Finding out the Truth: What is Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion?
Most people have never heard the term thermophilic aerobic digestion that is because it is a scientific term and has to do with the break down of waste products. Unless you are someone who works in the industry of disposing of waste such as a waste treatment plant or you are a scientist, thermophilic aerobic digestion is probably a term you have not come across. It is however, an important part of the process us that helps to eliminate biological waste. thermophilic aerobic digestion is also known as auto thermal thermophilic aerobic digestion.
Things Involved In Thermophilic Aerobic Digestion?
There are several aspects to this process first the name since it is usually know as an auto thermal process is ATAD. It is not a completely auto thermal process despite its name. It actually requires that a heat element be added into the mix. From a chemical standpoint, this is not anything new, exciting or different.
If you remember from chemistry classes, most reactions had a heat element added to it in order to have a reaction occur. This is because heat helps to excite the molecules and thereby help to create the energy necessary to spawn a reaction.
The process itself operates at temperatures that are above 55 degrees Celsius however when using this process it is important to make sure that all equipment is running at the same temperature consistently in order to promote the best reaction.
Finally, the process is not entirely aerobic despite what the name suggests there are also elements of anaerobic activities along with fermentative activities in addition to the aerobic biological activities one would expect from this process. The result of this process can be seen in Carbon Dioxide and water, which are released from the reaction.
The process also causes the destruction of total volatile solids, which is an indirect result of the reaction. Normally, the substrate would be biological sludge or biological sludge and the primary solid material. The any case, the feed organism within the biological matter must die in order to be replaced by the bacteria, which causes the digestion.
The final product of the digestion is the solubilization of the solids along with their reassembly that leads to the destruction of the newly formed bacteria mass. This in turn causes an increase in the reactor agents. If you have every wondered about what happens with biological waste this is one of the processes that is used.
