Effects of Biowaste-Derived Hydrochar on Anaerobic Digestion:Insights into Hydrochar Characteristics

Hydrochar prepared with four typical biowastes,pine wood,food waste,digested sewage sludge,and Chlorella were applied for the promotion of anaerobic digestion.The gas production and substrate composition were analyzed associated with the hydrochar characteristics.The results suggested that Chlorella hydrochar(C-C)showed the highest cumulative yield of methane(approximately 345 mL)with high total organic carbon(TOC)removal efficiency and low volatile fatty acids(VAFs)concentration.Especially,food waste hydrochar(F-C)showed a poor effect on anaerobic digestion and aroused 1.4–1.6 g/L accumulation of VAFs,in which the toxic components may account for the low efficiency.The C-C and sludge hydrochar(S-C)may develop direct interspecific electron transport(DIET)to facilitate the generation of methane by both surface groups and conductivity of the body structure,unlike pinewood hydrochar(P-C),which mainly depended on the aromatic matrix structure of hydrochar body.This work suggested that C-C can be the best candidate for the facilitation of anaerobic digestion,and N-containing biowaste like algae and lignocellulose like pine wood may establish different DIET pathways based on the physicochemical characteristics of hydrochar.

Effects of Potassium Ferrate and Low-Temperature Thermal Hydrolysis Co-Pretreatment on the Hydrolysis and Anaerobic Digestion Process of Waste Activated Sludge

This study evaluated the effect of potassium ferrate(PF)and low-temperature thermal hydrolysis co-pretreatment on the promotion of sludge hydrolysis process and the impact on acid production in the subsequent anaerobic digestion process.The analytical investigations showed that co-pretreatment significantly facilitated the hydrolysis process of the sludge and contributed to the accumulation of short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs).The pretreatment conditions under the optimal leaching of organic matter from sludge were hydrothermal temperature of 75℃,hydrothermal treatment time of 12 h,and PF dosage of 0.25 g g^(−1)TSS(total suspended solids),according to the results of orthogonal experiments.By pretreatment under proper conditions,the removal rate of soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD)achieved 71.8%at the end of fermentation and the removal rate of total phosphorus(TP)was 69.1%.The maximum yield of SCFAs was 750.3 mg L^(−1),7.45 times greater than that of the blank group.Based on the analysis of the anaerobic digestion mechanism,it was indicated that the co-pretreatment could destroy the floc structure on the sludge surface and improve organic matter dissolving,resulting in more soluble organic substances for the acidification process.Furthermore,microbial community research revealed that the main cause of enhanced SCFAs generation was an increase in acidogenic bacteria and a reduction of methanogenic bacteria.

Stable Control of Influence Factor during Two-phase Anaerobic Digestion for Agricultural Organic Waste

Two-phase anaerobic digestion process is influenced by acid control for hydrogen production, reaction temperature, substrate detention time, sludge activity, and granular formation. Al of these technological parameters are directly related to success or failure of the system operation and treatment effect.

Characteristics of high-sulfate wastewater treatment by two-phase anaerobic digestion process with Jet-loop anaerobic fluidized bed

A new anaerobic reactor, Jet-loop anaerobic fluidized bed （JLAFB）, was designed for treating high-sulfate wastewater. The treatment characteristics, including the effect of influent COD/SO42 ratio and alkalinity and sulfide inhibition in reactors, were discussed for a JLAFB and a general anaerobic fiuidized bed （AFB） reactor used as sulfate-reducing phase and methane-producing phase, respectively, in two-phase anaerobic digestion process. The formation of granules in the two reactors was also examined. The results indicated that COD and sulfate removal had different demand of influent COD/SO4^2- ratios. When total COD removal was up to 85%, the ratio was only required up to 1.2, whereas, total sulfate removal up to 95% required it exceeding 3.0. The alkalinity in the two reactors increased linearly with the growth of influent alkalinity. Moreover, the change of influent alkalinity had no significant effect on pH and volatile fatty acids （VFA） in the two reactors. Influent alkalinity kept at 400-500 mg/L could meet the requirement of the treating process. The JLAFB reactor had great advantage in avoiding sulfide and free-H2S accumulation and toxicity inhibition on microorganisms. When sulfate loading rate was up to 8. 1 kg/（m^3.d）, the sulfide and free-H2S concentrations in JLAFB reactor were 58.6 and 49.7 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the granules, with offwhite color, ellipse shape and diameters of 1.0-3.0 mm, could be developed in JLAFB reactor. In granules, different groups of bacteria were distributed in different layers, and some inorganic metal compounds such as Fe, Ca, Mg etc. were found.

