Abstract
This work investigated the effect of biochar addition to mitigate VFA accumulation and enhance methane production in mesophilic food waste/sludge co-digestion. Different types of biochar derived from agricultural and forestry residues at two pyrolysis temperatures were tested. Results showed that wheat straw biochar 550 °C supported the highest specific methane yield of 381.9 LCH4/kg VSadded and VS removal efficiency of 41.62% among all treatments. Degradation of propionic acid and long-chain fatty acids such as valeric, caproic and isovaleric acids was observed. This also corresponded to an increase in methanogenic favorable substrates including acetic acid (>40%) and butyric acid (~20%) over the control. Consequently, a 24% increase in overall methane production was obtained as compared to control. This demonstrated that biochar addition had positive effects on VFA degradation and methane production which could be a useful strategy to increase the organic loading in co-digestions without the fear of process failure.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 123250 |
Journal | Bioresource Technology |
Volume | 308 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2020 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Bioengineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Waste Management and Disposal
User-Defined Keywords
- Food waste
- Mesophilic co-digestion
- Organic loading
- Syntrophic oxidation
- VFA inhibition