Biohydrogen production from waste activated sludge through thermochemical mechanical pretreatment.

[Display omitted] • Waste activated sludge is an efficient feedstock for biohydrogen production. • Synergetic disintegration were emphasized by thermo-chemo disperser pretreatment. • Solubilization and SS reduction fostered at 2081.82 kJ/kg TS specific energy. • About 116.9 mL H 2 /g COD achieved at TCD pretreated samples. Generation of excess sludge in large quantities from wastewater treatment plant face huge problem in terms of handling and management, whereas it possess higher organic and inorganic constituents and thus it can be used as a feedstock for the generation of biofuel with proper disintegration techniques. In this regard, an effort has been made in this study to combine thermo-chemo-disperser pretreatment for the disintegration of paper mill waste activated sludge for the production of biohydrogen in an energy efficient way. These combinations of thermo-chemo-disperser (TCD) tend to be effective in disintegration and possess 24.3% COD solubilization and higher suspended solid reduction of 18.8% at the specific energy usage of 2081.82 kJ/kg TS. The pretreatment with TCD technique shows the biohydrogen production of 120.2 mLH 2 /gCOD as compared to thermochemically pretreated alone (73.6 mLH 2 /gCOD) sample. Thus, the combined process was considered to be potentially effective in sludge disintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]