Improvement of Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer via Adding Conductive Materials in Anaerobic Digestion: Mechanisms, Performances, and Challenges

Le Chen; Wei Fang; Jianning Chang; Jinsong Liang; Panyue Zhang; Guangming Zhang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.860749

Improvement of Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer via Adding Conductive Materials in Anaerobic Digestion: Mechanisms, Performances, and Challenges

Front Microbiol. 2022 Mar 30:13:860749. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.860749. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Le Chen^{1

2}, Wei Fang^{1

2}, Jianning Chang^{1

2}, Jinsong Liang^{1

2}, Panyue Zhang^{1

2}, Guangming Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Lab for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
² Engineering Research Center for Water Pollution Source Control and Eco-Remediation, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
³ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is an effective and sustainable technology for resource utilization of organic wastes. Recently, adding conductive materials in anaerobic digestion to promote direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) has become a hot topic, which enhances the syntrophic conversion of various organics to methane. This review comprehensively summarizes the recent findings of DIET mechanisms with different mediating ways. Meanwhile, the influence of DIET on anaerobic digestion performance and the underlying mechanisms of how DIET mediated by conductive materials influences the lag phase, methane production, and system stability are systematically explored. Furthermore, current challenges such as the unclear biological mechanisms, influences of non-DIET mechanisms, limitations of organic matters syntrophically oxidized by way of DIET, and problems in practical application of DIET mediated by conductive materials are discussed in detail. Finally, the future research directions for practical application of DIET are outlined.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; conductive materials; direct interspecies electron transfer; methanogenesis; syntrophic metabolism.

Publication types

Review