Microbial dynamics during anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge combined with food waste at high organic loading rates in immersed membrane bioreactors

Succession from acetoclastic to hydrogenotrophic microbial community during sewage sludge anaerobic digestion for bioenergy production

To assess microbial dynamics during anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge (SWS) from a municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), a Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) assay at 37 °C under mono-digestion conditions was conducted. Utilizing the Illumina MiSeq platform, 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing unveiled a core bacterial community in the solid material, showcasing notable variations in profiles. The research investigates changes in microbial communities and metabolic pathways to understand their impact on the efficiency of the digestion process. Prior to AD, the relative abundance in SWS was as follows: Proteobacteria > Bacteroidota > Actinobacteriota. Post-AD, the relative abundance shifted to Firmicutes > Synergistota > Proteobacteria, with Sporanaerobacter and Clostridium emerging as dominant genera. Notably, the methanogenic community underwent a metabolic pathway shift from acetoclastic to hydrogenotrophic in the lab-scale reactors. At the genus level, Methanosaeta, Methanolinea, and Methanofastidiosum predominated initially, while post-AD, Methanobacterium, Methanosaeta, and Methanospirillum took precedence. This metabolic transition may be linked to the increased abundance of Firmicutes, particularly Clostridia, which harbor acetate-oxidizing bacteria facilitating the conversion of acetate to hydrogen.

The effects of headspace volume reactor on the microbial community structure during fermentation processes for volatile fatty acid production

The transition from traditional wastewater treatment plants to biorefineries represents an environmentally and economically sustainable approach to extracting valuable compounds from waste. Sewage sludge produced from wastewater treatment is incinerated or disposed of in specific landfills. Repurposing this waste material to recover valuable resources could help lower disposal costs and reduce environmental impact by producing other beneficial polymers. Microorganisms present in the sewage sludge can ferment organic pollutants, producing volatile fatty acids (VFA), precursors for biopolymers that could be used as an alternative to petroleum-derived plastics. To boost VFA production during sewage sludge fermentation, it is necessary to understand the operating microbial community and its metabolic capacities in anaerobic conditions. This study presents the influence of the headspace volume on the microbial community and the VFA production to define the best operational parameters in a 225 L pilot plant fermenter. The wasted sewage sludge was withdrawn from an oxic-settling-anaerobic plant that collected wastewater from the canteen and dormitory of the UNIPA Campus (Palermo University, Italy) and incubated using a 40% and a 60% headspace volume. The microbial community was analysed before and after the fermentation process through metataxonomic analysis, and VFA yields were determined by gas chromatography analysis. Our results showed that the 40% headspace volume induced a tenfold higher VFA production than the 60% headspace volume, modulating the microbial community's efforts to establish a VFA-producing factory. Notably, at 40% headspace, the relative abundance of bacteria, like Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi, significantly increased, as well as the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia decreased during the fermentation process. This result is consistent with the selection of efficient VFA-producing bacteria that lead to increased VFA yields that are not obtained at 60% headspace. Thus, reducing headspace is a promising strategy that can be implemented, even in full-scale plants, to optimise the wastewater reuse process and maximise VFA production to produce bioplastics, like polyhydroxyalkanoate, for the transition from linear wastewater treatment plants to circular biorefineries.

Enhancing assimilatory sulfate reduction with ferrihydrite-humic acid coprecipitate in anaerobic sulfate-containing wastewater treatment

Sulfide produced from dissimilatory sulfate reduction can combine with hydrogen to form hydrogen sulfide, causing odor issues and environmental pollution. To address this problem, ferrihydrite-humic acid coprecipitate was added to improve assimilatory sulfate reduction (ASR), resulting in a decrease in sulfide production (190.2 ± 14.6 mg/L in the Fh-HA group vs. 246.3 ± 8.1 mg/L in the Fh group) with high sulfate removal. Humic acid, adsorbed on the surface of ferrihydrite, delayed secondary mineralization of ferrihydrite under sulfate reduction condition. Therefore, more iron-reducing species (e.g. Trichococcus, Geobacter) were enriched with ferrihydrite-humic acid coprecipitate to transfer more electrons to other species, which led to more COD reduction, an increase in electron transfer capacity, and a decrease in the NADH/NAD+ ratio. Metagenomic analysis also indicated that functional genes related to ASR was enhanced with ferrihydrite-humic acid coprecipitate. Thus, the addition of ferrihydrite-humic acid coprecipitate can be considered as a promising candidate for anaerobic sulfate wastewater treatment.

Batch and semi-continuous treatment of cassava wastewater using microbial fuel cells and metataxonomic analysis

The treatment of agroindustrial wastewater using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is a technological strategy to harness its chemical energy while simultaneously purifying the water. This manuscript investigates the organic load effect as chemical oxygen demand (COD) on the production of electricity during the treatment of cassava wastewater by means of a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell in batch mode. Additionally, specific conditions were selected to evaluate the semi-continuous operational mode. The dynamics of microbial communities on the graphite anode were also investigated. The maximum power density delivered by the batch MFC (656.4 μW m- 2 ) was achieved at the highest evaluated organic load (6.8 g COD L- 1 ). Similarly, the largest COD removal efficiency (61.9%) was reached at the lowest organic load (1.17 g COD L- 1 ). Cyanide degradation percentages (50-70%) were achieved across treatments. The semi-continuous operation of the MFC for 2 months revealed that the voltage across the cell is dependent on the supply or suspension of the organic load feed. The electrode polarization resistance was observed to decreases over time, possibly due to the enrichment of the anode with electrogenic microbial communities. A metataxonomic analysis revealed a significant increase in bacteria from the phylum Firmicutes, primarily of the genus Enterococcus.

