Thermoalkaline pretreatment influence on anaerobic biodegradability of filter cake for methane production

Currently millions of tons of solid waste are produced worldwide, receiving only a small part of some kind of treatment, the rest are used indiscriminately pollute the environment. Complexity of these wastes requires the study of alternative methods to help improve the efficiency of the stabilization process. Thermoalkaline pretreatment study was carried out taking into account the nature of filter cake from sugar manufacturing process. Sodium hydroxide NaOH was used as chemical agent and temperature conditions of 75 0C evaluated for different times. This research was conducted in order to determine the effect of pretreatment of filter cake to increase the yield of methane. The physical-chemical characterization of filter cake from “Melanio Hernández” Sugar Mill (Sancti Spiritus, Cuba), it was carried out through analysis of total solids (ST), volatile solids (SV) and pH. Methane yield parameter for anaerobic digestion in mesophilic conditions (37 ± 1 C) was determined. It was demonstrated that filter cake is a solid residue of sugar industry in this sector with high energy potential due to its organic content for the production of methane. Pretreatment at 1 hour had greatest increase in methane potential with respect to the untreated filter cake. These results demonstrate the relevance of the thermoalkaline pretreatment severity in terms of time and sodium loading to obtain the optimum anaerobic biodegradability of this biomass.