Kanellos, G.; Tremouli, A.; Arvanitakis, G.; Lyberatos, G. Computational Analysis of the Kinetic Processes of Microbial Electrolysis Cell-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion Using the ADM1. Water2023, 15, 3939.
Kanellos, G.; Tremouli, A.; Arvanitakis, G.; Lyberatos, G. Computational Analysis of the Kinetic Processes of Microbial Electrolysis Cell-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion Using the ADM1. Water 2023, 15, 3939.
Kanellos, G.; Tremouli, A.; Arvanitakis, G.; Lyberatos, G. Computational Analysis of the Kinetic Processes of Microbial Electrolysis Cell-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion Using the ADM1. Water2023, 15, 3939.
Kanellos, G.; Tremouli, A.; Arvanitakis, G.; Lyberatos, G. Computational Analysis of the Kinetic Processes of Microbial Electrolysis Cell-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion Using the ADM1. Water 2023, 15, 3939.
Abstract
This study deals with the computational analysis of the kinetic processes of a microbial electrolysis cell assisted-anaerobic digestion (MEC-AD) treating raw-waste activated sludge (WAS), comparatively with a conventional AD, as well as the effect of the Organic Loading Rate (OLR) on the system’s performance. The aim was to derive a single kinetic and mathematical model for the study of the MEC-AD, using the ADM1 framework, which can be utilized to extract the effect of an applied potential on the kinetics of AD. The experimental data were obtained from the long-term, continuous operation of two identical reactors (an AD and a MEC-AD), which were operated at different OLRs (1.1, 1.7 and 2.9 gCOD/(L*d)). The results showed that the MEC-AD yielded improved biomass yields, substrate consumption kinetics and 1st order disintegration kinetics, with a predominant contribution to disintegration of complex particulates, comparatively with the AD. Moreover, it enabled operation at higher OLRs (achieving the highest divergence from the AD at the OLR of 4.14 gCOD/(L*d)), therefore accelerating sludge treatment, as well as an improved performance at an increased solids retention time (SRT). These findings can serve as a quantitative guide for the effects of the operating parameters on the raw-WAS-fed MEC-AD performance.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