Start-up performances of dry anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic digestions of organic solid wastes

Two dry anaerobic digestions of organic solid wastes were conducted for 6 weeks in a lab-scale batch experiment for investigating the start-up performances under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The enzymatic activities, i.e., β-glucosidase, N-α-benzoyl-Largininamide （BAA）-hydrolysing protease, urease and phosphatase activities were analysed. The BAA-hydrolysing protease activity during the first 2-3 weeks was low with low pH, but was enhanced later with the pH increase. β-Glucosidase activity showed the lowest values in weeks 1-2, and recovered with the increase of BAA-hydrolysing protease activity. Acetic acid dominated most of the total VFAs in thermophilic digestion, while propionate and butyrate dominated in mesophilic digestion. Thermophilic digestion was confirmed more feasible for achieving better performance against misbalance, especially during the start-up period in a dry anaerobic digestion process.

Influence of lactic acid on the two-phase anaerobic digestion of kitchen wastes

To evaluate the influence of lactic acid on the methanogenesis, anaerobic digestion of kitchen wastes was firstly conducted in a two-phase anaerobic digestion process, and performance of two digesters fed with lactic acid and glucose was subsequently compared. The results showed that the lactic acid was the main fermentation products of hydrolysis-acidification stage in the two-phase anaerobic digestion process for kitchen wastes. The lactic acid concentration constituted approximately 50% of the chemical oxygen demand （COD） concentration in the hydrolysis-acidification liquid. The maximum organic loading rate was lower in the digester fed with lactic acid than that fed with glucose. Volatile fatty acids （VFAs） and COD removal were deteriorated in the methanogenic reactor fed with lactic acid compared to that fed with glucose. The specific methanogenic activity （SMA） declined to 0.343 g COD/（gVSS-d） when the COD loading were designated as 18.8 g/（L-d） in the digester fed with lactic acid. The propionic acid accumulation occurred due to the high concentration of lactic acid fed. It could be concluded that avoiding the presence of the lactic acid is necessary in the hydrolysis-acidification process for the improvement of the two-phase anaerobic digestion process of kitchen wastes.

High-solid Anaerobic Co-digestion of Food Waste and Rice Straw for Biogas Production

Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste（FW） and rice straw（RS） in continuously stirred tank reactor（CSTR） at high organic loading rate（OLR） was investigated. Co-digestion studies of FW and RS with six different mixing ratios were conducted at an initial volatile solid（VS） concentration of more than 3 g VS · L-1. The biogas production, methane contents, degradation efficiency of VS, chemical oxygen demand（COD） and volatile fatty acids（VFAs） were determined to evaluate the stability and performance of the system. The results showed that the co-digestion process had higher system stability and higher volumetric biogas production than mono-digestions. Increase in FW content in the feedstock could increase the methane yield and shorten retention time. The efficiency of co-digestion systems mainly relied on the mixing ratios of FW and RS to some extent. The highest methane yield was 60.55 m L· g V· S-1 · d-1 at a mass ratio（FW/RS） of 3 ： 1, which was 178% and 70% higher than that of mono-digestions of FW and RS, respectively. Consequently, the anaerobic co-digestion of FW and RS could have superior stability and better performance than monodigestions in higher organic loading system.

Facultative-anaerobic microbial digestion of coal preparation waste and use of effluent solids to enhance plant growth in a sandy soil

Coal preparation solid waste,which is a major environmental issue for coal-producing areas in China,may be microbiologically digested and transformed into a product suitable as a soil amendment to increase soil organic matter content and prevent and enhance plant/crop growth.Coal preparation waste collected from a coal sorting plant in Inner Mongolia,China was digested in bioreactors inoculated with microbial enrichments prepared from activated sludge and cow manure.The effluent solids from the coal preparation waste bioreactors were analyzed for their suitability as organic soil amendments,which complied with China standards.Plant growth tests were conducted in sandy soil from a semi-arid region in Colorado,which was amended with the effluent solids.Kentucky bluegrass(Poa pratensis L.)and chives(Allium schoenoprasum)were used as the representative plants for the growth tests,where results indicated substantially higher yields of Kentucky bluegrass and chives for the sandy soils amended with the effluent solids when compared to a commercial organic fertilizer.The number and average length of Kentucky bluegrass shoots were 10 and 5.1 times higher,respectively,in soils amended with the effluent solids.Similarly,the number and average length of chives shoots were 10 and 1.7 times higher,respectively,in soils amended with the effluent solids.Overall,the microbial digestion of coal preparation waste for application as an organic soil amendment is a viable alternative and beneficial use of coal preparation solid waste.

