Pilot-scale two-phase anaerobic digestion of deoiled food waste and waste activated sludge: Effects of mixing ratios and functional analysis

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 329; p. 138653
• Main Authors: Jiang, Wei, Tao, Jiale, Luo, Jiwu, Xie, Wengang, Zhou, Xiaojuan, Cheng, Boyi, Guo, Gang, Ngo, Huu Hao, Guo, Wenshan, Cai, Hui, Ye, Yuanyao, Chen, Yiqun, Pozdnyakov, Ivan P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2023
• Subjects: Anaerobiosis; Archaea; Bioreactors; Deoiled food waste; Food; Methane; Microbial community; Mixing ratios; Pilot scale; Refuse Disposal; Sewage - microbiology; Waste activated sludge; Waste activated sludge; Pilot scale; Mixing ratios; Deoiled food waste; Microbial community
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138653

Anaerobic co-digestion of deoiled food waste (dFW) and waste activated sludge (WAS) can address the challenges derived from mono-digestion of FW. In the present study, a pilot-scale methanogenic bioreactor of a two-phase anaerobic digestion system was developed to explore the impact of dFW/WAS volatile solids ratios on the overall performance, microbial community, and metabolic pathways. Besides, the tech-economic of the system was analyzed. The results showed that the degradation efficiency of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) was more than 84.90% for all the dFW/WAS ratios (v/v) (1:0, 39:1, 29:1, 19:1 and 9:1). Moreover, the dominant genus of bacteria and archaea with different ratios were Lactobacillus (66.84–98.44%) and Methanosaeta (53.66–80.09%), respectively. Co-digestion of dFW and WAS (29: 1 in v/v ratios) obtained the highest yield of methane (0.41 L CH4/Ladded) with approximately 90% of SCOD being removed. In the pilot-scale experiment, the co-digestion of FW and WAS makes positive contribution to reusing solid waste for improving solid management. [Display omitted] •Two-phase anaerobic co-digestion of deoiled FW and WAS was studied at pilot scale.•The addition of WAS can significantly reduce the lag time of methane production.•Biogas yield is highly affected by the VFA concentration and biometabolic pathway.•A strategy for simplifying WWTPs sludge treatment system is proposed.