Reduction of accumulated volatile fatty acids by an acetate-degrading enrichment culture

FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2010 Mar;71(3):469-78. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2009.00821.x. Epub 2009 Nov 27.

Abstract

The effects of the addition of an acetate-degrading enrichment culture to an anaerobic digester with a stagnating biogas production were investigated. Initially, a thermophilic batch-operated lab-scale digester was inoculated with the diluted fermenter sludge of a biogas plant, and process parameters including the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and gases in the headspace were measured. After a phase of high gas production, a stagnation of biogas production followed for a further 30 days. An acetate enrichment culture was added 34 days after the commencement of the experiment and this resulted in a sharp decrease in the concentrations of accumulated VFAs and an increase in total biogas and CH(4) production. An archaeon with a sequence similarity of 98% to Methanosarcina sp. and the ability to degrade acetic acid was introduced with the enrichment culture and is proposed to have been the driving factor for the changes that occurred within a few days to the process.

MeSH terms

  • Acetates / metabolism*
  • Biofuels
  • Fatty Acids, Volatile / metabolism*
  • Fermentation
  • Methanosarcina / metabolism*
  • Sewage

Substances

  • Acetates
  • Biofuels
  • Fatty Acids, Volatile
  • Sewage