Effects of different conductive nanomaterials on anaerobic digestion process and microbial community of sludge

Yawen Chen; Zhaohui Yang; Yanru Zhang; Yinping Xiang; Rui Xu; Meiying Jia; Jiao Cao; Weiping Xiong

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123016

Effects of different conductive nanomaterials on anaerobic digestion process and microbial community of sludge

Bioresour Technol. 2020 May:304:123016. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123016. Epub 2020 Feb 18.

Authors

Yawen Chen¹, Zhaohui Yang², Yanru Zhang¹, Yinping Xiang¹, Rui Xu³, Meiying Jia¹, Jiao Cao¹, Weiping Xiong¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China. Electronic address: yzh@hnu.edu.cn.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science Technology, Guangzhou 510650, PR China.

PMID: 32078907
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123016

Abstract

The effects of four conductive nanomaterials (nano-carbon powder, nano-Al₂O₃, nano-ZnO, nano-CuO) on sludge anaerobic digestion (AD) performance and microbial community were investigated through a 36-day fermentation experiment. Results showed that biogas production enhanced by 16.9% and 23.4% with nano-carbon powder and nano-Al₂O₃ added but decreased by 90.2% and 17.3% with nano-ZnO and nano-CuO. Total solids (TS) removal efficiency was increased by 38.73% and 27.11% with nano-carbon powder and nano-Al₂O₃ added but decreased by 70.67% and 43.70% with nano-ZnO and nano-CuO. Kinetic analysis indicated four conductive nanomaterials could shorten the lag phase of AD sludge with an average rate of 51.75%. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing results demonstrated microbes such as Syntrophomonas and Methanosaeta were enriched in nano-carbon powder and nano-Al₂O₃ reactors. However, microbial community diversity and richness were both inhibited by adding nano-ZnO and nano-CuO. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that genera belong to Firmicutes and Chloroflexi could conduce to methanogenesis process.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Conductive nanomaterials; Kinetic model; Microbial community; Waste activated sludge.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors
Kinetics
Methane
Microbiota*
Nanostructures*
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Sewage

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Sewage
Methane