Impacts of microplastic type on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes and horizontal gene transfer mechanism during anaerobic digestion

Microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are important pollutants in waste activated sludge (WAS), but their interactions during anaerobic digestion (AD) still need to be further explored. This study investigated variations in ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and host bacteria during AD under the pressure of polyamide (PA), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP). The results showed that the MPs increased methane production by 11.7-35.5%, and decreased ARG abundance by 5.6-24.6%. Correlation analysis showed that the decrease of MGEs (plasmid, prophage, etc.) promoted the decrease of the abundance of multidrug, aminoglycoside and tetracycline resistance genes. Metagenomic annotation revealed that the reduction of key host bacteria (Arenimonas, Lautropia, etc.) reduced the abundance of major ARGs (rsmA, rpoB2, etc.). Moreover, PP MPs contributed to a reduction in the abundance of functional genes related to the production of reactive oxygen species, ATP synthesis, and cell membrane permeability, which was conducive to reducing the potential for horizontal gene transfer of ARGs. These findings provide insights into the treatment of organic waste containing MPs.

Allophane improves anaerobic digestion of chicken manure by alleviating ammonia inhibition and intensifying direct interspecies electron transfer

Synthesized allophane was employed in anaerobic digestion of chicken manure to improve the stability and methane production under ammonia inhibition. Adding 0.5 %, 1.0 % and 1.5 % (w/w) allophane increased the methane production by 261 ∼ 350 % compared with the group without allophane addition. Further investigation indicated that the maximum adsorption capacity of allophane for NH4+-N achieved at 261.9 mg/g; it suggested that allophane adsorption potentially alleviated the ammonia inhibition, which also was reflected by the increase in the activity of the related enzyme, such as coenzyme F420. Moreover, allophane addition also intensified the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) in anaerobic digestion; it can be well supported by the increased relative abundance of Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina involved in the DIET. Overall, the improved anaerobic digestion via alleviating ammonia inhibition and intensifying DIET by allophane was elucidated comprehensively, which can contribute to the development of a functional additive for efficient anaerobic digestion in practical application.

Enhancing biomethanation performance through co-digestion of diverse organic wastes: a comprehensive study on substrate optimization, inoculum selection, and microbial community analysis

A blend of organic municipal solid waste, slaughterhouse waste, fecal sludge, and landfill leachate was selected in different mixing ratios to formulate the best substrate mixture for biomethanation. Individual substrates were characterized, and the mixing ratio was optimized with the help of a response surface methodology tool to a value of 1:1:1:1 (with a C/N ratio of 28±0.769 and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration of 2500±10.53 mg/L) to improve the overall biomethanation. The optimized blend (C/N ratio: 28.6, VFA: 2538 mg/L) was characterized for physicochemical, biological, and microbial properties and subjected to anaerobic digestion in lab-scale reactors of 1000 mL capacity with and without the addition of inoculum. The biogas yield of individual substrates and blends was ascertained separately. The observed cumulative biogas yield over 21 days from the non-inoculated substrates varied between 142±1.95 mL (24.6±0.3 ml/gVS) and 1974.5±21.72 mL (270.4±3.1 ml/gVS). In comparison, the addition of external inoculation at a 5% rate (w/w) of the substrate uplifted the minimum and maximum cumulative gas yield values to 203±9.9 mL (35.0±1.6 mL/gVS) and 3394±13.4 mL (315.3±1.2 mL/gVS), respectively. The inoculum procured from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was screened in advance, considering factors such as maximizing VFA production and consumption rate, biogas yield, and digestate quality. A similar outcome regarding biogas yield and digestate quality was observed for the equivalent blend. The cumulative gas yield increased from 2673±14.5 mL (373.7±2.2 mL/gVS) to 4284±111.02 mL (391.47±20.02 mL/gVS) over 21 days post-application of a similar dosage of DRDO inoculum. The 16S rRNA genomic analysis revealed that the predominant bacterial population belonged to the phylum Firmicutes, with the majority falling within the orders Clostridiales and Lactobacillales. Ultimately, the study advocates the potential of the blend mentioned above for biomethanation and concomitant enrichment of both biogas yield and digestate quality.

