Effects of Substrate Rheological Properties on Microbial Community and Biogas Production in Anaerobic Digestion
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 8
Abstract
The relationship between microbial communities and sludge rheological properties variation were studied using thermal hydrolysis sludge as a substrate. A set of mesophilic batch anaerobic digesters fed by rheologically different substrates of the same chemistry and organic matter content were set up. The interaction link between sludge rheology, physicochemical parameters, biogas production, and microbial characteristics was studied. The results proved that the suitable viscosity () promoted the degradation efficiency of organic matter (OM) in SM-2, which contributed to the highest OM degradation level, and the biogas yield was 7.59% higher than that of the control group. The dramatic drop in yield stress () and consistency coefficient () in reacter SM-2 also meant there was more fluid-like behavior of sludge and better mass transfer between OM and microorganisms after AD. The results of high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that the proportion of the dominant archaea genus Methanothrix increased first and then decreased with increasing viscosity and had the highest relative abundance in SM-2. Bacteria phylum Firmicutes and Gram-negative Bacteroidetes dominated in all five reactors. The microbial metabolic functions predicted by FAPROTAX showed that sludge with higher viscosity had greater impact on hydrogenotrophic metabolism archaea. Substrate viscosity was significantly correlated with the richness and diversity of archaea community. These results revealed the effects of rheological properties on anaerobic digestion (AD) performance parameters and the microbial community behavior, indicating that the rheological properties could be a useful tool to monitor the operation of the digester.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
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Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 8 • August 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 25, 2022
Accepted: Mar 19, 2023
Published online: May 29, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 29, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Anaerobic processes
- Biological processes
- Biomass
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Fluid mechanics
- Fuels
- Geology
- Geotechnical engineering
- Hydrologic engineering
- Materials characterization
- Materials engineering
- Microbes
- Non-renewable energy
- Organisms
- Pollutants
- Rheology
- Sludge
- Substrates
- Thermal properties
- Thermodynamics
- Viscosity
- Waste management
- Wastes
- Water and water resources
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