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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Measuring Biomethane Potential of Food Scrap Waste Anaerobically Co-Digested with Waste-Activated Sludge Using Respirometry
Published on: April 26, 2024
A bioelectrochemical reactor containing carbon fiber textiles enables efficient methane fermentation from garbage
Kengo Sasaki1, Masahiko Morita, Daisuke Sasaki
1Biotechnology Sector, Environmental Science Research Laboratory, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 1646 Abiko, Abiko-shi, Chiba-ken 270-1194, Japan.
Abstract:
A packed-bed system includes supporting materials to retain microorganisms and a bioelectrochemical system influences the microbial metabolism. In our study, carbon fiber textiles (CFT) as a supporting material was attached onto a carbon working electrode in a bioelectrochemical reactor (BER) that degrades garbage slurry to methane, in order to investigate the effect of combining electrochemical regulation and packing CFT. The potential on the working electrode in the BER containing CFT was set to -1.0 V or -0.8 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). BERs containing CFT exhibited higher methane production, elimination of dichromate chemical oxygen demand, and the ratio of methanogens in the suspended fraction than reactors containing CFT without electrochemical regulation at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 27.8 gCODcr/L/day. In addition, BERs containing CFT exhibited higher reactor performances than BERs without CFT at this OLR. Our results revealed that the new design that combined electrochemical regulation and packing CFT was effective.
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