Evaluating the role of salinity in enhanced biogas production from two-stage anaerobic digestion of food waste by zero-valent iron.

Salts including NaCl are the most common food flavoring agents so they are often accumulated in food waste (FW) and have potential impact on anaerobic digestion (AD) of FW. In this study, the enhanced biogas production from two-stage anaerobic digestion (TSAD) of FW by microscale zero-valent iron (ZVI) under different salinity (3, 6, 9, and 15 g NaCl/L) was evaluated. Under salinity stress, ZVI becomes a continue-release electron donor due to the enhanced corrosion and dissolution effect and the slow-down surface passivation, further improving the performance of TSAD. Experimental results revealed that the biogas production including H2 and CH4 from TSAD with 10 g/L ZVI addition was promoted under salinity stress. The maximum H2 and CH4 yield (303.38 mL H2/g-VS and 253.84 mL CH4/g-VS) were observed at the salinity 9 g NaCl/L. Compared with that of zero salinity, they increased by 40.94% and 318.46%, respectively. Additionally, Sedimentibacter, an exoelectrogen that can participate in the direct interspecies electron transfer, also exhibited the highest relative abundance (34.96%) at the salinity 9 g NaCl/L. These findings obtained in this study might be of great importance for understanding the influence of salinity on the enhanced AD by ZVI.

Electrochemical reductive removal of trichloroacetic acids by a three-dimensional binderless carbon nanotubes/ CoP/Co foam electrode: Performance and mechanism.

Numerous chlorinated disinfection by-products (DBPs) are produced during the chlorination disinfection of water. Among them, chloroacetic acids (CAAs) are of great concern due to their potential human carcinogenicity. In this study, effective electrocatalytic dechlorination of trichloroacetic acids (TCAA), a typical CAAs, was achieved in the electrochemical system with the three-dimensional (3D) self-supported CoP on cobalt foam modified by carbon nanotubes (CNT/CoP/CF) as the cathode. At a 10 mA cm-2 current density, 74.5% of TCAA (500 µg L-1) was converted into AA within 100 min. In-situ growth of CoP increased the effective electrochemical surface area of the electrode. Electrodeposited CNT promoted electron transfer from the electrode surface to TCAA. Therefore, the production of surface-adsorbed atomic hydrogen (H*) on CNT/CoP/CF was improved, further resulting in excellent electrochemical dechlorination of TCAA. The dechlorination pathway of TCAA proceeded into acetic acids via direct electronic transfer and H*-mediated reduction on CNT/CoP/CF electrode. Additionally, the electroreduction efficiency of CNT/CoP/CF for TCAA exceeded 81.22% even after 20 cycles. The highly efficient TCAA reduction performance (96.57%) in actual water revealed the potential applicability of CNT/CoP/CF in the complex water matrix. This study demonstrated that the CNT/CoP/CF is a promising non-noble metal cathode to remove chlorinated DBPs in practice.

Tetracycline hydrochloride degradation by activation of peroxymonosulfate with lanthanum copper Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite oxide: Performance and mechanism.

ABO3-type perovskite oxides have been regarded as a kind of potential catalyst for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. But some limitations such as specific pH conditions and coexisting ion interference restrict its practical application. Herein, a lanthanum copper Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite oxide (La2CuO4) was successfully synthesized through the sol-gel process and applied in the activation of PMS. And for the first time the La2CuO4/PMS system was used for tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) degradation. Results showed that La2CuO4 was a potential PMS activation catalyst in the removal of antibiotics. At optimized condition (0.2 g/L catalysts, 1 mM PMS, pH0 6.9), 96.05% of TC-HCl was removed in 30 min. In experiments of debugging control conditions, over a wide pH range of 3-11, more than 90% of TC-HCl can be removed. In the natural water treatment process, TC-HCl removal rates of about 84.2% and 70.3% were obtained in tap water and River water, respectively. According to the reusability and stability tests and the results of FTIR and XPS analysis, La2CuO4 had high structural and chemical stability. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) suggested that the active species including ·OH, SO4-· and 1O2 were detected in degradation reaction. Finally, reasonable reaction mechanisms and possible degradation pathways of TC-HCl were proposed. These results indicate that La2CuO4 can act as a potential catalyst for PMS activation to degrade TC-HCl in water.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate by carbon encapsulated Cu-Fe electroactive nanocatalysts on Ni foam.