Bio-conversion of whey lactose using enzymatic hydrolysis with β-galactosidase: an experimental and kinetic study

Lactose in cheese whey is increasingly challenging to metabolise under normal conditions. The hydrolysis of whey lactose into glucose and galactose using enzymatic methods has been acclaimed to confer benefits like enhanced substrate availability for better degradation in anaerobic digestion. In the present study, whey lactose was subjected to hydrolysis using the enzyme β-galactosidase derived from Aspergillus oryzae fungus to reduce the difficulty of lipid and fat transformation in anaerobic digestion. The individual and combined effects of hydrolysis parameters, pH, enzyme load, reaction time and temperature were studied using Response Surface Methodology by Central Composite Design. The optimum conditions were determined based on variance analyses and surface plots; pH 4.63, temperature 40.47°C, reaction time 25.96 min and enzyme load 0.49%. Results showed a maximum lactose hydrolysis value of 86.21%, while the predicted value was 87.44%. Indeed, enzyme hydrolysis induced a change of soluble chemical oxygen demand around 24.6% and 75.8% reduction in volatile fatty acid concentration. Upon anaerobic digestion, the pre-hydrolysed whey revealed a 3.6-fold higher bio-methane production than that of raw hey, and a visible decrease in volatile fatty acid concentrations. The resultant data agreed with the Gompertz model, and lag phase times were significantly reduced for hydrolysed whey.

Enhancing volatile fatty acid production from sewage sludge in batch fermentation tests

Volatile fatty acids (VFA) from sewage sludge represent an excellent recovered resource from wastewater treatment. This study investigated four sludge pre-treatments (namely, potassium permanganate - KMnO4, initial pH = 10, initial pH = 2.5 and low-temperature thermal hydrolysis) by operating batch reactors under acidogenic fermentation conditions. Results revealed that 0.1 g KMnO4/g of total suspended solids represents the best pre-treatment obtaining up to 2713 mgCOD L-1 and 452 mgCOD/g of volatile suspended solids. These results also paralleled metataxonomic analysis highlighting changes in prokaryotic microbial structures of sewage sludge of the batch fermentations subjected to the different pre-treatments.

Modeling interactions of Clostridium cadaveris and Clostridium sporogenes in anaerobic acidogenesis of glucose and peptone

This study focuses on developing a mathematical model to assess interaction among acidogenic bacteria during the anaerobic degradation of two substrates. Clostridium cadaveris and Clostridium sporogenes were cultured in various combinations with glucose and peptone. Parameter estimates are given for both conventional Monod parameters from single substrate-single species cultures and sum kinetics with interaction parameters obtained from dual substrate-single species cultures. The presence of multiple substrates led to both inhibitory and enhancing effects on biodegradation rates for dual substrates compared to single substrate cultures. A new model of interspecies interaction was developed within the framework of Lotka-Volterra incorporating substrate interaction parameters, with a focus on accuracy, realism, simplicity, and biological significance. The model demonstrated competitive interaction for resource sharing and the additional non-linearity parameter eliminated the constraint of the linear relationship between growth rate and population density.

Pilot-scale investigation of conductive carbon cloth amendment for enhancing high-solids anaerobic digestion and mitigating antibiotic resistance

This study examined the effectiveness of introducing conductive carbon cloth into a pilot-scale high-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) system. Adding carbon cloth increased methane production by 22 % and improved the maximum methane production rate by 39 %. Microbial community characterization indicated a possible direct interspecies electron transfer-based syntrophic association among microbes. Using carbon cloth also enhanced microbial richness, diversity, and evenness. Carbon cloth effectively reduced the total abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) by 44.6 %, mainly by inhibiting horizontal gene transfer, as shown by the significant decrease in the relative abundance of integron genes (particularly intl1). The multivariate analysis further demonstrated strong correlations of intl1 with most of the targeted ARGs. These findings suggest that carbon cloth amendment can promote efficient methane production and attenuate the spread of ARGs in HSAD systems.

Improvement of MBBR-MBR Performance by the Addition of Commercial and 3D-Printed Biocarriers

Moving bed biofilm reactor combined with membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) constitute a highly effective wastewater treatment technology. The aim of this research work was to study the effect of commercial K1 biocarriers (MBBR-MBR K1 unit) and 3D-printed biocarriers fabricated from 13X and Halloysite (MBBR-MBR 13X-H unit), on the efficiency and the fouling rate of an MBBR-MBR unit during wastewater treatment. Various physicochemical parameters and trans-membrane pressure were measured. It was observed that in the MBBR-MBR K1 unit, membrane filtration improved reaching total membrane fouling at 43d, while in the MBBR-MBR 13X-H and in the control MBBR-MBR total fouling took place at about 32d. This is attributed to the large production of soluble microbial products (SMP) in the MBBR-MBR 13X-H, which resulted from a large amount of biofilm created in the 13X-H biocarriers. An optimal biodegradation of the organic load was concluded, and nitrification and denitrification processes were improved at the MBBR-MBR K1 and MBBR-MBR 13X-H units. The dry mass produced on the 13X-H biocarriers ranged at 4980-5711 mg, three orders of magnitude larger than that produced on the K1, which ranged at 2.9-4.6 mg. Finally, it was observed that mostly extracellular polymeric substances were produced in the biofilm of K1 biocarriers while in 13X-H mostly SMP.

Scientific characterization methods for better utilization of cattle dung and urine: a concise review

Cattle are usually raised for food, manure, leather, therapeutic, and draught purposes. Biowastes from cattle, such as dung and urine, harbor a diverse group of crucial compounds, metabolites/chemicals, and microorganisms that may benefit humans for agriculture, nutrition, therapeutics, industrial, and other utility products. Several bioactive compounds have been identified in cattle dung and urine, which possess unique properties and may vary based on agro-climatic zones and feeding practices. Therefore, cattle dung and urine have great significance, and a balanced nutritional diet may be a key to improved quality of these products/by-products. This review primarily focuses on the scientific aspects of biochemical and microbial characterization of cattle biowastes. Various methods including genomics for analyzing cattle dung and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy for cattle urine have been reviewed. The presented information might open doors for the further characterization of cattle resources for heterogeneous applications in the production of utility items and addressing research gaps. Methods for cattle's dung and urine characterization.

