Performance and mechanisms of short-chain fatty acids production from waste activated sludge fermentation enhanced by pretreatment synergistic syngas
TAN Hui-jie1,2, YU De-lin1, LI Shen-zhuo1, DUAN Yan-qing3, WEI Yao-li1, ZHOU Ai-juan1, YUE Xiu-ping1
1. College of Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China; 2. Shanxi Shanan LideEnvironmental Science & Technology Co., LTD, Taiyuan 030032, China; 3. Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Taiyuan Institute of Technology, Taiyuan 030008, China
Abstract:To enhance the acid production efficiency of sludge anaerobic fermentation, based on the established evidence that the inclusion of syngas improved waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation performance, this study investigated the effects of different chemical pretreatments combined with a syngas-mediated WAS fermentation system. The results showed that the free nitrous acid combined with peracetic acid (FNA/PAA) experimental group had the highest production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) ((5520.20 ±204.99) mg COD/L). However, the FNA/PAA group exhibited only 50.4% and 35.8% utilization rates for H2and CO, respectively. In contrast, the TAP group demonstrated efficient utilization of syngas, with H2and CO utilization rates reaching 99.8% and 95.8%, respectively. Moreover, the production of SCFAs in the TAP group achieved a significant level of (4663.67 ±163.86) mg COD/L. At the same time, the three-dimensional fluorescence spectrum showed that TAP group had better extracellular polymer stripping and WAS lysis efficiency. TAP group also enhanced the enrichment of acid-producing functional bacteria in the anaerobic fermentation process, and significantly increased the abundance of Firmicutes to 59.0%. In addition, Romboutsia, which can metabolize acetic acid, ethanol and H2, accounted for the highest proportion in alkali pretreatment (AP) and TAP groups (19.2% and 21.3%).
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