Abstract
The integrated system of anaerobic digestion and microbial electrolysis cells (AD-MEC) was a novel approach to enhance the degradation of food waste anaerobic digestate and recover methane. Through long-term operation, the start-up method, organic loading, and methane production mechanism of the digestate have been investigated. At an organic loading rate of 4000 mg/L, AD-MEC increased methane production by 3–4 times and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal by 20.3% compared with anaerobic digestion (AD). The abundance of bacteria Fastidiosipila and Geobacter, which participated in the acid degradation and direct electron transfer in the AD-MEC, increased dramatically compared to that in the AD. The dominant methanogenic archaea in the AD-MEC and AD were Methanobacterium (44.4–56.3%) and Methanocalculus (70.05%), respectively. Geobacter and Methanobacterium were dominant in the AD-MEC by direct electron transfer of organic matter into synthetic methane intermediates. AD-MEC showed a perfect SCOD removal efficiency of the digestate, while methane as clean energy was obtained. Therefore, AD-MEC was a promising technology for deep energy transformation from digestate.
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This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFD1100304).
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Meng Guo, Meixin Guo, and Xuejiao Qi. Writing—review and editing was conducted by Mingxiao Li. Project management and supervision was carried out by Xuan Jia. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yusen Zhu, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhu, Y., Guo, M., Qi, X. et al. Enhanced degradation and methane production of food waste anaerobic digestate using an integrated system of anaerobic digestion and microbial electrolysis cells for long-term operation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 39637–39649 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33525-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33525-1