Development of an Integrated thermal hydrolysis process - Anaerobic Digestion (THPAD) Model
type: CreativeWork
description: Historically, anaerobic digestion is one of the most common processes used to treat sludge generated from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processes. However, with the exponential increase in populations, which implies an increase in WWTP loads, the amount of waste generated poses an imminent problem to the handling capacity of current anaerobic digesters. Subsequently, there has been a lot of research into various physical and chemical processes that would allow for a more efficient sludge handling mechanism. Studies have reported various advantages associated with digesting sludge at higher temperatures known as thermophilic temperatures. These advantages include increased sludge handling capacity, a higher degree of sludge biodegradability and subsequently increased methane production and better sludge dewatering characteristics implying cheaper sludge transportation costs just to mention a few. However, despite the advantages associated with thermal treatment, this technology has not yet been proven in a South African context. This project involved the development of an integrated thermal hydrolysis process (THP) and anaerobic digestion (AD) model capable of simulating these processes at elevated temperatures. A comparative desktop case study of the existing AD facility at the Cape Flats wastewater treatment works (CFWWTW) in Western Cape, South Africa was investigated following the City of Cape Town's (CCT) initiative to retrofit a THP unit to the anaerobic digesters to help deal with the increase in sludge handling capacity. A comparison was therefore carried out, investigating the base case scenario of maintaining the existing conventional mesophilic anaerobic digesters (MAD) and retrofitting a THP unit to the conventional anaerobic digesters (THPAD). A steady-state THP and AD model was developed and used in conjunction with an integrated dynamic THP and modified AD (termed as the Extended-UCTSDM3P) model for simulating both the conventional MAD and THPAD pr…
abstract: Historically, anaerobic digestion is one of the most common processes used to treat sludge generated from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processes. However, with the exponential increase in populations, which implies an increase in WWTP loads, the amount of waste generated poses an imminent problem to the handling capacity of current anaerobic digesters. Subsequently, there has been a lot of research into various physical and chemical processes that would allow for a more efficient sludge handling mechanism. Studies have reported various advantages associated with digesting sludge at higher temperatures known as thermophilic temperatures. These advantages include increased sludge handling capacity, a higher degree of sludge biodegradability and subsequently increased methane production and better sludge dewatering characteristics implying cheaper sludge transportation costs just to mention a few. However, despite the advantages associated with thermal treatment, this technology has not yet been proven in a South African context. This project involved the development of an integrated thermal hydrolysis process (THP) and anaerobic digestion (AD) model capable of simulating these processes at elevated temperatures. A comparative desktop case study of the existing AD facility at the Cape Flats wastewater treatment works (CFWWTW) in Western Cape, South Africa was investigated following the City of Cape Town's (CCT) initiative to retrofit a THP unit to the anaerobic digesters to help deal with the increase in sludge handling capacity. A comparison was therefore carried out, investigating the base case scenario of maintaining the existing conventional mesophilic anaerobic digesters (MAD) and retrofitting a THP unit to the conventional anaerobic digesters (THPAD). A steady-state THP and AD model was developed and used in conjunction with an integrated dynamic THP and modified AD (termed as the Extended-UCTSDM3P) model for simulating both the conventional MAD and THPAD pr…
author: Olando, Alexander
keywords: Engineering
date published: 2022
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:29Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Civil Engineering

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37677