Mesophilic and thermophilic fermentation of activated sludge for volatile fatty acids production: focusing on anaerobic degradation of carbohydrate and protein.

The volatile fatty acids (VFAs) productions, as well as particulate organics decomposition, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) yield, and the VFAs production pathways from mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic fermentation in waste activated sludge were investigated. Batch experiments showed that the decomposition rate of volatile suspended solids (VSS), particulate carbohydrate (P-C) and particulate protein (P-P) followed the first-order kinetic model at different temperatures. However, the intermediates, accumulated in the process of protein or carbohydrate digestion had a more significant inhibitory effect on the production of VFAs during the mesophilic anaerobic acidification process. The production of VFAs by thermophilic anaerobic fermentation is 2086.05 mg COD/L, which is about twice the production under mesophilic conditions. Among them, the concentration and proportion of high molecular weight organic acids such as isobutyric acid (320.29 mgCOD/L) and isovaleric acid (745.75 mgCOD/L) are relatively high. Then 13C stable isotope labelling experiment demonstrated that, the decomposition of carbohydrates yields 77% acetic acid and 86% butyric acid, while protein breakdown produces 85% propionic acid and 99% valeric acid. This confirms that carbohydrates are more favourable for the formation of even-carbon organic acids, while proteins tend to yield odd-carbon organic acids. Additionally, this helps refine the pathway for valeric acid formation during anaerobic acidogenesis.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by bacterial consortium from excess sludge fermentation liquid at laboratory and pilot scales.

The generation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from excess sludge fermentation liquid (SFL) was studied at lab and pilot scale. A PHA-accumulated bacterial consortium (S-150) was isolated from activated sludge using simulated SFL (S-SFL) contained high concentration volatile fatty acids (VFA) and nitrogen. The maximal PHA content accounted for 59.18% in S-SFL and dropped to 23.47% in actual SFL (L-SFL) of the dry cell weight (DCW) at lab scale. The pilot-scale integrated system comprised an anaerobic fermentation reactor (AFR), a ceramic membrane system (CMS) and a PHA production bio-reactor (PHAR). The PHA content from pilot-scale SFL (P-SFL) finally reached to 59.47% DCW with the maximal PHA yield coefficient (YP/S) of 0.17 g PHA/g COD. The results indicated that VFA-containing SFL was suitable for PHA production. The adverse impact of excess nitrogen and non-VFAs in SFL might be eliminated by pilot-scale domestication, which might resulted in community structure optimization and substrate selective ability improvement of S-150.

Influences of volatile solid concentration, temperature and solid retention time for the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge to recover volatile fatty acids.

The study evaluated influences of sludge concentration, temperature and solids retention time (SRT) for the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge (WAS) in anaerobic digesters. The results indicated that volatile fatty acids (VFA) production increased when the concentration of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) was higher. When SRT was 48 h, VFA concentration increased 8.43 times from 4.57 to 23.78 gMLVSS/L. VFA generation was significantly affected with different temperature and SRT. When the temperature changed from 40 to 50°C, it induced 1.65-fold increase in VFA yield. The optimal SRT was 48 h. As VFA concentration decreased only 1.31 times compared with maximum VFA production at SRT of 120 h. Iso-valeric acid, acetic acid and n-butyric acid were the dominant VFA produced and would improve ployhydroxyvalerate proportion in polymer. The feasibility of nitrogen and phosphorus recovery and the risk of metal ion released depended on the nature of WAS.