Valorization of food waste into short-chain fatty acids via enzymatic pretreatment: Effects of fermentation-pH on acid-producing processes and microbial metabolic functions

Food waste (FW) has been widely considered as an essential resource for the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), an important class of chemicals with wide applications and over 20 million tons of annual market demand, by anaerobic fermentation. Although enzymatic pre-treatment could improve the FW biodegradation efficiency, resulting in enhanced efficiency of solubilization and hydrolysis, the influence of fermentation-pH on the SCFAs production and the metabolic functions, have rarely been reported. This study demonstrated that the uncontrolled pH could efficiently lead to an increase in the SCFAs production (33011 mgCOD/L) during long-term fermentation of FW (mainly consisting of 48.8% carbohydrates, 20.6% proteins, and 17.4% lipids) after enzymatic pre-treatment compared to the control (16413 mgCOD/L). Meanwhile, the acid-producing processes (i.e., solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidification) were synchronously enhanced by the enzymatic pre-treatment and no control over fermentation-pH. Metagenomic analysis revealed that the acid-forming microorganisms (i.e., Olsenella sp. and Sporanaerobacter) were significantly accumulated, and the corresponding genetic expressions related to extracellular hydrolysis (i.e., aspB and gltB), membrane transport (i.e., metL and glnH), and intracellular material metabolism (i.e., pfkA and ackA) were evidently stimulated, thereby promoting ultimate SCFAs generation. Although the alkaline conditions could further slightly increase the SCFAs yield slightly (37100 mgCOD/L) and also stimulate the metabolic activities, it might not be suitable for large-scale practical applications due to additional costs associated with alkaline chemical additives.

Influence of anaerobic biotransformation process of agro-industrial waste with Lactobacillus acidophilus on the rheological parameters: case of study of pig manure

This study evaluated the rheological behavior of the pig waste biotransformation process to produce lactic acid (LA) and biomass with Lactobacillus acidophilus in a stirred reactor. In addition, cell growth, carbohydrate consumption, and LA production were measured at three different agitation speeds, 100, 150, and 200 rpm at 37 °C, with a reaction time of 52 h. During the development of the process, the kinetic and rheological parameters were obtained using the logistic, Gompertz, generalized Gompertz, Ostwald de Waele, and Herschel-Bulkley mathematical models, respectively. The substrate used was pig manure, to which molasses was added at 12% v/v to increase the concentration of carbohydrates. The results suggest that mass exchange is favorable at low agitation speeds. Nevertheless, the presence of molasses rich in carbohydrates as a carbon source modifies the characteristics of the fluid, dilatant (n > 1) at the beginning of the process to end up as pseudoplastic (n < 1) due to the addition of exopolysaccharides and the modification of the physical structure of the substrate. This effect was confirmed by the Herschel-Bulkley model, which presented a better fit to the data obtained, in addition to finding a direct relationship between viscosity and pH that can be used as variables for the control of bioconversion processes of pig manure into biomass rich in Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Filamentous fungi for sustainable vegan food production systems within a circular economy: Present status and future prospects

Filamentous fungi serve as potential candidates in the production of different value-added products. In the context of food, there are several advantages of using filamentous fungi for food. Among the main advantages is that the fungal biomass used food not only meets basic nutritional requirements but that it is also rich in protein, low in fat, and free of cholesterol. This speaks to the potential of filamentous fungi in the production of food that can substitute animal-derived protein sources such as meat. Moreover, life-cycle analyses and techno-economic analyses reveal that fungal proteins perform better than animal-derived proteins in terms of land use efficiency as well as global warming. The present article provides an overview of the potential of filamentous fungi as a source of food and food supplements. The commercialization potential as well as social, legal and safety issues of fungi-based food products are discussed.

Xylopentose production from crop residue employing xylanase enzyme

To produce xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) from the agriculture waste, which included, green coconut and vegetable cocktail. The two pretreatment - hydrogen peroxide-acetic acid (HP-AC) and sodium hypochlorite-sodium hydroxide (SH-SH) - were used for this study. The optimal conditions for the pretreatment were 80 °C, 4.0 % NaClO, and 2 h, followed by 0.08 % NaOH, 55 °C, and 1 h. Further enzymatic hydrolysis of green coconut (GC) and vegetable cocktail (VC) were performed and found in case of GC, the best outcomes were observed. Different types of XOS were obtained from the treated biomass whereas a single type of XOS xylo-pentose was obtained in high quantity (96.44 % and 93.09 % from CG and VC respectively) with the production of other XOS < 2 %. This study presents a reasonably secure and economical method for turning secondary crop residue into XOS and fermentable sugars.

