AEROBIC DIGESTER

FACULTY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

UNIT OPERATIONS LABORATORY
CEV 452

NURUL HASNA ASNIERA BINTI RASNAN (2016691934)

NAME MUHAMAD AZRULLAMINUDDEAN BIN HASBULLAH (2016691972)
AMMAR NIZAMUDDIN BIN MOHD SUBRE (2016691944)

PROGRAMME/ EH224 - BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (HONS.) CHEMICAL WITH

CODE ENVIRONMENTAL

SEMESTER 06

GROUP EH2246A1

EXPERIMENT AEROBIC DIGESTER

(2)

DATE
PERFORMED 19 MARCH 2018

SUBMIT TO MADAM SITI AMINAH BINTI MD ALI

Remarks:

Checked by: Rechecked by:

……………………………. …………………….
Date: Date:
AEROBIC DIGESTER

Table of Contents

1.0 ABSRACT ................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 4
3.0 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 5
4.0 THEORY ................................................................................................................... 6
5.0 APPARATUS AND CHEMICALS ............................................................................ 8
6.0 PROCEDURE .......................................................................................................... 10
7.0 RESULTS ................................................................................................................ 11
8.0 SAMPLE CALCULATION ..................................................................................... 12
9.0 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................... 13
10.0 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 17
11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 17
12.0 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 18
13.0 APPENDICES.......................................................................................................... 19

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1.0 ABSRACT
Aerobic digestion is a digestion of suspended or dissolved matter in wastewater by

microorganism in the presence of oxygen. The objective of this experiment is to study

the effect of temperature on the efficiency of aerobic digester. In this experiment, the

microorganisms that has been used is saccharomyces cerevisiae which also known as

yeast and sugar as major nutrient for the digestion process. There are three types of

temperature that has been used where 30°C, 35°C and 40°C and the air flow rates

remained constant at 5 liters per minutes (LPM). The feed solution used is 7 liters and

the solution was left to react for every 30 minutes. After that, pH value and dissolves

oxygen was obtained by pH and dissolves oxygen meter. At the same time, 50mL of

the sample was collected for titration to measure carbon dioxide. The chemicals

involved in titration are phenolphthalein and sodium hydroxide. There are several

parameters that have been analyzed in this experiment such as pH and carbon dioxide.

From the experiment, the rate of reaction for temperature 30°C, 35°C and 40°C are

2x10⁻⁴M/min, 2.23x10⁻⁴M/min and 3.67x10⁻⁴M/min respectively. As a conclusion,

the rate of reaction at temperature 40°C is better compare the others to types of

temperature because it is the highest which good for organic matter being degrade.

Keywords: aerobic digester, microorganisms, organic matter

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2.0 INTRODUCTION
Aerobic digestion has been widely used for wastewater treatment plant for
many years. It is about the solid stabilization process that provides a limited oxygen
supply to microorganism to oxidize the organic matter and convert it into carbon
dioxide and water. In general, aerobic digestion is a relatively simple process which
there are many design and operational parameter likes temperature control,
nitrification and denitrification, oxygen transfer, solids retention time, pH control and
sludge loading characteristic. Besides, it is also have many advantages such as no risk
for explosion, low capital cost and suitable for digesting nutrient-rich waste. But, the
disadvantage is this process does not produce methane like anaerobic digestion
(Turovskiy & Sc, 2001).

The aerobic process generally used in smaller wastewater treatment plant.

There are three types of temperature involves in this process which pschychophilic,
mesophilic and thermophilic. The pschycophilic is the lowest temperature which the
range is about 10°C to 15°C while the highest temperature is thermophilic which the
range is about 55°C to 60°C. Furthermore, this process is focus more on mesophilic
temperature because it is good for the rate of microbial growth and can produce
biosolid class B. These types of biosolid can be used as a fertilizer which does not
dangerous to environment because it is under the regulations limit (Ros & Zupancic,
2002).

On top of that, aerobic digestions have several steps to complete the process
such as oxidation, synthesis and endogenous respiration. Oxidation is the process
where microorganism will consume the organic matter and converts it into carbon
dioxide and water. After that, the further process is synthesis where the
microorganism will produce new cell tissue. Then, endogenous respiration will occur
when insufficient of oxygen which they begin to eat their own protoplasm (Ros &
Zupancic, 2002).

