Volatile fatty acids produced by co-fermentation of waste activated sludge and henna plant biomass

Jingang Huang; Rongbing Zhou; Jianjun Chen; Wei Han; Yi Chen; Yue Wen; Junhong Tang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.071

Volatile fatty acids produced by co-fermentation of waste activated sludge and henna plant biomass

Bioresour Technol. 2016 Jul:211:80-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.071. Epub 2016 Mar 15.

Authors

Jingang Huang¹, Rongbing Zhou², Jianjun Chen², Wei Han², Yi Chen³, Yue Wen⁴, Junhong Tang²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China. Electronic address: hjg@hdu.edu.cn.
² Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China.
³ Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16521 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China.

PMID: 27003793
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.071

Abstract

Anaerobic co-fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) and henna plant biomass (HPB) for the enhanced production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was investigated. The results indicated that VFAs was the main constituents of the released organics; the accumulation of VFAs was much higher than that of soluble carbohydrates and proteins. HPB was an advantageous substrate compared to WAS for VFAs production; and the maximum VFAs concentration in an HPB mono-fermentation system was about 2.6-fold that in a WAS mono-fermentation system. In co-fermentation systems, VFAs accumulation was positively related to the proportion of HPB in the mixed substrate, and the accumulated VFAs concentrations doubled when HPB was increased from 25% to 75%. HPB not only adjust the C/N ratio; the associated and/or released lawsone might also have a positive electron-shuttling effect on VFAs production.

Keywords: Co-fermentation; Henna plant biomass; Lawsone; Volatile fatty acids; Waste activated sludge.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors
Carbohydrates / chemistry
Fatty Acids, Volatile / metabolism*
Fermentation / physiology*
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Lawsonia Plant / chemistry
Lawsonia Plant / metabolism*
Proteins / metabolism
Sewage* / chemistry

Substances

Carbohydrates
Fatty Acids, Volatile
Proteins
Sewage