Generation of Electricity form household sewage

The process chosen for the production of electricity from household sewage is
the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge obtained from local wastewater
treatment plants, and combustion of the Biogas produced.
Anaerobic Digestion of sewage sludge to produce methane
The specific anaerobic digestion process selected is a continually fed, dry (1550% solids), single stage (hydrolysis, acetogenic and methanogenic processes
occur in the same vessel) and mesophillic (temperature range of 32-45C inside
the vessel) process (Converi et al., 1999).
The process starts where the sludge feed is sent to a shredder unit to ensure that
the sludge is of consistent size and mixture. From the shredder the sludge is sent
to an input buffer which is a holding vessel that ensures consistent flow of sludge
into the pasteurisers. The pasteuriser cycle consists of three pasteuriser unit, at
any one time one unit is emptying into the 2800 m 2 digester, one is heating and
the other is being filled, this configuration ensures a continuous flow into the
digester. The digester is constantly stirred and maintained at a temperature of
35C, where the mesophyllic bacteria convert the biomass into the digestate(byproduct) and biogas.
Despite the continual feed of sludge into the digester and the continuous effluent
of biogas and digestate, the average retention time in the digester is 20 days.
The biogas is sent to a treatment unit to remove impurities such as H 2S and H2O
amongst others, after which it is held in a biogas vessel in order to control the
amount of gas sent to the gas engine. The digestate is sent to treatment where it
is dewatered and prepared for production of fertilizer or soil conditioner.
The gas engine produces electricity some of which is directly consumed by the
treatment plant itself, and the excess is sent into the national electricity grid.
The gas engine produces a considerable amount of heat which is utilized through
heat exchangers to maintain the digester temperature and the pasteuriser units.
The utilization of the heat produced by the gas engine ensures that the thermal
recovery of the plant is at a maximum and reduces the electrical utility
consumption, overall increasing the efficiency of the plant.
The proposed throughput of the plant is 10 000 tons/annum, using a 370 kW gas
engine to produce 2800 mWh/annum electricity and 3230 mWh/annum of
thermal energy. The plant itself uses 225 mWh/annum of the generated
electricity; therefore the plant can contribute 2500 mWh/annum to the national
grid.

A second stage of the plant is proposed for the production of hydrogen from
methane without CO2 emission for use in hydrogen fuel cells. The second stage
will only come into effect once the plant has passed its breakeven point and can
successfully manage the extra capital cost, or if sufficient investment has been
acquired.
The production of hydrogen form methane, without the emission of CO 2 is
performed in a packed bed reactor using a Rhodium-based catalyst and a
Hydrotalcite-based sorbent. When the hydrogen is produced on the active
catalyst, the generated CO2 is absorbed on the sorbent, preventing CO 2
emissions into the atmosphere. Experimental conversion of up to 99.5% is
achieved at 400-500C and at a pressure of 4.5 bar. The produced hydrogen will
then be used in hydrogen fuel-cell stacks for the production of sustainable
electricity and clean H2O emission. The fuel cell works as follows: the fuel cell
produces electricity electrochemically without combusting the fuel. The fuel cells
produce clean electricity and quality heat without pollutants. The cell contains a
cathode and an anode together with electrode. When H 2 enters the cell it reacts
electrochemically with O2 to produce heat, electricity and H2O. These fuel cells
can be stacked and coupled in MeggaWatt producing units, the heat produced
can be recycled to pre-heat the incoming fuel, or sent to heat the reactor with
the use of an heat exchanger (Austermann, 2007).
Heuristics (only those applicable)
Heuristic 1: The raw material for this process is Sewage sludge obtained from
WWTW. The sludge may contain heavy metals, but these metals are
removed by the WWTW through various processes, such as added
flocculants etc. These processes may remove up to 99% of these
heavy metals that may be toxic.
Heuristic 3: The process of anaerobic digestion with mesophillic bacteria is
somewhat robust, therefore the process conditions are kept nearly
constant, and the need for inert species removal is not necessary.
Heuristic 4: There is a purge installed in the digester effluent treatment unit to
ensure that there is no build-up of trace elements.
Heuristic 7: There is now competing side reactions in this process, therefore the
conditions are kept constant only for the anaerobic digester.
Heuristic 9 &10:
If there were a need to separate the biogas components, then
a condenser would be installed to condense the components, and
then a distillation unit will be used to separate them. Since the gas
engine combusts both the CO2 and CH4 there is no need to separate
the compounds.

Heuristic 12 & 13: The heat given off by the gas engine is removed and recycled
to the digester and the pasteurisers, through the use of heat
exchangers.
References
1. Proposed
Biosolid
Beneficiation
Project.2011.[Online].
http://www.rmsenviro.co.za/files/1367491921Annexure_1_Appendix_C_BID_Eng.pdf [2013, October 20]

Avaliable:

2. Converti, A., Del Borghi, A., Del Borghi, M. & Palazzi, E. 1999. Bioprocess
Engineering 20. Springer-Verlag
3. Austermaann, S. 2007. Anaerobic Digestion Technology for Biomass
Projects.
[Online].
Avaliable:
http://www.bpex.org.uk/downloads/300708/297769/Anaerobic
%20Digestion%20Technology%20for%20Biomass%20Projects.pdf
[2013,
October 15].