TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydrothermal pretreatment of food waste enhances performance of anaerobic co-digestion with sludge
AU - Johnravindar, Davidraj
AU - Zhao, Jun
AU - Manu, Mathikere Krishnegowda
AU - Wong, Jonathan Woon Chung
N1 - This work was supported by the Environment and Conservation Fund, Hong Kong (Grant No ECF Project 46/2020, 09/2021).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.
PY - 2025/2/5
Y1 - 2025/2/5
N2 - Food waste (FW) presents a significant opportunity for renewable energy production through anaerobic digestion (AD) when subjected to appropriate treatment. This study investigates the impact of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) on FW at varying temperature levels (90 °C, 120 °C, and 140 °C) prior to mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion with sewage sludge (SS). Results demonstrate enhanced FW hydrolysis at 120 °C, leading to a cumulative methane yield of 324.39 ± 4.5 mL/gVSadd, representing a 41.75% increase over untreated FW (228.83 ± 1.13 mL/gVSadd). Shifts in microbial communities, particularly Methanosarcina, Methanobactrium, and Methanobrevibacter, support efficient methanogenesis. Co-digestion of FW pretreated at 120 °C yields maximum energy production of 11.48 MJ/t, a 49.47% improvement compared to untreated processes. The economic analysis underscores the profitability of co-digestion with FW pretreated at 120 °C. These findings highlight the potential for enhanced methane production and energy conversion efficiency with hydrothermally pretreated FW and SS co-digestion.
AB - Food waste (FW) presents a significant opportunity for renewable energy production through anaerobic digestion (AD) when subjected to appropriate treatment. This study investigates the impact of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) on FW at varying temperature levels (90 °C, 120 °C, and 140 °C) prior to mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion with sewage sludge (SS). Results demonstrate enhanced FW hydrolysis at 120 °C, leading to a cumulative methane yield of 324.39 ± 4.5 mL/gVSadd, representing a 41.75% increase over untreated FW (228.83 ± 1.13 mL/gVSadd). Shifts in microbial communities, particularly Methanosarcina, Methanobactrium, and Methanobrevibacter, support efficient methanogenesis. Co-digestion of FW pretreated at 120 °C yields maximum energy production of 11.48 MJ/t, a 49.47% improvement compared to untreated processes. The economic analysis underscores the profitability of co-digestion with FW pretreated at 120 °C. These findings highlight the potential for enhanced methane production and energy conversion efficiency with hydrothermally pretreated FW and SS co-digestion.
KW - Co-digestion
KW - Economic analysis
KW - Energy conversion efficiency
KW - Food waste
KW - Hydrothermal pretreatment
KW - Sewage sludge
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85218028947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-025-35944-0#Abs1
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-025-35944-0
DO - 10.1007/s11356-025-35944-0
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85218028947
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 32
SP - 5259
EP - 5275
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 9
ER -