Efficient removal of RR2 dye by electro- Ce(III) process with its elegant arts and attractive charm in performance, energy consumption and mechanism

Reactive red 2 (RR2) azo dye wastewater poses a serious hazard to the water environment health, so using a novel and efficient Electro- Ce(III) (E- Ce(III)) process takes on a critical significance in treating RR2 dye wastewater. In this study, the effects of a variety of single-factor conditions on RR2 removal efficiency were evaluated in depth. The results indicated that the optimal experimental conditions are as reaction temperature of 25 °C, Na₂SO₄ concentration of 25 mM, Ce(III) concentration of 0.3 mM, pH of 4.0, and current density of 40.0 mA/cm². When the RR2 dye wastewater was treated for 40 min under the optimal experimental conditions, a high removal rate of 99.8% for RR2 was obtained. It is suggested that the background ion PO₄^3- in the dye wastewater inhibits the E-Ce (III) process, whereas Cl- facilitates this process. Moreover, the yield of Ce(IV) increases with the increase of the current density. At the current density of 40.0 mA/cm², a reasonable energy consumption of 3.85 kW h/gTOC for the process was obtained after the 3-h treatment. The effects of different degradation processes (including Direct Electrooxidation (DEO), single Ce(III), and E-Ce (III)) on RR2 removal efficiency and TOC change were compared. The types of oxidizing substances in the E-Ce (III) process were detected, and the mechanism of RR2 oxidative degradation in the E-Ce (III) process was summarized. The result suggests that the E-Ce (III) process has low power consumption. Meanwhile, in the E-Ce (III) process, free reactive Ce(IV) with strong oxidation is continuously generated, RR2 can be efficiently degraded. And the continuous cycle transformation between Ce(III) and Ce(IV) maintains the strong oxidation of the process. The contribution of free reactive Ce(IV) and DEO to RR2 degradation was obtained as 58.8% and 39.8%, respectively. The combined effect of Ce(IV) and DEO played a major role in the E-Ce (III) process, while ·OH exhibited a relatively weak effect (nearly 1.4%). RR2 was comprised of 13 major intermediates, and the biodegradability of wastewater was improved significantly after treatment, thus facilitating the further mineralization and biodegradation of the products. The E- Ce(III) process is novel, efficient, and environment-friendly, and has a large market application space, suggesting that it can be applied as an efficient, economic, and sustainable water treatment process.

Enhanced chloride-free snow-melting agent generation from organic wastewater by integrating bioconversion and synthesis

In this study, a new process for producing chloride-free snow-melting agents (CSAs) was proposed. Organic wastewater was converted to total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) by anaerobic acidogenic fermentation. The experiments for acid generation showed that the maximum TVFA concentration of 45.9 g/L was obtained at an organic loading rate of 5 g chemical oxygen demand /(L·d), and the proportion of acetic acid reached 78.8 %. Forward osmosis was used for concentrating the TVFA solution. The obtained CSAs, after evaporation and crystallization, had a better ice-melting capacity and less corrosion on metal and concrete than NaCl and CaCl₂. Additionally, the damage caused by CSAs to the germination of plant seeds was significantly lesser than that caused by chloride salts. This study proposed a feasible method for the high-value conversion of organic wastewater, providing a new direction for the reuse of organic wastewater.

Carbon cloth amendment for boosting high-solids anaerobic digestion with percolate recirculation: Spatial patterns of microbial communities

The addition of conductive materials in anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising method for boosting biomethane recovery from organic waste. However, conductive additives have rarely been investigated for the high-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD). Here, the impact of adding carbon cloth in the solid phase of an HSAD system with percolate recirculation was investigated. Furthermore, spatial patterns of microbial communities in suspended biomass, percolate, and carbon cloth attached biofilm were assessed. Carbon cloth increased biomethane yield from source-separated organics (SSO) by 20% more than the unamended control by shortening the lag phase (by 15%) and marginally improving the methanogenesis rate constant (by ∼8%) under a batch operation for 50 days. Microbial community analysis demonstrated higher relative abundances of the archaeal population in the carbon cloth amended reactor than in unamended control (12%-21% vs. 5%-15%). Compared to percolate and suspension, carbon cloth attached microbial community showed higher enrichment of known electroactive Pseudomonas species along with Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium species, indicating the possibility of DIET-based syntrophy among these species.

Anaerobic co-digestion of kitchen waste with hyperthermophilically pretreated grass for biohydrogen and biomethane production

Anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste with grass after hyperthermophilic pretreatment was performed in semi-continuously operated reactors. The greatest methane yield of 293 NmlCH4/gVS (volatile solids) was reported for the mixture of both substrates at 55 °C with a solids retention time of 30 d and the corresponding organic lading rate of 1.72 kgVS/m3/d. In contrast, pretreated grass subjected to thermophilic digestion produced only 131 NmlCH4/gVS. However, when mesophilic conditions were applied, the digestion process turned into dark fermentation, especially visible for the mixture. Metagenomic analysis revealed the dominance Ruminococcaceae, Atopobiaceae and Lactobacillaceae at a family level in mesophilic processes, whereas Petrotogaceae, Synergistaceae, Hungateiclostridiaceae, Planococcaceae and two methanogens Methanosarcinaceae and Methanothermobacteriaceae were the most frequent microbes of thermophilic digestion. Kitchen waste can successfully be co-digested with hyperthermophilically pretreated grass at high loading rates, however the digesters must be operated at thermophilic temperatures.

