Insights into the roles and mechanisms of a green-prepared magnetic biochar in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Abstract

Methane is one of the most promising renewable energies to alleviate energy crisis or replace fossil fuels, which can be recovered from anaerobic digestion of bio-wastes. However, the engineering application of anaerobic digestion is always hindered by low methane yield and production rate. This study revealed the roles and mechanisms of a green-prepared magnetic biochar (MBC) in promoting methane production performance from waste activated sludge. Results showed that the methane yield reached 208.7 mL/g volatile suspended solids with MBC additive dosage of 1 g/L, increasing by 22.1 % compared to that in control. Mechanism analysis demonstrated that MBC could promote hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis stages. This was because the properties of biochar were upgraded by loading nano-magnetite, such as specific surface area, surface active sites, and surface functional groups, which made MBC have greater potential to mediate electron transfer. Correspondingly, the activity of α-glucosidase and protease respectively increased by 41.7 % and 50.0 %, and then the hydrolysis performances of polysaccharides and proteins were improved. Also, MBC improved the secretion of electroactive substances like humic substances and cytochrome C, which could promote extracellular electron transfer. Furthermore, Clostridium and Methanosarcina, as well-known electroactive microbes, were selectively enriched. The direct interspecies electron transfer between them was established via MBC. This study provided some scientific evidences to comprehensively understand the roles of MBC in anaerobic digestion, with important implications for achieving resource recovery and sludge stabilization.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Extracellular electron transfer; Magnetic biochar; Methane production; Waste activated sludge.