Insights into response mechanism of anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge to particle sizes of zeolite

Cong-Cong Tang; Bao-Cai Zhang; Xing-Ye Yao; Ai-Juan Zhou; Wenzong Liu; Yong-Xiang Ren; Zhihua Li; Aijie Wang; Zhang-Wei He

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129348

Insights into response mechanism of anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge to particle sizes of zeolite

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Oct:385:129348. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129348. Epub 2023 Jun 17.

Authors

Cong-Cong Tang¹, Bao-Cai Zhang¹, Xing-Ye Yao¹, Ai-Juan Zhou², Wenzong Liu³, Yong-Xiang Ren¹, Zhihua Li¹, Aijie Wang³, Zhang-Wei He⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China. Electronic address: zwhe@xauat.edu.cn.

PMID: 37336456
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129348

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion has been proved as one promising strategy to simultaneously achieve resource recovery and environmental pollution control for biosolid treatment, and adding exogenous materials is a potential alternative to promote the above process. This study investigated response mechanisms of anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) to particle sizes of zeolite. Results showed that the methane production reached 186.75 ± 7.62 mL/g volatile suspended solids (VSS) with zeolite of the particle size of 0.2-0.5 mm and the additive dosage of 0.1 g/g VSS, which increased by 22.08% compared to that in control. Mechanism study revealed that zeolite could improve hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis stages. Rapid consumption rates of soluble polysaccharides and proteins were observed, correspondingly, the accumulations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were enhanced, and the compositions of SCFAs were optimized. Moreover, the activities of F420 increased by 28% with zeolite, and the syntrophic metabolism between bacteria and methanogens were promoted.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Mechanism; Methane production; Waste activated sludge; Zeolite.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors / microbiology
Fatty Acids, Volatile / metabolism
Methane / metabolism
Particle Size
Sewage* / microbiology
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods
Zeolites*

Substances

Sewage
Zeolites
Fatty Acids, Volatile
Methane