Electrocatalytic denitrification is an attractive and effective method for complete elimination of nitrate (NO3-). However, its application is limited by the activity and stability of the electrocatalyst. In this work, a novel bimetallic electrode was synthesized, in which N-doped graphitized carbon sealed with Cu and Fe nanoparticles and immobilized them on nickel foam (CuFe NPs@NC/NF) without any chemical binder. The immobilized Cu-Fe nanoparticles not only facilitated the adsorption of the reactant but also enhanced the electron transfer between the cathode and NO3-, thus promoting the electrochemical reduction of NO3-. Therefore, the as-prepared electrode exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic activity for NO3- reduction. The composite electrode with the Cu/Fe molar ratio of 1:2 achieved the highest NO3- removal (79.4 %) and the lowest energy consumption (0.0023 kW h mg-1). Furthermore, the composite electrode had a robust NO3- removal capacity under various conditions. Benefitting from the electrochlorination on the anode, this electrochemical system achieved nitrogen (N2) selectivity of 94.0 %. Moreover, CuFe NPs@NC/NF exhibited good stability after 15 cycles, which should be attributed to the graphitized carbon layer. This study confirmed that CuFe NPs@NC/NF electrode is a promising and inexpensive electrode with long-term stability for electrocatalytic denitrification.

Efficient removal of organic contaminants in CuS-mediated solid-liquid-interfacial fenton-like system: Role of bimetallic cycle and sulfur species.

The conventional Fenton-like system (Fe(III)/H2O2) is severely limited by the inferior activity of Fe(III) on H2O2 activation to produce highly active species and the sluggish regeneration rate of Fe(II). This work significantly enhanced the oxidative breakdown of the target organic contaminant bisphenol A (BPA) by Fe(III)/H2O2 by introducing cheap CuS at a low dose of 50 mg/L. The BPA removal (20 mg/L) in CuS/Fe(III)/H2O2 system reached 89.5 % within 30 min under the optimal conditions: CuS dosage 50 mg/L, Fe(III) concentration 0.05 mM, H2O2 concentration 0.5 mM and pH 5.6. Compared to CuS/H2O2 and Fe(III)/H2O2 systems, the reaction constants had a 47- and 12.3-fold enhancement, respectively. Even compared with the conventional Fe(II)/H2O2 system, the kinetic constant also increased more than twice, further confirming the distinctive superiority of constructed system. Element species change analyses showed that Fe(III) in solution was adsorbed onto the CuS surface, and then Fe(III) was rapidly reduced by Cu(I) in the CuS lattice. Combining CuS and Fe(III) (in-situ formed CuS-Fe(III) composite) created a robust co-effect on the activation of H2O2. Also, S(-II) and its derivatives, e.g., Sn2- and S0 (as an electron donor), could quickly reduce Cu(II) to Cu(I) and ultimately oxidize to the harmless product SO42-. Notably, a mere 50 µM of Fe(III) was sufficient to maintain enough regenerated Fe(II) to effectively activate H2O2 in CuS/Fe(III)/H2O2 system. In addition, such a system achieved a broad range of pH applications and was more suitable for real wastewater containing anions and natural organic matter. Scavenging tests, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and probes further verified the critical role of •OH. This work provides a new approach to solving the problems of Fenton systems through a solid-liquid-interfacial system design and exhibits considerable application potential in wastewater decontamination.

Sulfide enhances the Fe(II)/Fe(III) cycle in Fe(III)-peroxymonosulfate system for rapid removal of organic contaminants: Treatment efficiency, kinetics and mechanism.

The activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) by Fe(II) or Fe(III) for environmental decontamination is severely limited by the low conversion rate from Fe(III) to Fe(II). Here, we found that this puzzling problem could virtually be solved by introducing trace amounts of S2-. With the addition of 0.2 mM S2-, the bisphenol A (BPA) degradation efficiency and total organic carbon (TOC) removal in PMS/Fe(III) system were improved by 3.8 and 6.0 times, respectively. Meanwhile, the kobs and PMS utilization efficiency also markedly increased by 650% and 160%, respectively. The constructed PMS/Fe(III)/S2- system exhibited a good applicability to a wide pH range (3.2 ~ 9.5) and high resistance to humic acid, Cl- and NO3-. The main reactive oxidant species in PMS/Fe(III)/S2- system were identified by scavenging experiments, electron paramagnetic resonance measurement, chemical probe approach, and 18O isotope-labeling technique. The identification results revealed that FeIVO2+ was the primary reactive oxidant species, while •OH, SO4•-, O2•- and 1O2 were also involved in the degradation of BPA. Finally, the generalizability of PMS/Fe(III)/S2- system was evaluated by varying the target pollutants, oxidants, and reducing S species. The construction of PMS/Fe(III)/S2- system provides some insights into the treatment of organic wastewaters containing S2-, e.g., from refineries and tanneries.

Achieving high-performance electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate by N-rich carbon-encapsulated Ni-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles supported nickel foam electrode.

The cathode with low-energy consumption and long-term stability is pivotal to achieve the conversion of nitrate (NO3-) to nitrogen (N2) by electrocatalytic denitrification. Herein, a binder-free electrode was synthesized by directly immobilizing N-doped graphitized carbon layer-encapsulated NiCu bimetallic nanoparticles on nickel foam (NF) (NiCu@N-C/NF) and served as the cathode for electrocatalytic NO3- reduction. Morphological characterization indicated that Ni and Cu nanoparticles were encapsulated by the N-doped graphitized carbon layer and well-dispersed on the surface of NF. Compared with monometallic composite cathode (Cu@N-C/NF and Ni@N-C/NF), NiCu@N-C/NF exhibited better NO3- removal performance (98.63 %) and lower energy consumption (0.007 kW·h mmol-1), which should be attributed to its strong adsorption ability to NO3- and excellent electron transfer property. Meanwhile, its electrocatalytic performance could be maintained in wide initial NO3- concentration (1.79-7.14 mM) and solution pH (3-11). With the assistance of electrochlorination, the N2 selectivity of electrochemical system was up to 99.89 % in the presence of 0.028 M Cl-. More importantly, NiCu@N-C/NF electrode displayed an ultra-high stability during ten recycling experiments. This study indicated that the binderless composite cathode NiCu@N-C/NF had great potential in electrocatalytic NO3- removal from wastewater.

Zirconium-modified biochar as the efficient adsorbent for low-concentration phosphate: performance and mechanism.

Achieving advanced treatment of phosphorus (P) to prevent water eutrophication and meet increasingly stringent wastewater discharge standard is an important goal of water management. In this study, a low-cost, high-efficiency phosphate adsorbent zirconium-modified biochar (ZrBC) was successfully synthesized through co-precipitation method, in which the biochar was prepared from the pyrolysis of peanut shell powder. ZrBC exhibited strong adsorption ability to low-concentration phosphate (< 1 mg·L-1) in water, and the phosphate removal reached 100% at the investigated dosage range (0.1-1.0 mg·L-1). The adsorption process could be described well by pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm model, indicating that the phosphate adsorption by ZrBC was mainly a chemical adsorption and single-layer adsorption process. The calculated static maximum phosphate adsorption capacity was 58.93 mg·g-1 at 25 °C. The ligand exchange between surface hydroxyl groups and phosphate was the main mechanism for the phosphate adsorption on ZrBC. The presence of coexisting anions except for SO42- had little effect on the phosphate removal. At the column experiment, ZrBC showed superior treatment capacities for simulated secondary effluents and the breakthrough time for 0.5 mg·L-1 effluent phosphate concentration reached 190 h. ZrBC highlights the potential as an effective and environment-friendly adsorbent for the removal of low-concentration phosphate from secondary effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation by mackinawite for the degradation of organic pollutants: Underappreciated role of dissolved sulfur derivatives.