Lastly, aerobic digestion process is a decay process which operates under low
dissolves oxygen (DO). The range of DO is typically between 0.5 mg/L to 1.0 mg/L
in order to promote competition of microorganism for limited oxygen. In spite of that,
DO conditions under 0.3mg/L does not adversely impact volatile solids reduction or

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pathogen removal performance. Meanwhile, high DO can cause low pH where can
detrimental since mesophilic bacteria are sensitive to pH conditions (Woo, 2008).

3.0 OBJECTIVES
a. To design the experimental procedures for wastewater treatment in the
laboratory scale.
b. To measure the rate of microbial activity in the presence of oxygen.
c. To study the effect of aerobic digestion process towards pH, dissolves oxygen
(DO) and carbon dioxide.
d. To analyze the respiration of microorganism by using titration method
e. To study the effect of temperature on the efficiency of aerobic digester.

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4.0 THEORY
Aerobic digestion process uses organic matter, nutrients, and dissolved
oxygen, and produces stable solids, carbon dioxide, and more organisms. The
microorganisms which can only survive in aerobic conditions are known as aerobic
organisms. This is the natural biological degradation and purification process in which
bacteria that thrive in oxygen-rich environments break down and digest the waste. In
an aerobic system, such as composting, the microorganisms access free, gaseous
oxygen directly from the surrounding atmosphere. The end products of an aerobic
process are primarily carbon dioxide and water which are the stable, oxidised forms of
carbon and hydrogen. Of all the biological treatment methods, aerobic digestion is the
most widespread process that is used throughout the world. Under aerobic conditions,
bacteria rapidly consume organic matter and convert it into carbon dioxide (Bernard,
S, 2000).

In wastewater treatment, the process known as stabilization is accomplished

biologically using variety of microorganism. Microorganisms convert colloid and
dissolved carboneous matter (BOD) into simple end product and additional biomass.
First the waste is oxidized to end product to obtained energy for cell maintenance and
synthesis new cell. Second part, simultaneously some of the waste is converted into
new cell tissue using part of the energy release during oxidation. Finally, when
organic matter is used up, the new cells begin to consume their own tissue to obtained
energy for cell maintenance (Metcalf & Eddy, 2014). This stage of the process is
known as endogenous respiration.

Oxidation:

COHNS + O2 CO2 + H2O + NH3 + other end products + energy

Synthesis:

COHNS + O2 + energy C5H7NO2

Oxidation and synthesis:

COHNS + O2 CO2 + NH3 + C5H7NO2

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AEROBIC DIGESTER

Endogenous respiration:

C5H7NO2 + 5O2 5CO2 + NH3 + 2H2O + energy

Bacteria growth is influence by the environmental. Bacterium have optimal

growth conditions under which they thrive, but once o
.
C, 35
C. The flow rate is kept within the 5 LPM. The parameters that will be observed
were pH value to determine the acidity of the environment, dissolved oxygen which is
to determine the volume of oxygen and the carbon dioxide which acts as the indicator
to signify the oxidation process by the bacteria using the process of titration.

The aerobic digestion occurs much faster than anaerobic digestion; the capital
costs of aerobic digestion are lower. However, the operating costs are
characteristically much greater for aerobic digestion because of energy costs for
aeration needed to add oxygen to the process (Shammas, N. K., 2009).

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5.0 APPARATUS AND CHEMICALS

Apparatus
1. Aerobic Digester Model TR 28
2. pH Meter
3. Dissolve oxygen meter
4. Conical flask
5. Beaker
6. Measuring cylinder
7. Burette

Figure 1: Aerobic Digester Model TR 28

Figure 2: pH Meter

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Figure 3: Dissolve Oxygen Meter

Chemicals
1. 0.05M Sodium Hydroxide solution
2. Phenolphthalein

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6.0 PROCEDURE
General start up procedure

a. Close all the valves.

b. Prepare 5L of feed solution which the first step was dissolves 40g of sugar in 1L
of water. Then, the water was added to make a total of 7L solution.
c. The tube from the air pump was connected.
d. Performed the experiment.

