Room: Yangtze 1
Date: Thursday, 21 May 2026
Time: 17:30 - 18:30 CEST
Session code 4CO.15
Biomethane potential and technologies
Enhanced Biomethane Production from Municipal Sludge by Hydrothermal Carbonization Combined with Bioelectrochemical Anaerobic Digestion
Short Introductive summary
This study presents an integrated two-phase approach combining hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) pretreatment with bioelectrochemically enhanced anaerobic digestion (BEAD) to increase solubilization of biodegradable organics, accelerate methanogenesis and maximize CH4 yield. First, HTC conditions were optimized using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays to compare different temperatures, holding times, and pressures. Under optimized HTC conditions, sludge solubilization was observed without inhibitory effects on methanogenesis, resulting in fast CH4 production during BMP tests with most CH4 produced within first 4 days. Laboratory-scale reactor tests compared a conventional Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor (Control) with the BEAD reactor equipped with flow-through electrodes made of conductive polypropylene (cPP) biorings and carbon felt current collectors. Operation on HTC liquid confirmed BEAD reactors stability with COD removal efficiencies of 60–70%, no VFA accumulation, and high met yields on both centrifuged and non-centrifuged HTC liquid.
Presenter
Boris TARTAKOVSKY
National Research Council of Canada, CANADA
Presenter's biography
Boris Tartakovsky, Ph.D., is a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada. His research focuses on anaerobic digestion, including bioelectrochemically enhanced AD, and on microbial electrosynthesis for CO2 conversion into methane and other value-added products.
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
J. Pauzé-Foixet, National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, CANADA
C.-Y. Hung, Metal Industries Research and Development Centre, Kaohsiung, TAIWAN
C.-T. Pan, NSYSU, Kaohsiung, TAIWAN
B. Tartakovsky, National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, CANADA
Session reference: 4CO.15.4