The internal Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle is important for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation by iron-based materials to produce the reactive oxidative species (ROS) for the breakdown of organic contaminants. Previous studies have focused on the contribution of heterogeneous sulfur species to the Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle such as lattice S(-II) and surface SO32- of iron sulfides. In this study, we found that the dissolved S(-II) from mackinawite (FeS) had a substantial contribution to the Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle. Furthermore, the oxidation intermediates of the dissolved S(-II) such as S2O32- and SO32- ions could convert Fe3+ to Fe2+ in solution. The elimination of target organic pollutant bisphenol A (BPA) derived from PMS activation triggered by the dissolved Fe2+ might be enhanced by the equivalent dissolved S(-II) in the FeS/PMS system. These results revealed that previous studies underestimated the significance of PMS activation by dissolved Fe2+ of iron sulfides to organic pollutant degradation. Moreover, SO4•- and •OH were more likely to be the main ROS for BPA degradation in the FeS/PMS system compared with FeO2+. Considering that the metal sulfides have been widely used to activate PMS, H2O2 and peroxydisulfate, this study offers a new perspective on the function of sulfur in these advanced oxidation processes.

[Enhancement Effects and Mechanisms of Microscale Zero Valent Iron on the Performance of Anaerobic Co-digestion of Waste Activated Sludge and Food Waste].

Focusing on low biogas yields in the anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and food waste, the enhancing effects and mechanisms of microscale zero valent iron (mZVI) on anaerobic co-digestion was investigated. The results indicated that the addition of mZVI enhanced the methanogenesis stage of co-digestion but had no significant effect on the solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidification stages. With a dosage of 10 g·L-1 mZVI, the cumulative methane yield (based on VS) within 15 days reached 238.68 mL·g-1, which was 20.05% higher than the control group. The mechanism analysis showed that mZVI promoted electron transport system (ETS) activity (based on INTF/TS), which increased to 21.50 mg·(g·h)-1 with 10 g·L-1 mZVI compared to 13.43 mg·(g·h)-1 in the control group. Furthermore, mZVI enhanced direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) between specific bacteria and methanogens. Microbial community analysis demonstrated that the abundance of DIET-related microorganisms, such as Syntrophomonas, Methanosarcina, and Methanobacterium, was higher in presence of mZVI.

Highly selective electrochemical nitrate reduction using copper phosphide self-supported copper foam electrode: Performance, mechanism, and application.

A highly active and selective electrode is essential in electrochemical denitrification. Although the emerging Cu-based electrode has attracted intensive attentions in electrochemical NO3- reduction, the issues such as restricted activity and selectivity are still unresolved. In our work, a binder-free composite electrode (Cu3P/CF) was first prepared by direct growth of copper phosphide on copper foam and then applied to electrochemical NO3- reduction. The resulting Cu3P/CF electrode showed enhanced electrochemical performance for NO3- reduction (84.3%) with high N2 selectivity (98.01%) under the initial conditions of 1500 mg L-1 Cl- and 50 mg N L-1 NO3-. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) demonstrated that electrochemical NO3- reduction was achieved through electron transfer between NO3- and Cu0 originated from CF. The in-situ grown Cu3P served as the bifunctional catalyst, the electron mediator or bridge to facilitate the electron-transfer for NO3- reduction and the stable catalyst to produce atomic H* toward NO2- conversion. Meanwhile, the Cu3P/CF remained its electrocatalytic activity even after eight cyclic experiments. Finally, a 2-stage treatment strategy, pre-oxidation by Ir-Ru/Ti anode and post-reduction by Cu3P/CF cathode, was designed for electrochemical chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) removal from real wastewater.

Electro-assisted autohydrogenotrophic reduction of perchlorate and microbial community in a dual-chamber biofilm-electrode reactor.

The electro-assisted autohydrogenotrophic reduction of perchlorate (ClO4-) was investigated in a dual-chamber biofilm-electrode reactor (BER), in which the microbial community was inoculated from natural sediments. To avoid the effect of extreme pH and direct electron transfer on perchlorate reduction, a novel cathode configuration was designed. The pH of the cathode compartment was successfully controlled in the range of 7.2-8.4 during whole experiment. The effective biological autohydrogenotrophic reduction of perchlorate was achieved using hydrogen generated in-situ on the electrode surface, and the removal rate of 10 mg L-1 perchlorate reached 98.16% at HRT of 48 h. The highest perchlorate removal flux reached to 1498.420 mg m-2·d-1 with a 0.410 kW·h g-perchlorate-1 energy consumption. The microbial community evolution in the BER was determined by high-throughput sequencing and the results indicated that the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant at phylum level when perchlorate concentration was 10 mg L-1 or lower. And the Proteobacteria became ascendant at the perchlorate concentration of 20 mg L-1. The functional populations for perchlorate reduction were successfully enriched including Nitrosomonas (30%), Thermomonas (9%), Comamonas (8%) and Hydrogenophaga (3%). Meanwhile, the proportion of functional population in biofilm linked to perchlorate concentration. With the increase of influent perchlorate concentration, the perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) were enriched successfully and became ascendant.

