Comparative study of the effect of loading increments on the mesophilic codigestion of waste activated sludge and food waste: Reactor performance, stability analysis, and microbial community

Bao-Shan Xing; Xi-Fang Tang; Ru Wang; Sifan Cao; Junwei Wen; Yi Zhang; Xiang-Lin Chang; Xiaochang C Wang; Rong Chen

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136308

Comparative study of the effect of loading increments on the mesophilic codigestion of waste activated sludge and food waste: Reactor performance, stability analysis, and microbial community

Chemosphere. 2022 Dec;308(Pt 1):136308. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136308. Epub 2022 Sep 3.

Authors

Bao-Shan Xing¹, Xi-Fang Tang², Ru Wang², Sifan Cao², Junwei Wen², Yi Zhang², Xiang-Lin Chang², Xiaochang C Wang², Rong Chen³

Affiliations

¹ State International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, MOE Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Shaanxi Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Shaanxi Provincial Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13 Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710055, China. Electronic address: baoshanxing@xauat.edu.cn.
² State International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, MOE Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Shaanxi Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Shaanxi Provincial Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13 Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710055, China.
³ State International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, MOE Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Shaanxi Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Shaanxi Provincial Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, No. 13 Yanta Road, Xi'an, 710055, China. Electronic address: chenrong@xauat.edu.cn.

PMID: 36067815
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136308

Abstract

The performance and stability of mesophilic codigestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) and food waste (FW) were compared in two parallel, continuously stirred tank reactors using high- and low-magnitude loading increments for the loading regimes. The results indicated that a high methane (CH₄) production of 6.98 L L^-1·d^-1 was realized without volatile fatty acid accumulation via low-magnitude loading increments at a high loading of 26.5 g-COD·L^-1·d^-1, and this system was more stable and achieved a higher efficiency than the codigestion system that used high-magnitude loading increments at similar loading and operating conditions. Furthermore, higher CH₄ yields of 258-334 mL-CH₄·g-COD^-1, TCOD removal efficiencies of 64-79%, conversion ratios of 62-88%, and methanogenic activities of 0.37-0.40 g-CH₄-COD·g-VS^-1·d^-1 were consistently maintained via the low-magnitude loading increments during the high-rate period. High abundances of the phyla Firmicutes (63.3%) and genus Methanosarcina (94.5%) contributed to the high rates and stable operating conditions of the mesophilic system for WAS and FW codigestion using low-magnitude loading increments.

Keywords: Codigestion; Food waste; Loading increments; Loading rate; Methanosarcina; Waste activated sludge.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors
Fatty Acids, Volatile
Food
Methane
Microbiota*
Refuse Disposal* / methods
Sewage

Substances

Fatty Acids, Volatile
Sewage
Methane