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Anaerobic Digestion of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

  • Chapter
Management of Microbial Resources in the Environment

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is the waste generated from residential sources, such as households, and from institutional and commercial sources such as offices, schools, hotels and other sources. The main components of MSW are food, garden waste, paper, board, plastic, textile, metal, and glass waste. The composition of MSW varies depending on a range of factors; the household waste reflects population density and economic prosperity, seasonality, housing standards and the presence of waste minimization initiatives. The MSW consists of a high proportion of organic fraction resulting from scraps, food residues, paper and garden waste. The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) represents 70% of the waste composition with moisture content around 85–90%.

The uncontrolled decomposition of OFMSW can contribute to global warming and result in large-scale contamination of soil, water, and air. Macias-Corral et al. (Bioresour Technol 99:8288–8293, 2008) indicated that the decomposition of one metric ton of OFMSW can potentially release 50–110 m3 of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 90–140 m3 of methane (CH4). In addition, the high levels of moisture content make this type of waste ineffectual for incineration. Therefore, the anaerobic digestion of OFMSW can be an environmentally sustainable technology to reduce the harmful effects of MSW, reduce the volume and toxicity of this waste, in addition to many advantages including potential for energy recovery, production of an end-product suitable for soil conditioning, and decreased dependency on landfills.

Anaerobic biodegradation of the organic material proceeds in the absence of oxygen and presence of anaerobic microorganisms. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is an engineered biological process by which complex organic materials are first hydrolyzed and fermented by acid bacteria into volatile fatty acids that are consumed by methanogenic bacteria and converted into biogas afterwards. The biogas generated can be used as a renewable source of energy, and the solid compost material can be used as soil fertilizer. For all these advantages, the AD technology has been supported by legislation in many countries around the world and encouraged as sustainable solid waste management option.

This chapter presents in depth the AD technology to determine its economic and environmental competitiveness, as one of the options for processing the biodegradable organic materials in MSW. The chapter also discusses the stages of the digestion of the waste such as; the pretreatment, the separation processes, waste digestion, gas recovery and residue treatment. The AD operating parameters are illustrated, such as – but not limited to –: waste composition, temperature, organic content, residence time, pH, carbon/nitrogen ratio, and compost quality.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Anaerobic Digestion

EIONET:

European Environmental Information and Observation Network

EU:

European Union

HRT:

Hydraulic Retention Time (days)

LCA:

Life Cycle Assessment

MSW:

Municipal Solid Waste

OFMSW:

Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

RCRA:

Resource Conversion and Recovery Act

SRT:

Solid Retention Time (days)

UASB:

Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed

USEPA:

United States Environmental Protection Agency

UNESCAP:

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

VFA:

Volatile Fatty Acids

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water and Environmental Engineering Department, School of Natural Resources Engineering, German Jordanian University, 35247, Amman, 11180, Jordan

    Muna Albanna

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  1. Muna Albanna
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Correspondence to Muna Albanna .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Microbiology Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Abdul Malik (Visiting Professor/Scientist) (Visiting Professor/Scientist)

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Abdul Malik (Visiting Professor/Scientist) & Elisabeth Grohmann (Visiting Professor/Scientist) & 

  3. Center of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Madalena Alves

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Albanna, M. (2013). Anaerobic Digestion of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste. In: Malik, A., Grohmann, E., Alves, M. (eds) Management of Microbial Resources in the Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5931-2_12

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