Recent advances in biogas production using Agro-Industrial Waste: A comprehensive review outlook of Techno-Economic analysis

Agrowaste sources can be utilized to produce biogas by anaerobic digestion reaction. Fossil fuels have damaged the environment, while the biogas rectifies the issues related to the environment and climate change problems. Techno-economic analysis of biogas production is followed by nutrient recycling, reducing the greenhouse gas level, biorefinery purpose, and global warming effect. In addition, biogas production is mediated by different metabolic reactions, the usage of different microorganisms, purification process, upgrading process and removal of CO₂ from the gas mixture techniques. This review focuses on pre-treatment, usage of waste, production methods and application besides summarizing recent advancements in biogas production. Economical, technical, environmental properties and factors affecting biogas production as well as the future perspective of bioenergy are highlighted in the review. Among all agro-industrial wastes, sugarcane straw produced 94% of the biogas. In the future, to overcome all the problems related to biogas production and modify the production process.

Leads and hurdles to sustainable microbial bioplastic production

Indiscriminate usage, disposal and recalcitrance of petroleum-based plastics have led to its accumulation leaving a negative impact on the environment. Bioplastics, particularly microbial bioplastics serve as an ecologically sustainable solution to nullify the negative impacts of plastics. Microbial production of biopolymers like Polyhydroxyalkanoates, Polyhydroxybutyrates and Polylactic acid using renewable feedstocks as well as industrial wastes have gained momentum in the recent years. The current study outlays types of bioplastics, their microbial sources and applications in various fields. Scientific evidence on bioplastics has suggested a unique range of applications such as industrial, agricultural and medical applications. Though diverse microorganisms such as Alcaligenes latus, Burkholderia sacchari, Micrococcus species, Lactobacillus pentosus, Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Klebsiella sp., Rhizobium sp., Enterobacter sp., Escherichia sp., Azototobacter sp., Protomonas sp., Cupriavidus sp., Halomonas sp., Saccharomyces sp., Kluyveromyces sp., and Ralstonia sp. are known to produce bioplastics, the industrial production of bioplastics is still challenging. Thus this paper also provides deep insights on the advancements made to maximise production of bioplastics using different approaches such as metabolic engineering, rDNA technologies and multitude of cultivation strategies. Finally, the constraints to microbial bioplastic production and the future directions of research are briefed. Hence the present review emphasizes on the importance of using bioplastics as a sustainable alternative to petroleum based plastic products to diminish environmental pollution.

Bioremediation by oil degrading marine bacteria: An overview of supplements and pathways in key processes

Oil spillage is one of the most common pollutants which brings greater economic loss and damage to the environment. The intensity and amount of the damage may vary depending on factors such as the type of oil, the location of the spill, and the climatic parameters in the area. As for any pollution management, the guidelines are Reduce, Re-use, Recover and Disposal. Amongst the other remediation processes, Bioremediation is amongst the most significant environmentally friendly and cost-effective approaches for marine biological restoration because it allows complex petroleum hydrocarbons in spilt oil to decompose completely into harmless compounds. Mainly, the necessity and essence of bioremediation were talked about. This review discussed the bacteria identified which are capable of degrading various oil related pollutants and their components. Also, it covered the various media components used for screening and growing the oil degrading bacteria and the pathways that are associated with oil degradation. This article also reviewed the recent research carried out related to the oil degrading bacteria.

Organic waste recycling for carbon smart circular bioeconomy and sustainable development: A review

The development of sustainable and low carbon impact processes for a suitable management of waste and by-products coming from different factors of the industrial value chain like agricultural, forestry and food processing industries. Implementing this will helps to avoid the negative environmental impact and global warming. The application of the circular bioeconomy (CB) and the circular economic models have been shown to be a great opportunity for facing the waste and by-products issues by bringing sustainable processing systems which allow to the value chains be more responsible and resilient. In addition, biorefinery approach coupled to CB context could offer different solution and insights to conquer the current challenges related to decrease the fossil fuel dependency as well as increase efficiency of resource recovery and processing cost of the industrial residues. It is worth to remark the important role that the biotechnological processes such as fermentative, digestive and enzymatic conversions play for an effective waste management and carbon neutrality.

Technological and Energetic Aspects of Multi-Component Co-Digestion of the Beverage Industry Wastes and Municipal Sewage Sludge

In the present study, the co-digestion effectiveness of the selected beverage wastes and municipal sewage sludge in two- and three-component mixtures was evaluated. Orange peels and orange pulp, as well as brewery spent grain were applied as co-substrates to sewage sludge at the following doses: 1.5 and 3.0 g of orange peels, 2.5 and 5 g of orange pulp, and 1.5 g brewery spent grain. Mono-digestion of sewage sludge was used as a control. The experiments were performed under mesophilic conditions in batch reactors. As compared to the control, only in the presence of the highest dose of pulp, brewery spent grain and sewage sludge was the increased methane production of 395 mL CH4 g−1 VS accompanying an additional energy profit of 82% observed. Moreover, in this case, the enhanced volatile solids removal and lower accumulation of p-cymene were found. These results were despite the increased limonene and phenol content in the feedstock, confirming a synergistic effect at the highest dose of pulp, brewery spent grain and sewage sludge.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Using Post-Kerbside Organics Treatment Systems to Engage Australian Communities with Pro-Environmental Household Food Waste Behaviours

