A process of treatment of carbonaceous material, such as wastewater sludge or organic waste, includes performing a thermal treatment of the carbonaceous material, thereby providing thermally treated carbonaceous material, cooling the thermally treated carbonaceous material, thereby providing cooled carbonaceous material, the cooling being performed using a vacuum cooling procedure, and performing a post-treatment of the cooled carbonaceous material, and at least one carbonaceous material degassing.

Process for treating solid waste containing an organic fraction, comprising an initial step of extrusion pressing the waste with production of a solid fraction and a liquor. The solid fraction is subjected to a milling treatment at a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure in a rotary mill that produces a sanitized dry solid and water. The liquor is subjected to a treatment of anaerobic digestion in three subsequent steps, with production of biogas and of a digestate that is subjected to evaporation under vacuum to obtain a concentrated compost and steam, re-used in other steps of the process. The sanitized dry solid and the biogas can be used as fuel to produce thermal and electric energy to be used in the process, which also allows surplus energy to be obtained.

The present process relates to thermally hydrolyzing sludge in a thermal hydrolysis system. A flash tank or waste heat boiler is located downstream of the thermal hydrolysis system. Hydrolyzed sludge is continuously directed into the flash tank or waste heat boiler for recovering supplemental steam. The supplemental steam is used independently or in combination with live steam produced by a main boiler to heat sludge being directed into the thermal hydrolysis system.

A process for the treatment of wastewater, commonly known as nejayote, from the nixtamal, masa and tortilla industry, having an improved method for removing the insoluble fraction and a filtration system for separating and concentrating the fractions forming the nejayote is described. The method includes the steps of: (a) neutralizing the nejayote; (b) enzymatically hydrolyzing the starch granules; and (c) flocculating and separating the insoluble fraction. The system includes the steps of (a) microfiltration; (b) ultrafiltration for concentrating long-chain carbohydrates; (c) ultra/nano filtration for concentrating medium-size compounds; and (d) nanofiltration/reverse osmosis for concentrating small molecules and obtaining water of sufficient quality that it can be re-used or safely discharged into the environment. In one embodiment of the invention, in order to remove unwanted phenolic compounds, the process includes a method including the steps of: (a) acidifying the effluents at pH<4; and (b) flocculating and separating the unwanted insoluble fraction.

An anaerobic digestion system is provided that includes a blend tank operable to control and perform pre-treatment of feedstock. An anaerobic digester is operable to digest the feedstock provided from the blend tank in a totally enclosed oxygen-free environment within a specific temperature range. A bio-mass tank processes liquid digestate from the anaerobic digester. One or more baffles are positioned in the digester, with the one or more baffles providing for plug flow through at least a portion of the digester to create baffled zones that are at least partially operable independently of adjacent baffled zones. A bio-mass tank processes liquid digestate from the anaerobic digester. An energy source is coupled to the anaerobic digester.

The invention relates to a novel dry-state anaerobic digestion method comprising pretreatment of the input with an additive selected from among zeolite, clay, pozzolan and biochar.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for hydrolyzing and acidifying homogenized organic waste fed into a closed and gas tight reactor using enzymatic bacteria under thermophilic conditions where water may be added to said reactor and the content of the reactor can be mixed and subjecting during hydrolysis and acidification an adequate part of a suspension formed in the reactor toi. a separation step isolatinga permeate comprising an aqueous solution of soluble carbon, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and valuable nutrients, an organic slurry comprising an aqueous solution of insoluble organic solids rich in enzymatic thermophilic bacteria and non-hydrolyzed organic solids, and the remaining part of soluble carbon, VFA and valuable nutrients, thereafter toii. a recirculation step re-feeding said organic slurry into the reactor for further hydrolysis and acidification.

The present disclosure relates, according to some embodiments, to systems and methods for processing organic compounds, such as manure or other organic waste. Embodiments may comprise a first containment or mixing chamber, a first anaerobic chamber, and a second anaerobic chamber. A first anaerobic chamber may receive organic compounds from a first containment or mixing chamber, and may provide a fluid stream to a second anaerobic chamber. The second anaerobic chamber may comprise a substrate, such as lava rock, with bacteria growing thereon. Further, biogas generated in one or both of the first anaerobic chamber and the second anaerobic chamber may be purified in a first stage using a water scrubber to remove a majority of the carbon dioxide and other contaminants from the biogas, and in a second stage using a pressure swing adsorption unit to reduce carbon dioxide and other contaminants to pipeline acceptable levels. Further yet, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gases generated during the biogas purification process may be injected into a water-containing chamber in the presence of bacteria and oxygen to convert the hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur and/or sulfate

Disclosed is a method for treating pulp, particularly a method for treating sludge from wastewater treatment plants, for producing energy and/or organic materials that have undergone hygienization, including at least the following steps: a step of aerated or non-aerated thermal hydrolysis of the pulp, a digestion step, a dehydration step and a step of recirculating part of the dehydrated pulp into the step of thermal hydrolysis.

The present invention relates to the field of degradation with hyperthermophilic organisms, and in particular to the use of hyperthermophilic degradation to produce heat from a biomass. In some embodiments, a biomass is fermented in the presence of hyperthermophilic organisms to produce heat. The heat is used to heat a liquid which is used directly in a heat pump or radiant heat or to produce electricity or drive a steam turbine.