Efficient degradation of bisphenol A via peroxydisulfate activation using in-situ N-doped carbon nanoparticles: Structure-function relationship and reaction mechanism.

A novel in-situ N-doped carbon nanoparticles (NCNs) was prepared through direct pyrolysis of N-rich polyaniline (PANI) without using external N-containing precursor and the as-prepared materials were employed as metal-free peroxydisulfate (PDS) activator for bisphenol A (BPA) degradation. The catalyst derived from PANI carbonization at 900 °C (NCNs-9) displayed the excellent catalytic activity to activate PDS, resulting in 96.0% BPA degradation efficiency within 20 min. The catalytic activity of NCNs was closely related to their structure-composition, and higher graphitic N content and larger BET surface area were beneficial to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The quenching tests and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) demonstrated that BPA degradation in PDS/NCNs system was accomplished via non-radical (1O2) and radical ( ·OH, SO4·-, and O2·-) pathways, in which O2·- was the main ROS. The origin of O2·- was the conversion of dissolved oxygen and the activation of PDS. The possible degradation pathways of BPA were also proposed. This study might provide inspirations to design in-situ N-doped carbon nanoparticles as the PDS activator for efficient degradation of persistent organic compound via advanced oxidation processes (AOPs).

Electrochemical Cr(VI) removal from aqueous media using titanium as anode: Simultaneous indirect electrochemical reduction of Cr(VI) and in-situ precipitation of Cr(III).

In this work, a novel method for complete Cr(Ⅵ) removal was achieved in a single-chamber cell with titanium (Ti) as anode via simultaneous indirect electro-reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) and in-situ precipitation of Cr(Ⅲ). The Cr(Ⅵ) and total Cr removal, and electric energy consumption were optimized as a function of electrochemical reactor, current density, initial Cr(Ⅵ) and chloride (Cl-) concentration, and initial solution pH. The maximum Cr(Ⅵ) and total Cr removal efficiency reached 80.5 and 79.4% respectively within 12 h at current density of 10 mA cm-2 as initial Cr(Ⅵ) concentration was 0.078 mM. Decreasing the initial solution pH was beneficial to Cr(Ⅵ) reduction, but Cr(Ⅲ) precipitation was inhibited, resulting in the poor total Cr removal. The suitable Cl- concentration guaranteed sufficient reducing agents (Ti3+ and Ti2+) for Cr(Ⅵ) removal. The reaction mechanism demonstrated that Ti anode could be corroded to produce Ti3+ and Ti2+, which provided the electrons for reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(Ⅲ). Simultaneously, the solid products (Ti2O(6x-y-z+52)Cl2yCr2x(OH)2z(s)) were in-situ formed and precipitated from the solution due to the continuous generation of hydroxyl ion (OH-) from cathode. This study might provide a new electrochemical method with non-precious metal as the electrode for complete Cr(Ⅵ) removal from aqueous media.

Enhanced anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and food waste by sulfidated microscale zerovalent iron: Insights in direct interspecies electron transfer mechanism.

The enhancement of zerovalent iron (ZVI) on anaerobic digestion (AD) has been proved, but there are still some problems that constrain the large-scale application of ZVI, such as the destruction of cell membrane and the inhibition of methanogenesis led by rapid H2 accumulation. Aiming at these problems, sulfidated microscale zerovalent iron (S-mZVI) was employed to evaluate its effect on anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) and food waste (FW). Experimental results showed that S-mZVI promoted the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) between specific bacteria and methanogens, resulting in higher methane yield. At S-mZVI 10 g/L, the cumulative methane yield and ETS activity reached 264.78 mL/g-VS and 24.62 mg INTF/(g-TS h), which was 1.33 and 1.83 times that of blank. Microbiological analysis demonstrated that the abundance of DIET-related microorganisms such as Syntrophomonas, Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium increased with the increasing dosage of S-mZVI.

Heterogeneous activation of persulfate by Ag doped BiFeO3 composites for tetracycline degradation.

