Assay for planning anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and biodegradable waste

Anaerobic digestion of biodegradable organic waste is an extremely topical issue since it offers new opportunities with relation to the needs for waste treatment, and becomes even more interesting if the energetic valorisation of biomasses is mainly considered. The present paper describes an experimental survey aimed at studying the processes of anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and biodegradable organic waste coming from food processing industry and breeding livestock activities, waste which is largely produced in the Mediterranean area. Our specific aims were the recognition of the critical points for the process development and the assessment of dimensional and operating data of conventional managers. The experimental activity was carried out through tests of anaerobic tractability with included measuring biogas production and pH of the digestion mixture.