Jesus Andres Cacho Rivero

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Jesus Andres Cacho Rivero Born in Laredo
(Cantabria) Spain M.S and B.S. Chemistry.
University of Valladolid. Spain PhD Student since
2000 in Dr. Suidan Research Group Department of
Civil Environmental Engineering
Anaerobic Digestion of Excess Municipal Sludge.
Enhancement of Solids Destruction
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• Production of excess municipal sludge is
  increasing with increases in population,
  industrial activity, and the level of treatment.
  There is an urgent need to develop technology
  that permit for safe and efficient disposal of
  this sludge.
• Anaerobic digestion is an environmentally
  friendly and economically sustainable technology
  for the disposal of excess municipal sludge.
  This technology, however, suffers from the fact
  that a maximum of only 50 of the organic solids
  are destroyed during treatment.
• The objective of this study, which is being
  performed in the Civil and Environmental
  Engineering Department of University of
  Cincinnati, is two-fold
• Perform fundamental research to determine the
  effect of the sludge retention time and the
  hydrodynamics on digestion.
• Select and optimize a co-treatment system to
  enhance the performance of solid destruction
  during the anaerobic digestion process.

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Experimental Set-Up
Twelve well mixed lab-scale anaerobic reactors
set up in a constant temperature (37C) room
Versatility to conduct simultaneous parametric
studies
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Theoretical Studies

• Solids Removal as a function of Sludge Retention
  Time (SRT)
• Four different retention times (5, 10, 20 and 40
  days) were evaluated in triplicates. The solids
  removal obtained was modeled as a function of the
  SRT Model
• Evaluate the benefit of reactor staging
• Multiple stage configurations were compared to
  single stage reactors having the same SRT.
  Staging resulted in increases in solids removal
  ranging from 2 to 5 .

Proposal Treatments Studies

• Thermal, Oxidative and Thermo-oxidative treatment
  of excess municipal sludge
• The use of low temperature (below 100C) and
  hydrogen peroxide was evaluated as pretreatment
  and co-treatment options of anaerobic digestion
  Results

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Model
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Summary of Results