Experimental procedure

a. Open the top cover of the reactor and added 40g of microorganism into the
reactor.
b. Fill up the 7L of the sugar solution into the reactor.
c. Close the top cover.
d. Turn on the heater and set the temperature at 30°C.
e. Open valve 1 (V1). Then switch on the air pump (P1) and set the flowrate at 7 liter
per min (LPM).
f. The reactor is left to operate for 30 minutes.
g. After that, withdrawn the sample product for analysis.
h. The experiment was repeated for the next temperature which 35°C and 40°C.
i. Titration method was used to measure the carbon dioxide.
j. Put the sample into conical flask.
k. 3 drops of phenolphthalein was added into the sample by using dropper.
l. Filled 0.05M of sodium hydroxide into 50mL burette.
m. Added sodium hydroxide (NaoH) solution into the sample drop by drop and swirl
the mixture until the solution stays light pink.
n. Record the amount of NaoH used.

Shut down procedure

a. Switch off the heater and air pump (P1).

b. Switch of the main power.
c. Drained the liquid in the reactor by opening the valve 4 (V4).
d. Added the clean water into the reactor and drained of through valve 4 (V4)

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7.0 RESULTS
Table 1

Constant variables during the experiment

Weight of container 3.24g
Weight of sugar 40g
Weight of yeast 40g
Volume of sample (for titration) 0.05L
Volume of sodium hydroxide 0.05L
Feed solution 7L
Total suspension time 30minutes

Table 2

Reading on temperature 30 ˚C
For temperature 30°C
Parameter Value
pH 3.95
Dissolves oxygen (ppm) 0.58
Carbon dioxide (M) 6x10⁻³
Rate of reaction (M/min) 2x10⁻⁴
Volume of NaOH used (L) 6x10⁻ ³

Table 3

Reading on temperature 35 ˚C
For temperature 35°C
Parameter Value
pH 3.83
Dissolves oxygen (ppm) 2.28
Carbon dioxide (M) 6.7x10⁻³
Rate of reaction (M/min) 2.23x10⁻⁴
Volume of NaOH used (L) 6.7x10⁻³

Table 4

Reading on temperature 40 ˚C
For temperature 40°C
Parameter Value
pH 3.88
Dissolves oxygen (ppm) 1.72
Carbon dioxide (M) 11x10⁻³
Rate of reaction (M/min) 3.67x10⁻⁴
Volume of NaOH used (L) 11x10⁻ ³

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AEROBIC DIGESTER

8.0 SAMPLE CALCULATION

a. Moles of carbon dioxide consume (mol)

= volume of NaOH used x molarity of NaOH

b. Molarity of carbon dioxide (M)

= molarity of carbon dioxide consumed (mol) / volume of sample used (L)

c. Rate of reaction (M/min)

= molarity of carbon dioxide used (M) / total time suspension in the reactor (min)

For temperature 30°C:

a. Moles of carbon dioxide consume (mol)

= 6x10⁻³ L x 0.05 M
=3x10⁻⁴ mol
b. Molarity of carbon dioxide (M)
=3x10⁻⁴ mol / 0.05 L
= 6x10⁻³ M
c. Rate of reaction (M/min)
=6x10⁻³ L / 30min
=2x10⁻⁴ M/min

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9.0 DISCUSSION
The aim of the experiment is to determine the effect of aerobic digestion
process towards pH, dissolves oxygen (DO) and carbon dioxide. Besides, analyze the
respiration of microorganism through titration method. The use of titration method is
to provide the volume of carbon dioxide (CO 2) that been produced during the
experiment by the microorganism. During the experiment the mixture of sugar and
deionised water acts as the organic. The yeast acts as the microorganism during the
experiment. Yeast is being used because they are microaerophiles bacteria. These
types of bacteria need oxygen because they cannot ferment or respire anaerobically
(Tyagi et al., 2012). However, they are poisoned by high concentration of oxygen.

