Ozonation of Solid Wastes from Vegetable Processing Plants for Biogas Production

Many industries produce tremendous amounts of waste and wastewaters containing organic materials (solids and soluble substrates) that require treatment prior to disposal (often as environmental discharges). Example facilities include food processors, confined animal raising operations, slaughter houses, breweries, and food preparation operations. These organic wastes, especially the liquid wastes, are amenable to microbial digestion producing a gaseous product containing mainly methane and carbon dioxide (aka biogas). The solid wastes, on the other hand, usually require pretreatments to enhance their biodegradation. This study will focus on the ozonation as a pretreatment strategy to enhance the digestion of solid wastes from vegetable processing facilities. Different variables including solid to liquid ratio, ozone dose, and ozonation time will be studied. Initial results indicated a 3-fold increase in sugar (glucose, xylose) content of the sample after ozonation. The pretreated solid wastes will be subjecte to anaerobic digestion to determine the treatment conditions that will result to an optimum biogas production.