Study on the influence of the characteristics of substrates in biogas production

The objective of the study is to determine the characteristics of three different substrates-sewage sludge from waste water treatment plants, waste grown algae and the waste paper from the waste bins - and the influence of these characteristics on biogas production when they are added in a batch reactor under the anaerobic digestion. Integration of sewage sludge with waste paper and algae in anaerobic co-digestion has a great advantage on the treatment of sludge from Municipal Wastewater Treatment plants (WWTP). The study assess the bio methane potential and kinetics of biodegradability of the substrates before they are added for a co digestion. The bio-methane potential study shows that the three substrates are biodegradable and can complement each other if used in co-digestion. From the degradation study it is found that degradation kinetics of the sludge is almost 50% faster than the waste paper and 33% faster than the algae.