Journal Article

Anaerobic digestion of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) sludge and the microbial community structure

Lau, Frankie T. K., Wang, Yubo, Zhang, Tong, Xia, Yu, Ju, Feng, Fung, W. C., Huang, Danping

2016

Overview

The effectiveness and treatment conditions of FeCl 3 - and AlCl 3 -coagulated municipal sewage sludge from chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) using anaerobic digestion (AD) and the structure of microbial community were investigated. The results based on 297 measurements under different operational conditions demonstrate good average AD performance of CEPT sludge, that is, percent volatile solid reduction of 58 %, specific biogas production (or biogas yield) of 0.92 m 3 /kg volatile solids (VS) destroyed, and methane content of 65.4 %. FeCl 3 dosing, organic loading rate, temperature, and hydraulic retention time all significantly affected AD performance. FeCl 3 dosing greatly improved specific methane production (methane yield) by 38–54 % and significantly reduced hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) content in biogas (from up to 13,250 to <200 ppm), contributing to higher methane recovery and simplified biogas cleaning for power generation. Metagenomic analysis suggested that anaerobic digesters of both CEPT sludge and combined primary and secondary sludge were dominated by Bacteroidetes , Proteobacteria , Firmicutes , Actinobacteria , Thermotogae , and Chloroflexi . However, Methanomicrobia methanogens were better enriched in the anaerobic digesters of CEPT sludge than in the combined sludge. Further, different sources of CEPT sludge with various chemical properties nurtured shared and unique microbial community composition. Combined, this study supports AD as an efficient technology for CEPT sludge treatment and poses first insights into the microbial community structure.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Actinobacteria / Alternative energy sources / Aluminum / Aluminum chloride / Aluminum Compounds - metabolism / anaerobic digesters / Anaerobic digestion / Anaerobic microorganisms / Anaerobic treatment / Anaerobiosis / Analysis / Bacteria - classification / Bacteria - metabolism / Bacteroidetes / Biofuels / Biogas / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biosynthesis / Biota / Biotechnology / Chemical Precipitation / Chemical properties / Chlorides - metabolism / Chloroflexi / cleaning / Community composition / Community structure / Digesters / Dosage / Environmental Biotechnology / Ferric chloride / Ferric Compounds - metabolism / Firmicutes / Genomics / Hydraulic retention time / Hydraulics / Hydrogen sulfide / Landfill / Life Sciences / Load distribution / Loading rate / Metagenomics / Methane / methane production / Methanogenic bacteria / methanogens / Methods / Microbial colonies / microbial communities / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / Microbiology / Microbiomes / Microorganisms / Municipal solid waste / Municipal wastes / Municipal wastewater / Organic loading / physicochemical properties / power generation / Proteobacteria / Renewable resources / Retention time / Salinity / Sewage - microbiology / Sewage sludge / Sewage sludge digestion / Sludge / Sludge digestion / Sludge treatment / Studies / temperature / Thermotogae / Volatile solids