Anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment in Mexico: state of the technology

Due to the nascent wastewater treatment practice in Mexico there is great opportunity to introduce anaerobic digestion as the core of the wastewater treatment processes. Nevertheless, this requires an understanding of all the technical, economical and financial aspects that limit its development. Ac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Water research (Oxford) Vol. 34; no. 6; pp. 1803 - 1816
Main Authors:	Monroy, Oscar, Famá, Graciela, Meraz, Mónica, Montoya, Leticia, Macarie, Hervé
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2000 Elsevier Science
Subjects:	anaerobic digestion Applied sciences biogas use Biological and medical sciences Biological treatment of waters Biotechnology domestic Environment and pollution Exact sciences and technology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General purification processes industrial Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects Mexico municipal Pollution technology treated water reuse wastewater Wastewaters Water treatment and pollution Central America Mexico America domestic wastewater industrial biogas use Mexico municipal anaerobic digestion technology treated water reuse Review Waste water purification Anaerobic digestion Biological purification
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Summary:	Due to the nascent wastewater treatment practice in Mexico there is great opportunity to introduce anaerobic digestion as the core of the wastewater treatment processes. Nevertheless, this requires an understanding of all the technical, economical and financial aspects that limit its development. According to the National Water Commission, in 1995 municipal and industrial wastewater were produced at rates of 232 and 168 m 3 s −1 respectively, but only 20 and 12% of these volumes were treated, often with very low efficiencies. In order to increase the treatment capacity of the country, approximately US$ 4515 million managed by the banks for development are supposed to be available to invest in environmental projects. Other financing mechanisms exist through treasury incentives and penalties. Within this situation, anaerobic digestion has grown although not at the required rate and bigger investments are being made on conventional aerobic and physicochemical technologies. Presently there are in the country 85 anaerobic wastewater treatment plants treating 216,295 m 3 d −1 with an installed volume of 228,551 m 3. UASB reactors account for 74% of the installed volume and national companies have supplied 76% to the anaerobic market. Proper integration of the anaerobic digestion processes for water recycling and energy recovery has not been achieved and there is a big need to demonstrate economic and ecological sustainability.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0043-1354 1879-2448
DOI:	10.1016/S0043-1354(99)00301-2