Water Treatment Plant Sludge as a Source of Clean Energy: Biogas

Abstract

Population growth also creates many essential needs, including the proper disposal of wastewater into sewage networks that will reach water treatment plants (WWTPs). In the treatment process, sludge is generated that has been used mainly as fertilizer in agriculture and in other cases is disposed of and confined, generating costs in its management for local governments. Another need of the population is the availability of energy, which is mainly obtained from fossil fuels such as petroleum and its derivatives, which is becoming increasingly scarce. In this context, the objective of the research was to evaluate the biogas production that can be obtained from the sludge of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) of the Municipality of Comas - Lima, Peru. In the research, the physicochemical and microbiological properties of the sludge were characterized and by using biodigesters, biogas composed mainly of CH4, CO2 and O2 was produced