Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains a large fraction of biodegradable organic materials. When disposed in landfills, these materials can cause adverse environmental impact due to gaseous emissions and leachate generation. This study was performed with an aim of effectively separating the biodegradable materials from a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility and treating them in well-controlled anaerobic digesters for biogas production. The rotary drum reactor (RDR) process (a sub-process of the MBT facilities studied in the present work) was evaluated as an MSW pretreatment technology for separating and preparing the biodegradable materials in MSW to be used as feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The RDR processes used in six commercial MSW treatment plants located in the USA were surveyed and sampled. The samples of the biodegradable materials produced by the RDR process were analyzed for chemical and physical characteristics as well as anaerobically digested in the laboratory using batch reactors under thermophilic conditions. The moisture content, TS, VS and C/N of the samples varied between 64.7 and 44.4%, 55.6 to 35.3%, 27.0 to 41.3% and 24.5 to 42.7, respectively. The biogas yield was measured to be between 533.0 and 675.6 mL g⁻¹VS after 20 days of digestion. Approximately 90% of the biogas was produced during the first 13 days. The average methane content of the biogas was between 58.0 and 59.9%. The results indicated that the biodegradable materials separated from MSW using the RDR processes could be used as an excellent feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The digester residues may be further processed for compost production or further energy recovery by using thermal conversion processes such as combustion or gasification.

城市固体废物（MSW）包含很大一部分可生物降解的有机材料。当将这些材料丢弃在垃圾填埋场中时，它们会由于气体排放和渗滤液的产生而对环境造成不利影响。进行这项研究的目的是有效地将可生物降解材料与机械生物处理（MBT）设施分离，并在控制良好的厌氧消化池中对其进行处理以生产沼气。旋转鼓式反应器（RDR）工艺（本工作中研究的MBT设施的子工艺）被评估为MSW预处理技术，用于分离和制备MSW中的可生物降解材料，用作厌氧消化的原料。对位于美国的六家商业MSW处理厂中使用的RDR工艺进行了调查和采样。通过RDR工艺生产的可生物降解材料的样品进行了化学和物理特性分析，并在实验室中使用分批反应器在嗜热条件下进行厌氧消化。样品的含水量，TS，VS和C / N分别在64.7％至44.4％，55.6％至35.3％，27.0至41.3％和24.5至42.7％之间变化。测量的沼气产量在533.0至675.6 mL g之间^-1消化后20天VS。在最初的13天中产生了大约90％的沼气。沼气的平均甲烷含量为58.0％至59.9％。结果表明，使用RDR工艺从城市固体废弃物中分离出的可生物降解材料可以用作厌氧消化的优良原料。可通过使用热转化过程（例如燃烧或气化）进一步处理消化器残渣，以生产堆肥或进一步回收能量。