Evaluation of various carbon cloth as biomass support media for bioaugmentation of anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Kumar, Vikas
issued: 2023-05-12T18:21:31Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Municipal wastewater sludge disposal is a growing global environmental issue due to high concentrations organic pollutants and pathogens. Anaerobic digestion is a widely adopted process for treating municipal sludge and producing biogas as renewable energy. However, the complex structure of sludge and the difficulties retaining slow-growing archaea in bioreactors, leads to low organic conversion efficiency and lower biogas yield in anaerobic digestion. To address these issues, the present research develops a side-stream incubator reactor system that grows a dense population of syntrophic bacteria and archaea, with attention to microbial syntrophy. The research is divided into three main parts: developing a high-performance activated carbon cloth that retains beneficial cultures; a novel incubator using carbon cloth; and an effective bioaugmentation strategy to transfer microbial cultures from the incubator to a Control reactor (conventional digester, baseline scenario). To synthesize high-performance activated carbon cloth, two methods were implemented: a two-step activation process (acid pretreatment and air calcination at 525 ± 25°C), and metal-impregnation of carbon cloth that incorporated nickel and/or iron nanometals. Although metal impregnation enhanced the electrical conductivity however reduced the surface area for microbial attachment. The activated carbon cloth had a 435-times larger pore size area than the commercial carbon cloth, leading to improved microbial colonization and methane production rates in preliminary biochemical methane potential assays. Next, the activated carbon cloth braided ropes were used in a continuous-flow incubator reactor, with a packing density of 1.48 g activated carbon cloth/g volatile solids of substrate, determined from the preliminary assays. The developed incubator system produced a continuous supply of active microbial culture for bioaugmentation of the Control for process improvement. Finally, two bioaugmentation strateg…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/84643
note: EVALUATION OF VARIOUS CARBON CLOTH AS BIOMASS SUPPORT MEDIA FOR BIOAUGMENTATION OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF MUNICIPAL SLUDGE by Vikas Kumar M. S. (by Research) Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, 2017 B. Tech (Honours) Biochemical Engineering, Kumaon Engineering College, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Civil Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) May 2023 © Vikas Kumar, 2023 ii The following individuals certify that they have read and recommended to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance a dissertation entitled: EVALUATION OF VARIOUS CARBON CLOTH AS BIOMASS SUPPORT MEDIA FOR BIOAUGMENTATION OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF MUNICIPAL SLUDGE submitted by Vikas Kumar in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Cigdem Eskicioglu, School of Engineering Supervisor, Professor Dr. Nicolas Peleato, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member, Assistant Professor Dr. Deborah Roberts, University of Northern British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member, Professor Dr. Miranda Hart, Department of Biology University Examiner, Professor Dr. Chul Park, University of Massachusetts Amherst External Examiner, Professor iii Abstract Municipal wastewater sludge disposal is a growing global environmental issue due to high concentrations organic pollutants and pathogens. Anaerobic digestion is a widely adopted process for treating municipal sludge and producing biogas as renewable energy. However, the complex structure of sludge and the difficulties retaining slow-growing archaea in bioreactors, leads to low organic conversion efficiency and lower biogas yield in anaerobic digestion. To address these issues, the present research develops a side-stream incubator reactor system that grows a dense population of syntrophic bacteria and archaea, with attention to microbial syntrophy. The research is divide…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0432245
language: eng
degree discipline: Civil Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Eskicioglu, Cigdem
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84643