Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) shows promise for converting wet biomass waste into biofuel, but the resulting high-strength process water (PW) requires treatment. This study explored enhancing energy recovery by anaerobic digestion using semi-batch reactors. Co-digesting manure with HTL-PW from wheat straw-manure co-HTL yielded methane (43-49% of the chemical oxygen demand, COD) at concentrations up to 17.8 gCOD·L-1, whereas HTL-PW from sewage sludge yielded methane (43% of the COD) up to only 12.8 gCOD·L-1 and complete inhibition occurred at 17 gCOD·L-1. Microbial community shifts confirmed inhibition of methanogenic archaea, while hydrolytic-fermentative bacteria were resilient. Differences in chemical composition, particularly higher levels of N-containing heterocyclic compounds in PW of sewage sludge, likely caused the microbial inhibition. The considerable potential of combining HTL with anaerobic digestion for enhanced energy recovery from straw-manure in an agricultural context is demonstrated, yet sewage sludge HTL-PW requires more advanced approaches to deal with methanogenesis inhibitors.
Keywords: Biogas; Heterocyclic compounds; Inhibition; Methane yield; Microbial community.
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