Biogas by two-stage microbial anaerobic and semi-continuous digestion of Chinese cabbage waste

Anaerobic digestion of Chinese cabbage waste was investigated through a pilot-scale two-stage digester at a mesophilic temperature of 37 ℃. In the acidification digester, the main product was acetic acid, with the maxi- mum concentration of 4289 mg·L^-1 on the fourth day, accounting for 50.32% of total volatile fatty acids. The oxidation reduction potential （ORP） and NH^＋-N level decreased gradually with hydraulic retention time （HRT） of acidification. In the second digestion phase, the maximum methanogenic bacterial concentration reached 9.6 × 10^10ml^-1 at the organic loading rate （OLR） of 3.5-4 kg VS·m^-3, with corresponding HRT of 12-16 days. Accordingly, the optimal biogas production was 0.62 m^3· （kg VS）^-1, with methane content of 65%-68%;. ORP and NH4^＋-N levels in the methanizer remained between -500 and -560 mV and 2000-4500mg· L^-1, respec- tively. Methanococcus and Methanosarcina served as the main methanogens in the anaerobic digester.

Characterization of Digestates from Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Manioc Effluent, Human Urine and Cow Dung

This study focused on the characterization of digestates resulting from anaerobic digestion of manioc effluents from attiéké factories. Two types of digestate were characterized, one consisting of manioc effluent + urine and another composed of manioc effluent + urine + cow dung. As a result, these residues of bio-digestion rich in nutrients (NPK) can be used as agricultural fertilizer. Moreover, the determination of some microorganisms and heavy metals digestates allowed to better appreciate its fertilizing quality. These parameters remained in accordance with the quality standards of a digestate prescribed. These results show that digestates from anaerobic co-digestion of manioc effluents, urine and cow dung can be used without fear as an agricultural biofertilizer.

Anaerobic Digestion of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater Pre-Treated with Catalytic Wet Peroxide Photo-Oxidation Using Copper Supported Pillared Clay Catalysts

Because phenolic compounds are toxic for methanogenic bacteria many problems concerning the high toxicity and biodegradability of the olive oil mill wastewater (OMW) have been encountered during anaerobic treatments of this effluent. In this work, we try to develop a new catalytic process for the degradation of phenolic compounds, producing less toxic OMW for methanogenic bacteria, facilitating the anaerobic digestion. This process consists of an oxidative reaction using copper supported on alumina pillared clay in presence of a photocatalytic system (H2O2 with UV light). Preliminary results showed that the use of the copper supported catalyst in presence of 0.88% H2O2 (v/v) allows after 2 h colour reduction (25%), significant abatement of total organic carbon (40%), and important removal of polyphenolic compounds (63%) especially those of high molecular mass and subsequently decreases the OMW toxicity from 100% to 70%. This catalytic pre-treatment process of OMW was efficient for anaerobic digestion.

Anaerobic Digestion of Liquid Waste from an AttiékéFactory: From the Experimental Scale to the Semi-Industrial Scale

This study focused on the transfer of experimental results of anaerobic digestion of liquid waste from an attiéké (steamed cassava semolina) factory to a 6 m3 pilot digester. The experimental digester and the pilot were powered as follows: Lw + U + C (liquid waste + urine + cow dung). To the results, the experimental digester mesophilic with a progressive elimination of COD. Also, the nitrogen concentrations in the experimental reactor had little removal with alkaline pH. As for the biogas product in this digester, a volume of 3.6 m3 was obtained with a positive flammability test. The transition from the laboratory scale to the semi-industrial scale retains the results of purification and fuel biogas production of the experimental digester.

Evaluation of Methane Yield on Mesophilic-Dry Anaerobic Digestion of Piggery Manure Mixed with Chaff for Agricultural Area

A mesophilic-dry anaerobic digestion process is valid in treating high-concentration substrates containing low moisture content. It has merits of lower wastewater discharge and lower heat capacity required in maintaining reactor temperature as compared with a thermophilic-wet anaerobic digestion process. In fact, chaff can be easily obtained in farming areas and used as a mixture substrate as one of bulking agents for controlling moisture and supplying carbon. For this reason, this study applies the chaff to improve livestock manure, which contains high moisture content and is discharged from domestic pig farms. This study aims at verifying its feasibility for improving methane production efficiency on a basis of BMP (Biochemical Methane Potential) assay obtained through a series of experiments. Finding results were methane gas production and gas production per volatile solid (VS) added, and methane gas production among biogas production were increased as the chaff added in the piggery manure was increased. According to experimental results for improving the methane production efficiency, mixture of the chaff and the piggery manure played an important role in controlling the moisture content and improving the methane gas production rate, and also verified its feasibility in the mesophilic-dry anaerobic digestion process indicating relatively less difficulty for operation and management.