The variables that are used in the experiment such as the weight of the sugar
and yeast are kept constant (40g). Other material such as volume of sodium hydroxide
and volume of sample taken for titration also are kept constant (0.05L) during the
experiments. The feed solution is provided at 7L. The total suspension time is taken
during every 30 minutes of each interval. This time is taken because to allow the
microorganism to develop whenever there is changed in temperature. Bacteria growth
is the asexual reproduction, or cell division, of a bacterium into two daughter cells, in
a process called binary fission (Pandey et al., 2016). According to Jang et al., (2018),
providing more mutational events occurs, the resulting daughter cells are genetically
identical to the original cell. Hence, bacterial development occurs. However, if the
number surviving exceeds unity on average, the bacterial population undergoes
exponential growth. The exponential growth is where a period characterized by cell
doubling. The environmental factors influence rate of bacterial growth such as acidity
(pH), temperature, and dissolve oxygen (Ningbe et al., 2016). The bacteria have
optimal growth conditions under which they thrive, but once outside of those
conditions the stress can result in either reduced or death. During the experiment the
temperature is kept manipulated with the reading of 30 ˚C, 5 ˚C ˚C. The
temperature is taken because it is the mesophilic temperature range between 30 ˚C
and 45 ˚C the optimum temperature for bacteria to develop (Shao et al., 2013).

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pH versus Temperature

pH versus Temperature
3.96

3.94

3.92

3.9
pH

3.88

3.86

3.84

3.82
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Temperature (˚C)

Figure 4: Effect of temperature on the pH value

Based on the experiment, the graph of pH versus temperature is plotted. Based on

, ˚C Hv .95,
5 ˚C H .8 ˚C Hv .88. T v H
value of 3.87 for the difference temperature in the experiment showed that the
solution is in acidic condition. The solution become acidic because the high
concentration of oxygen in tank causing the microbe to become poisonous. According
to A.Gonzalez (2015), the microphiles will become poisoned by the high
concentration of oxygen. They will gather in the upper part of the tank but not the
very top

Dissolved oxygen versus temperature

DO versus Temperature
2.5

2
DO (ppm)

1.5

0.5

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Temperature (˚C)
Figure 5: Effect of temperature on dissolved oxygen in the solution
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AEROBIC DIGESTER

In this experiment, the microbes that is been used is an aerobic. An aerobic

organism such as yeast that is used in the experiment is an organism that can survive
and grow in an oxygenated environment. Since this is an aerobic digester the
microaerophiles require oxygen for energy production but harmed by atmospheric
concentrations of oxygen (Ningbe et al., 2016).
From C v
.58 , 5C v . 8 ,
C the amount of dissolved oxygen is 1.72 ppm. During initial temperature
the amount of dissolv .58
. 5
recorded the highest dissolved oxygen (2.28 ppm) because the microbe having a lag
phase of development, which the microbes .T
v . C because the microbe
undergoes the exponential phase which is the microbes doubling in development
causing the oxygen in the solution is been used.

Carbon dioxide versus temperature

CO2 versus Temperature

0.008
0.007
0.006
0.005
CO2 (M)

0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Temperature (˚C)

Figure 6: Effect of temperature on the carbon dioxide

Based on the experiment, during temperature 3 ˚C the amount of CO2 is

0.006 M, at temperature 35 ˚C the amount of CO2 recorded is 0.0067 M
C the amount of CO2 recorded is 0.0011 M. At the initial, the amounts of CO2
lower because the microbes do not react completely to release the carbon dioxide and
water yet. While at the 35 ˚C the highest CO2 recorded because during this stage the

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number of microbes is at the highest development and reaction is occurred so the

carbon dioxide is produced at the very best (Steinberg et al., 2017).

Rate of reaction versus temperature

Rate of reaction versus Temperature

0.0004
0.00035
Rate of reaction (M/min)

0.0003
0.00025
0.0002
0.00015
0.0001
0.00005
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Temperature (˚C)

Figure 7: Effect of temperature to the rate of reaction

T C is 0.0002 M/min
5 C which the rate of reaction is 0.000223 M/min
C the rate of the reaction is 0.000367 M/min, the highest rate of
reaction recorded. The rate of reaction is higher because the activation energy during
that temperature is higher. Where the molecule in the solution is moving rapidly with
the presence of microbe increase the reaction between molecule of the microbe (Shao
et al., 2013).

