METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PARTICULATE BIODEGRADABLE ORGANIC WASTE

摘要

A method for treating particulate biodegradable organic waste includes sizing the waste and adding a base prior to introducing the waste to a thermal hydrolysis reactor (18, 62) and hydrolyzing the waste at a temperature of about 130°C or greater and a pressure greater than 5 the saturated water vapor pressure to produce a slurry including solubilized organic material and residual solids. The solubilized organic material is separated from the residual solids using a liquid/solid separator (30, 70) and the solubilized organics are subjected to anaerobic digestion to produce a methane gas. The base is preferably potassium hydroxide (KOH) at a concentration of about 1 %. The method may further include preheating the particulate 10 biodegradable organic waste with latent heat of the separated solubilized organic material prior to thermal hydrolysis.