Three-stage anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge: Identifying bacterial and methanogenic archaeal communities and their correlations with performance parameters

Le Zhang; Kai-Chee Loh; Jingxin Zhang; Liwei Mao; Yen Wah Tong; Chi-Hwa Wang; Yanjun Dai

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121333

Three-stage anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge: Identifying bacterial and methanogenic archaeal communities and their correlations with performance parameters

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Aug:285:121333. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121333. Epub 2019 Apr 13.

Authors

Le Zhang¹, Kai-Chee Loh², Jingxin Zhang³, Liwei Mao⁴, Yen Wah Tong⁵, Chi-Hwa Wang⁵, Yanjun Dai⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, 117585, Singapore.
² Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, 117585, Singapore; NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore. Electronic address: chelohkc@nus.edu.sg.
³ China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, 117585, Singapore; NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 Create Way, Create Tower #15-02, Singapore 138602, Singapore.
⁶ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

PMID: 31004947
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121333

Abstract

A three-stage anaerobic digester setup was configured and evaluated for enhanced methane production during co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge and the corresponding bacterial and methanogen communities were characterized. Results showed that the average methane yield (0.496 L/gVS) in the three-stage digester was 13-52% higher than that of one- and two-stage digesters. Compared to controls, an increase of 12-47% in volatile solids reduction was achieved in the three-stage digester (69.3 ± 6.7%). Bacterial phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominated in one-, two- and three-stage digester while genera Pseudomonas, Tissierella, and Petrimonas were selectively enriched in the three-stage digester due to functional segregation. Taxonomic analysis identified 8 dominant methanogen genera, of which Methanosarcina, Methanosaeta, Methanobacterium and Methanolinea collectively accounted for 80%. With increasing OLR and digester stage number, the dominant methanogenic pathway shifted from hydrogenotrophic pattern to acetoclastic pattern and reached a final synergy of these two.

Keywords: Biogas production; Functional segregation; Microbial enrichment; Multivariate statistical analysis; Three-stage anaerobic co-digestion.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Archaea*
Bacteria
Bioreactors
Methane
Sewage*

Substances

Sewage
Methane