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10.0 CONCLUSION
The impact of temperature on the aerobic digester process was studied. The
experiment was conducted at temperature of 30oC, 35oC, 40oC which in mesophilic
range. Temperature control is absolutely critical to the sustainability and performance
of an aerobic digestion system because microorganisms are very sensitive to
temperature conditions. At the temperatures less than mesophilic range, an aerobic
digestion process is basically ineffective (Water Environment Federation, 2007). The
microorganisms utilized in aerobic digestion processes are mesophilic facultative
bacteria which mean they thrive in mesophilic temperature and live under aerobic
(presence of oxygen), anoxic (no oxygen but presence of nitrates), and anaerobic (no
presence of oxygen or nitrates) conditions.
As a conclusion, the condition of the temperature is important in aerobic
digestion process for growth of microbial. The optimum temperature of digestion was
established to be 40°C. The result showed that the higher rate of reaction and higher
amount of carbon dioxide at temperature 40oC which suitable condition for the
process. On the other hand, the main objective of this experiment is to design the
process for wastewater treatment in laboratory scale. Wastewater treatment facility is
sustainable if it achieves long term outstanding process performance but also provides
considerable economic benefits. So, to achieve optimum digester performance,
temperature of the process should be maintained at the require temperature.

11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations of the experiment are:

a. Ensure the solution is pass the level sensor in the tank to follow the safety
precaution.
b. Make sure the valve of air pump is regulated from time to time as the value is not
constant as the initial set point.
c. While doing titration process, make sure avoid parallax error when reading the
value of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at the burette scale.
d. Ensure that the accurate amount of yeast and sugar are being weighed before
being introduced in the tank to avoid inaccuracy of calculation and reading.

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12.0 REFERENCES
González-González, A., & Cuadros, F. (2015). Effect of aerobic pretreatment on
anaerobic digestion of olive mill wastewater (OMWW): An ecoefficient
treatment. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 95(September 2012), 339–345.
Retrieved March 23, 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2014.10.005
Jang, H. M., Lee, J., Kim, Y. B., Jeon, J. H., Shin, J., Park, M. R., & Kim, Y. M.
(2018). Fate of antibiotic resistance genes and metal resistance genes during
thermophilic aerobic digestion of sewage sludge. Bioresource Technology,
249(October 2017), 635–643. Retrieved March 23, 2018 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.10.073
Jin, N., Li, W., Shou, Z., Yuan, H., Lou, Z., Zhu, N., & Cai, C. (2016). Comparison of
effects of ferric nitrate additions in thermophilic, mesophilic and psychrophilic
aerobic digestion for sewage sludge. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of
Chemical Engineers, 67, 346–354. Retrieved March 23, 2018 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2016.07.046
Pandey, P. K., Cao, W., Wang, Y., Vaddella, V., Castillo, A. R., Souza, A., & Rio, N.
S. del. (2016). Simulating the effects of mesophilic anaerobic and aerobic
digestions, lagoon system, and composting on pathogen inactivation.
Ecological Engineering, 97, 633–641. Retrieved March 23, 2018 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.10.047
Ros & Zupancic. (2002). Thermophilic of Aerobic Digestion, 931–943. Retrieved
March 20, 2018, from http://acta-arhiv.chem-soc.si/49/49-4-931.pdf
Shao, L., Wang, T., Li, T., Lü, F., & He, P. (2013). Comparison of sludge digestion
under aerobic and anaerobic conditions with a focus on the degradation of
proteins at mesophilic temperature. Bioresource Technology, 140, 131–137.
Retrieved March 23, 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.04.081
Steinberg, K., Zimmermann, J., Stiller, K. T., Meyer, S., & Schulz, C. (2017). The
effect of carbon dioxide on growth and energy metabolism in pikeperch
(Sander lucioperca). Aquaculture, 481(June), 162–168. Retrieved March 23,
2018 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2017.09.003
Turovskiy, B. I. S., & Sc, D. (2001). Technological Improvements for the Aerobic
Digestion of Sludge, (AUGUST), 0–3. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from
https://www.mi-wea.org/docs/Hill%20-%20Dueling%20Digesters.pdf

Tyagi, V. K., & Lo, S. L. (2012). Enhancement in mesophilic aerobic digestion of

waste activated sludge by chemically assisted thermal pretreatment method.
Bioresource Technology, 119, 105–113. Retrieved March 24, 2018 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.05.134

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13.0 APPENDICES

Figure 8: Aerobic Digester Model TR 28 on process

Figure 9: Phenolphthalein Figure 10: 0.05M Sodium Hydroxide

Solution

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Figure 11: Titration Method

(to measure carbon dioxide)

Figure 12: Light Pink Titrated Solution

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