Dealing with the wicked problem of global food waste and loss is a complex and challenging area. In Australia, increased political will has landed the diversion of domestic food waste from landfill squarely at the feet of local government (councils), often requiring significant change to kerbside collections systems. This paper discusses how post-kerbside household food waste treatment systems can encourage pro-environmental behaviours. To achieve this, current food waste literature is examined against kerbside domestic waste collection measurable outcomes (diversion rates, system uptake and contamination rates). The hypothesis is that specific interventions can establish, or rebuild, community trust, responsibility and pro-environmental behaviours around food waste avoidance and diversion. Two post-kerbside systems—commercial composting and anaerobic digestion—provided the framework. Two themes emerged from the study: (1) the benefits of connecting the community with the interactions of household food waste inputs with post-treatment outputs (compost, soil conditioners, digestates and biogases); and (2) providing engaged communities with pathways for sustainable, pro-environmental actions whilst normalizing correct kerbside food waste recycling for the less engaged (habitual behaviours, knowledge and cooperation). The paper contributes to understanding how councils can connect their communities with the issues of household food waste.

Enhanced biogas production from food waste and activated sludge using advanced techniques - A review

Biogas generation using food waste anaerobic co-digestion with activated sludge provides a cleaner addressable system, an excellent solution to global challenges, the increasing energy demands, fuel charges, pollution and wastewater treatment. Regardless of the anaerobic digestate end product values, the technology lacks efficiency and process instability due to substrate irregularities. Process parameters and substrate composition, play a vital role in the efficiency and outcome of the system. Intrinsic biochar properties such as pore size, specific surface properties and cation exchange capacity make it an ideal additive that enriches microbial functions and enhances anaerobic digestion. The pretreatment and co-digestion of food waste and activated sludge are found to be significant for efficient biogas generation. The advantages, drawbacks, limitations, and technical improvements are covered extensively in the present review besides the recent advancement in the anaerobic digestion system.

A review on anaerobic membrane bioreactors for enhanced valorization of urban organic wastes: Achievements, limitations, energy balance and future perspectives

Sustainable urban development is threatened by an impending energy crisis and large amounts of organic wastes generated from the municipal sector among others. Conventional waste management methods involve greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and limited resource recovery, thus necessitating advanced techniques to convert such wastes into bioenergy, bio-fertilizers and valuable-added products. Research and application experiences from different scale applications indicate that the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) process is a kind of high-rate anaerobic digester for urban organic wastes valorization including food waste and waste sludge, while the research status is still insufficiently summarized. Through compiling recent achievements and literature, this review will focus on the following aspects, including AnMBR treatment performance and membrane fouling, technical limitations, energy balance and techno-economic assessment as well as future perspectives. AnMBR can enhance organic wastes treatment via complete retention of functional microbes and suspended solids, and timely separation of products and potential inhibitory substances, thus improving digestion efficiency in terms of increased organics degradation rates, biogas production and process robustness at a low footprint. When handling high-solid organic wastes, membrane fouling and mass transfer issues can be the challenges limiting AnMBR applications to a wet-type digestion, thus countermeasures are required to pursue extended implementations. A conceptual framework is proposed by taking various organic wastes disposal and final productions (permeate, biogas and biosolids) utilization into consideration, which will contribute to the development of AnMBR-based waste-to-resource facilities towards sustainable waste management and more economic-environmental benefits output.

The effect of substituting energy crop with agricultural waste on the dynamics of bacterial communities in a two-stage anaerobic digester

The replacement of energy crops with agricultural waste in biogas production through anaerobic digestion (AD) is both an environmentally sustainable and economically profitable strategy. However, the change of feeding mix in AD might result in nutrient imbalance or increase of the ammonium concentration, negatively affecting the activity of the microbes responsible for the process. In the present study the structure and dynamics of the bacterial communities of a full-scale two-stage AD plant, composed of a hydrolysis/acidogenesis (H) and an acetogenesis/methanogenesis (M) tanks, was monitored during feedstock substitution. Energy crop (triticale) was replaced by poultry manure litter and olive mill pomace. The increase percentage of poultry manure litter (up to 8.6%) and olive mill pomace (up to 30.5%) in the recipe incremented the total solids (up to 21% in H) and, consequently, the nitrogen content in the digestate (6.7 g N/kg in the solid fraction in H and 4-5 g NH₄⁺-N/L in the liquid fraction). This favored the growth of Lactococcus sp. with consequent increment of lactate production (∼ 1 mg L^-1 last two days of the survey) and the establishment of Weissella and Lactobacillus spp. Syntrophic acetate-oxidizers, including Syntrophaceticus (6% ± 1.7%), were detected manly in M but were negatively affected by the addition of the poultry manure litter, while the sulfate-reducing bacteria correlated with the variations of the volatile fatty acids. Planctomycetes putatively capable of anammox process were also found in the H during the first two days of the survey and accounted for 0.3 ± 0.01% of the total bacterial community. The stability of the process during feedstock change is the result of the shift of bacterial populations of different functional groups that showed peculiar adaptation patterns in the two stages of the plant.

