Study on the inhibition of methane production from anaerobic digestion of biodegradable solid waste

The inhibition effects and mechanisms of chlorinated methane, anthraquinone and acetylene on methanogenesis in the anaerobic digestion process of biodegradable solid wastes were investigated. It was found that both chloroform and acetylene could effectively inhibit methanogens. Acetylene inhibited the activity of methanogens, while chloroform inhibited metabolic process of methanogenesis. A central composite design (CCD) and response surface regression analysis (RSREG) were employed to determine the optimum conditions and interaction effects of chloroform and acetylene in terms of methane and hydrogen production. Acetylene promoted the inhibition efficiency (F = 31.14; P < 0.01) more effectively than chloroform (F = 2.46; P > 0.05). In addition, a maximum hydrogen production of 1.6 ml was estimated under the optimum conditions of chloroform concentration of 6.69 mg kg(-1) and acetylene concentration of 3.08 x 10(-3) (v/v). Chloroform had a significant effect on enhancing the production of propionic acid and a minimum molar ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid of 0.707 was reached with the chloroform concentration of 9.24 mg kg(-1) and acetylene concentration of 4.0 x 10(-3) (v/v). Hence, methanogens can be inhibited while the stabilization process of solid wastes can still work well. Moreover, co-inhibition technology practice at landfills was feasible and the environmental damage was negligible, according to the analysis and experimental results.