Comparison of Three Sludge Cuts for Biomethanepotential from Selected Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater has shown sufficient methane production potential for use as an energy source. Three sludge samples (two primary and one secondary) that were collected from a municipal wastewater treatment plant were tested for their production potential of biogas or methane. Yield expressed as a ratio of biogas or methane (normal litres (LN)) and volatile suspended solids in the sample was used as a measure of performance. Two experiments were carried-out in which, the three sludges were digested with and without an inoculum. The secondary sludge was superior to the other two with an accumulated average methane yield of 420.43 to 528.85 L_NCH₄/kgODM for original and inoculated samples, respectively. The non- inoculated biomethane production potential for sieve 1 and sieve 2 sludge samples were determined to be 146.96 and 234.71 L_NCH₄/kgODMl, whereas, for inoculated sieve1 and 2, values of 157.55 and 326.04 L_NCH₄/kgODM were measured. The secondary sludge is to be used in future research in optimizing the designed bioreactor due to its superior performance.