Effects of organic loading rates on high-solids anaerobic digestion of food waste in horizontal flow reactor: Methane production, stability and mechanism

To maximize the methane production efficiency of high-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) of food waste (FW), a horizontal flow reactor was operated under mesophilic, semi-continuous condition at organic loading rates (OLRs) ranging from 1.00 to 13.80 kg-VS/(m³ d). The gas production, substrate transformation, and microbial community characteristics of the horizontal flow HSAD reactor were evaluated. The results indicated that the methane yield (0.173-0.516 L/(g d)) fluctuated with the increasing OLR, volumetric methane production rate (0.25-5.69 L/(L d)) increased with increasing OLR, and the volatile solids (VS) reduction rate ranged between 83.30% and 93.05%. The relationship of biogas or methane production with OLR and HRT in the horizontal flow HSAD reactor were characterized with an empirical equation. The concentrations of soluble COD and volatile fatty acid exhibited significant fluctuations, and free ammonia-nitrogen peaked at the OLR of 13.80 kg-VS/(m³ d). Microbial community analysis revealed that the methanogenic metabolic pathway changes along the propelling direction of the horizontal flow HSAD reactor from CH₃COOH and H₂/CO₂ pathways to CH₃COOH, H₂/CO₂, and H₂/methyl co-dominant pathways. These results provide theoretical support for stable methane production from FW and deeper insight into horizontal flow HSAD for FW treatment.

Microbiological insights into anaerobic digestion for biogas, hydrogen or volatile fatty acids (VFAs): a review

In the past decades, considerable attention has been directed toward anaerobic digestion (AD), which is an effective biological process for converting diverse organic wastes into biogas, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), biohydrogen, etc. The microbial bioprocessing takes part during AD is of substantial significance, and one of the crucial approaches for the deep and adequate understanding and manipulating it toward different products is process microbiology. Due to highly complexity of AD microbiome, it is critically important to study the involved microorganisms in AD. In recent years, in addition to traditional methods, novel molecular techniques and meta-omics approaches have been developed which provide accurate details about microbial communities involved AD. Better understanding of process microbiomes could guide us in identifying and controlling various factors in both improving the AD process and diverting metabolic pathway toward production of selective bio-products. This review covers various platforms of AD process that results in different final products from microbiological point of view. The review also highlights distinctive interactions occurring among microbial communities. Furthermore, assessment of these communities existing in the anaerobic digesters is discussed to provide more insights into their structure, dynamics, and metabolic pathways. Moreover, the important factors affecting microbial communities in each platform of AD are highlighted. Finally, the review provides some recent applications of AD for the production of novel bio-products and deals with challenges and future perspectives of AD.

Current state of the art biotechnological strategies for conversion of watermelon wastes residues to biopolymers production: A review

Poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable and compostable polyesters. This review is aimed to provide a unique approach that can help think tanks to frame strategies aiming for clean technology by utilizing cutting edge biotechnological advances to convert fruit and vegetable waste to biopolymer. A PHA manufacturing method based on watermelon waste residue that does not require extensive pretreatment provides a more environmentally friendly and sustainable approach that utilizes an agricultural waste stream. Incorporating fruit processing industry by-products and water, and other resource conservation methods would not only make the manufacturing of microbial bio-plastics like PHA more eco-friendly, but will also help our sector transition to a bioeconomy with circular product streams. The final and most critical element of this review is an in-depth examination of the several hazards inherent in PHA manufacturing.

Recent trends and developments on integrated biochemical conversion process for valorization of dairy waste to value added bioproducts: A review

In this review article, discuss the many ways utilized by the dairy sector to treat pollutants, emphasizing their influence on the quality and efficiency with which contamination is removed. It focuses on biotechnology possibilities for valorizing dairy waste in particular. The findings revealed that dairy waste may be treated using physicochemical, biological, and biotechnological techniques. Notably, this article highlighted the possibility of dairy waste being used as a feedstock not only for the generation of biogas, bioethanol, biohydrogen, microbial fuel cells, lactic acid, and fumaric acid via microbial technology but also for the production of biooil and biochar by pyrolysis. In addition, this article critically evaluates the many treatment techniques available for recovering energy and materials from dairy waste, their combinations, and implementation prospects. Valorization of dairy waste streams presents an opportunity to extend the dairy industry's presence in the fermented functional beverage sector.

Methanogen and nitrifying genes dynamics in immersed membrane bioreactors during anaerobic co-digestion of different organic loading rates food waste

This work was aimed to evaluate the distinctive food waste (FW) organic loading rates (OLR) on methanogen and nitrifying genes dynamics and its correlation with identified relative abundance of bacterial dynamics during the anaerobic digestion. This experiment were carried out in the digesters at high OLR of food wastes at (4 to 8 g volatile solids/liter/day reactor R1) and (6 to 10 g volatile solids/liter/day reactor R2). The results shown that the relative abundance of mcrA, mcrB and mcrG genes were richest in the first day of both R1 and R2. In addition, the most of nitrifying genes were greater in after 34 days digestion in R2, while these genes did not show the specific regularity in R1. Finally, the correlation figure shows that Clostridium and Lactobacillus genera were significantly correlated with the different organic acids and methanogen and nitrifying genes dynamics.