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Author Spotlight: Advancing Anaerobic Microbiota Research Using a Novel Respirometry Protocol
Published on: April 26, 2024
Enhanced volatile fatty acid production from food waste via anaerobic fermentation: effect of irons with different
Youcai Zhao1,2, Ran Wei1,2, Dongwei He1
1The State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
ABSTRACTFood waste is an excellent organic matter for anaerobic fermentation. This study provided a cost-effective and highly efficient volatile fatty acid (VFA) production strategy by the addition of zero-valent iron (ZVI). Results showed that VFA concentration of 44.6 g/L was obtained with the optimized conditions of 200-mesh iron powder at a dosage of 20.0 g, fermentation time of 11 d, total solids (TS) of 10 wt.%, and fermentation temperature of 37 ℃. Further, the iron of different particle sizes (iron scraps, 200-mesh iron powder, and 800-mesh iron powder) had a differential influence on total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and VFA concentrations. For the reactor containing 200-mesh iron powder, the conversion rate of organic compound into VFA increased with the increase of dosage, which reached 58.4% at the 40.0 g dosage. The mechanism revealed that the VFA production was enhanced by micro-electrolysis, which can rapidly inactivate bacteria and increase the conversion of macromolecular organics into micromolecular organics.
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