Resilience towards organic load and activated sludge variations in co-fermentation for carboxylic acid production

N. Perez-Esteban, J. Vives-Egea, J. Dosta, S. Astals*, M. Peces

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Two perturbations were investigated in acidogenic co-fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) and food waste in continuous mesophilic fermenters: increasing the organic loading rate (OLR) and changing the WAS. A control reactor maintained an OLR of 11 gVS/(L·d), while a test reactor had a prolonged OLR change to 18 gVS/(L·d). For each OLR, two WAS were studied. The change in OLR led to differentiated fermentation product profile without compromising the fermentation yields (∼300 mgCOD/gVS). At 11 gVS/(L·d), the product profile was dominated by acetic, butyric, and propionic acids while at 18 gVS/(L·d) it shifted to acetic acid, ethanol, and caproic acid. Reverting the OLR also reverted the fermentation profile. The biomass immigration with the WAS changed the fermentation microbial structure and introduced acetic acid-consuming methanogens, which growth was only delayed by the OLR increase. Microbial monitoring and post-fermentation tests can be used for early detection of acetic acid-consuming events.

Original languageEnglish
Article number131034
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume406
ISSN0960-8524
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

  • Excess sludge
  • Microbial community
  • Mixed-culture fermentation
  • Organic fraction of municipal solid waste
  • Volatile fatty acids

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