An Investigation of Impact of Iron and Aluminium Addition on the Anaerobic Digestion Process

Abstract

In this study, the impact of iron and aluminium salts addition on anaerobic digestion process was investigated. Mixture of primary and activated sludge collected at Vilnius wastewater treatment plant in Lithuania was digested under laboratory conditions by using anaerobic digester (W8, Amfield, UK). To compare the relative digestibility of iron-dosed (Fe-dosed)
and aliuminium-iron-dosed (Al-Fe-dosed) sludge with un-dosed sludge three continuous experiments were made. Results showed that iron and aliuminium negatively impacted anaerobic digestion process by reducing the volume of biogas produced. Fe-dosed sludge produced 20-50% less biogas and Al-Fe-dosed sludge produced 30-40% less biogas in comparison to the same un-dosed sludge. VS destruction decreased during dosing of Fe or/and Al salt. Biogas composition was not measured during the experiments.