Persulfate (PS) activation have been extensively considered as a promising technology for removing recalcitrant pollutants, due to their production of radicals with superior oxidation reactivity. However, a catalyst with high reactive and convenient recovery for PS activation still remains to be developed. In this work, the silver-doped bismuth ferrite (Agx-BiFeO3, x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) catalysts with variable Ag content were synthesized via a facile sol-gel method and applied as heterogeneous catalyst in PS activation for tetracycline (TC) degradation. Ag0.4-BiFeO3 presented the best catalytic activity compared with other Ag doped BiFeO3 composites, 91% TC could be efficiently removed within 60 min under optimized conditions and the reaction rate constant was 0.0338 min-1. On the basis of the characterization analysis and catalytic test results, Ag could be the effective active site in PS activation and had a significant effect on PS activation. Moreover, the initial pH has negligible effect on the catalytic performance, indicating that Ag0.4-BiFeO3/PS system could work in a wide pH range. The results of electron spin-resonance spectroscopy and radical quenching tests suggested that both SO4- and OH radicals were involved in the Ag0.4-BiFeO3/PS system. The possible mechanism of Ag0.4-BiFeO3 activating PS and the major degradation pathway of TC degradation were proposed. At last, the reusability experiment results proved that Ag0.4-BiFeO3 catalyst still has a high catalytic performance after 4 times used.

Effect of citric acid on extracellular polymeric substances disruption and cell lysis in the waste activated sludge by pH regulation.

This paper investigated the effects of citric acid (CA) on extracellular polymer destruction and cell lysis in sludge at different initial pH by measuring capillary suction time (CST), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and intracellular bound water. The results indicated that under CA concentration at 0.05 g/g suspended solids (SS) and initial pH 4, the CST value decreased from 175.5 s to 112.3 s, slime extracellular polymeric substances (S-EPS) and loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) content respectively to increase from 4.92 to 41.43, 2.27 to 5.49 mg/g volatile suspended solids (Vss), while tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) content to decrease from 12.35 to 5.01 mg/g (Vss), which suggested CA could disrupt outer EPS effectively. Intracellular bound water content decreased from 1.23 g/g to 0.41 g/g dry solid (DS). As a result, CA could release intracellular bound water effectively, thereby improving sludge dewatering degree.

Effect of clarithromycin on the production of volatile fatty acids from waste activated sludge anaerobic fermentation.

This study investigated the effect of Clarithromycin (CLA) on volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production during waste activated sludge (WAS) anaerobic fermentation for the first time. Experimental results showed that when CLA concentration in WAS increased from 0 to 1000 mg/kg TSS, the maximum yield of VFAs increased from 27.7 to 35.7 mg COD/g VSS (without pH pretreatment) and from 59.3 to 65.6 mg COD/g VSS (initial pH 9 pretreatment), respectively. Mechanism exploration revealed that CLA facilitated the disruption of extracellular polymeric substances, thus promoting WAS solubilization. CLA inhibited all the other anaerobic fermentation processes. However, its inhibition to acetogenesis and methanogenesis was severer than that to hydrolysis and acidogenesis, resulting in the decrease in VFAs consumption. Microbial analysis showed that CLA slightly increased the abundance of microorganisms responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis whereas decreased the proportion of VFAs-consuming microorganisms.

Evaluating the effect of biochar on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge and microbial diversity.

This study compared the effects of sewage sludge-derived pyrochar (PC300, PC500, and PC700) and hydrochar (HC180, HC240, and HC300) on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). It was demonstrated that hydrochar can better promote the methane production compared with pyrochar. The highest accumulative methane yield of 132.04 ±â€¯4.41 mL/g VSadded was obtained with HC180 addition. In contrast, the PC500 and PC700 showed a slightly negative effect on methane production. Sludge-derived HC not only accelerated the solubilization and hydrolysis of sludge floc, but also improved the production of acetic acid and propionate, further resulting in improved methane production. Simultaneously, the syntrophic microbes facilitating direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) such as Syntrophomonas, Peptococcaceae, Methanosaeta and Methanobacterium bred rapidly with the addition of HCs. These results indicated that the hydrochar is more ideal as the accelerant to promote the methane production from mesophilic anaerobic digestion of WAS than the pyrochar.