Effect of Sludge from Different Sources on Solid Anaerobic Digestion of Corn Straw

[Objective] The aim was to study on effect of sludge from different sources on biogas yield efficiency through anaerobic digestion of corn straw. [Method] The present research studied on daily biogas yield and the accumulated biogas amount through anaerobic digestion of corn straw and sludges from four sources. [Result] The accumulated biogas yields produced from sludges in four sources from high to low were granular sludge, river sediments, concentrated sludge and filtered sludge. The first one proved the highest at 3.73 and 56.29 L/kg VS in daily biogas yield and the accumulated biogas. [Conclusion] The research laid foundation for full utilization of straw, improvement of energy utilization and sustainable development.

The Impact of Inoculum-Substrate Ratios on Microbial Levels during Psychrophilic Anaerobic Digestion

The study evaluated impact of psychrophilic anaerobic digestion on levels of viable populations of fecal indicator bacteria using various inoculum-to-substrate ratios （I：S）. Laboratory-scale batch reactors were maintained at 10 ℃ and 20 ℃ for 25 days with dairy manure substrate. Five treatments included inoculum （control inoculum; inoculum only [CI]）, manure （control manure; substrate only [CM]）, and 3I：1S, II：IS, and 1I：3S. E. coli decreased in all treatments, while Enterococci decreased in only a few treatments. Treatment 1 I： 1S achieved highest E. coli decrease at 20 ℃ （3.11 log）; CM showed highest E. coli decrease at 10 ℃ （2.33 log）. The 1I：3 Streatment showed highest decrease of Enterococci at 20 ℃ （1.82 log）, whereas CM had highest, but less substantial, decrease at 10 ℃ （0.49 log）. These decreases may be the result of environmental conditions, namely substrate limitation for E. coli, and, increased VFA （volatile fatty acid） levels for Enterococci. Lower I：S showed higher levels of indicator organisms; less stable conditions with more acidic pH, higher VFAs, and lower biogas production. Results suggest II：IS is ideal for starting a digester at 20 ℃, whereas 3I：1S appears optimal for 10 ℃, Overall, I：S influenced chemical parameters and fecal indicators during batch psychrophilic anaerobic digestion of manure.

Comparative Analysis of Conventional Anaerobic Digestion and Bio-Electrochemical Systems in Waste Organics Utilization

Anaerobic digestion is often used as an approach to deal with high COD waste streams. Compared to the aeration systems it allows better energy management due to the biogas production but also has several limitations including inlet waste streams quality and the additional equipment required for energy harvesting. In recent years, the bio-electrochemical systems (BES) and processes are intensively studied as a method for organic waste utilization, including wastewater. They potentially could bring several benefits to the wastewater treatment, mainly due to avoiding aeration (and aeration cost) and direct energy recovering in the form of electricity. Besides their anaerobic nature, the biological processes in BES are respiration-like contrary to the fermentative degradation typical for conventional anaerobic digestion which eventually will provide better mineralization and higher efficiency in terms of COD and BOD removal in such reactors. This study is a direct comparison between conventional anaerobic digestion and Microbial Fuel Cell (as a typical BES reactor) during utilization of wastewater from industrial production of ethanol by fermentation. COD removal rates and dynamics, energy recovery properties and parameters such as secondary sludge production are investigated in order to characterize the feasibility and technological readiness of BES as a step towards their commercialization.

Co-digestion Of Olive Mill Wastewater and Swine Manure Using Up-Flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor for Biogas Production

Swine wastewater (SW) and olive mill wastewater (OMW) are two problematic wastes that have become major causes of health and environmental concerns. The main objective of the current work was to evaluate the efficiency of the co-digestion strategy for treatment of SW and OMW mixtures. Mesophilic batch reac-tors fed with mixtures of SW and OMW showed that the two adapted sludges Gadot and Prigat exhibited the best COD removal capacity and biogas production;therefore both were selected to seed up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) continuous reactors. During 170 days of operation, both sludges Gadot and Prigat showed high biodegradation potential. The highest COD removal of 85-95% and biogas production of 0.55 L?g-1 COD were obtained at a mixture consisting of 33% OMW and 67% SW. Under these conditions, an organic load of 28,000 mg?L-1 COD was reduced to 1,500-3,500 mg?L-1. These results strongly suggest that co-digestion technology using UASB reactors is a highly reliable and promising technology for wastewater treatment and biogas production.

