TS 0.7 %) from Central WWTP Ljubljana. Lastly, new optimised PD-RGHC (OPD-RGHC) was evaluated on WAS from Central WWTP Domžale-Kamnik at selected cavitation passes (Np) of 5, 15, 30 and 100. Physicochemical analyses revealed an increase in several soluble components following HC treatment, with consistent rises in sCOD and sTOC across all three experiments. Capillary suction time (CST) tests indicated worsened filterability after treatment, while interfacial tension (IFT) increased with PD-RGHC treatment and decreased with OPD-RGHC. Both RGHC systems effectively reduced WS particle size. UV-Vis spectral analysis showed changes in dissolved organic matter, including shifts in aromaticity, humification, and molecular size, while FTIR revealed microbial cell wall damage. Univariate Pearson’s (r) and Spearman’s (ρ) correlation analysis suggested that hydrodynamic forces primarily drove microbial lysis, with a possible synergistic contribution from radicals involved in the oxidation of organic matter. Rheological measurements showed reduced apparent viscosity at low shear stresses and alterations in viscoelastic properties. Although WS disintegration was successful in all cases, increased methane production was observed only with OPD-RGHC treatment, achieving improvements of 11.8, 17.4, and 26.3 % at Np = 15, 30, and 100, respectively. These findings demonstrate that OPD-RGHC is a promising technology for enhancing WAS disintegration and AD performance and holds strong potential for scale-up.
|