Effects of the increased solid content of waste activated sludge on syntrophic acetate oxidation for methane production through thermophilic anaerobic digestion
ZHU Jun-zhao, ZHUO Yang, HUA Fei-hu, ZHOU Meng-yu, WANG Xue-na, LIU Jin-yang, HAN Yun
School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China
Abstract:This study investigated the kinetic rate variations of each stage involved in anaerobic digestion under different ammonia loadings, in this process, the inoculated sludge was obtained from a thermophilic anaerobic digestion system with solid content of 2%. Furthermore, effects of the quick switch between low solid content (2%) and high solid content (10%) on methane production potentials were explored through feeding thermal hydrolyzed sludge to a continuous flow model. Results showed that with ammonia loading increasing, the specific methanogenic activities of typical substrates like acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and thermal hydrolyzed sludge were all decreased, while the hydrogen utilization rates (HUR) and syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) rates were not significantly affected. With continuous flow model, although the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal ratio was insufficient (27.99±3.66)% and the VFAs accumulation (10.41±2.25) g COD/L was observed when the organic loading reached 14g COD/(L·d), the pH values remained stable at (7.74±0.09). This result suggested that this switching strategy was feasible in achieving stable operating condition. The predominant hydrogen-producing acetogen and syntrophic acetate oxidizing functional genera were Coprothermobacter (15.29%), Anaerobaculum (8.89%), Tepidimicrobium (17.99%), and Syntrophomonas (1.60%) at stable stage. Moreover, Methanothrix, acetoclastic methanogen, was eliminated, while Methanosarcina and Methanothermobacter, being involved in the syntrophic acetate oxidation process, was significantly enriched. It can be concluded that the above anaerobic digestion system resists the environmental stress of high temperature and ammonia through establishing syntrophic acetate oxidation coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (SAO-HM) pathway. Overall, using conventional thermophilic anaerobic digestion sludge as the inoculated sludge is an effective strategy to achieve switching from conventional solid content to high solid thermal hydrolysis pretreatment following thermophilic anaerobic digestion (THP-TAD), and the syntrophic acetate oxidation activity of the inoculated sludge is the key factor for this successful switch.
朱俊兆, 卓杨, 华飞虎, 周梦雨, 王雪娜, 刘金洋, 韩芸. 提高污泥含固率对高温厌氧消化互营产甲烷影响[J]. 中国环境科学, 2023, 43(9): 4697-4707.
ZHU Jun-zhao, ZHUO Yang, HUA Fei-hu, ZHOU Meng-yu, WANG Xue-na, LIU Jin-yang, HAN Yun. Effects of the increased solid content of waste activated sludge on syntrophic acetate oxidation for methane production through thermophilic anaerobic digestion. CHINA ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCECE, 2023, 43(9): 4697-4707.
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