Bioelectricity from Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Organic Solid Wastes and Sewage Sludge Using Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)

Recently microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been considered as an alternative power generation technique by utilizing organic wastes. In this study, an experiment was carried out to generate bioelectricity from co-digestion of organic waste (kitchen waste) and sewage sludge as a waste management option using microbial fuel cell (MFC) in anaerobic process. A total of five samples with different sludge-waste ratio were used with zinc (Zn) and cupper (Cu) as cell electrodes for the test. The trends of voltage generation were different for each sample in cells such as 350 mV, 263 mV, 416 mV maximum voltage were measured from sample I, II and III respectively. It was observed that the MFC with sewage sludge showed the higher values (around 960 mV) of voltages with time whereas 918 mV obtained with organic waste. Precisely comparing cases with varying the organic waste and sewage sludge ratio helps to find the best bioelectricity generation option. Using MFCs can be appeared as the solution of electricity scarcity along the world as an efficient and eco-friendly manner as well as organic solid waste and sewage sludge management.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Animal Manure and Corn Stover Reveals Linkages between Bacterial Communities and Digestion Performance

Over 3 million tons of manures are produced annually in the United States and pose environmental and health risks if not remediated. Anaerobic digestion is an effective method in treating organic wastes to reduce environmental impacts and produce methane as an alternative energy. Previous studies suggested that optimization of feed composition, hydraulic retention time, and other operational conditions can greatly improve total solids removal and increase methane productivity. These environmental factors improve functionality by altering the microbial community structure but explicit details of how the bacterial community shifts are poorly understood. Our investigations were conducted to investigate the relationship between environmental factors, microbial community structure and bioreactor efficiency by using metagenomic analysis of the microbial communities. Our results indicated that the bioreactor with the greatest methane production, digestion efficiency and reduced levels of E. coli/Shigella had a distinctive community structure at the genus level with unique and abundant uncultivated strains of Bacteroidetes. Moreover the same bioreactor was enriched in Aminomonas paucivorans and Clostridia populations that can utilize secondary metabolites produced during cellulose/hemicellulose degradation to generate hydrogen and acetate. Hence specific digestion conditions that enrich for these populations may provide a route to the optimization of co-digestion systems and control the variability in reactor performance.

Feasibility of Plug Production Utilizing Digestate from Home-Waste to Energy Systems (H-WEF)

The integration of sustainable technologies in waste management systems has become imperative in addressing the escalating challenges of agricultural productivity and sustainability. Plugs are essential when starting crop production in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) setups and greenhouses. Horticultural crops such as vegetables, fruiting, and ornamental plants that utilize plugs have demonstrated higher success rates, healthier plants, and higher total yields. The APS Laboratory for Sustainable Agriculture explored the innovative utilization of digestate from the Home Water-Energy-Food Systems (H-WEF). The H-WEF system converts household food waste into biogas, electricity, and nutrient-rich digestate. The digestate from the H-WEF system was used to produce agricultural plugs, presenting a novel approach to circular resource utilization. We carried out the growth of Rex Butterhead Lettuce Latuca sativa plugs with 1) control system (synthetic fertilizer) and seven different treatments, 2) 5% Digestate—95% RO Water (5D–95RO);3) 10% Digestate—90% RO Water (10D–90RO);4) 15% Digestate—85% RO Water (15D–85RO);5) 20% Digestate—80% RO Water (20D–80RO);6) 25% Digestate—75% RO Water (25D–75RO);7) 30% Digestate—70% RO Water (30D–70RO);8) 35% Digestate—65% RO Water (35D–65RO). The plugs were cultivated for 15 days in a controlled environment until two leaves had developed after the cotyledon. After 15 days, we collected data on wet weight (g), plug head area (cm2), total leaf area (cm2), total chlorophyll content (mg/cm2), and dry weight (g). In addition, we collected data on the Leaf Area Index (LAI, cm2/cm2) and Specific Leaf Area (SLA, cm2/g). The synthetic fertigation yielded a higher wet weight than the following treatments: 5D–95RO, 10D–90RO, and 35D–65RO. While the 30D–70RO treatment produced a larger plug head than all other treatments. The digestate-based fertilizers were comparable to the synthetic fertilizer at dilutions of 25D–75RO and 30D–70RO. This study underscores the viability of using digestate for plug production, providing crucial insights for growers navigating the challenges of sustainable agricultural practices.