Volatile Fatty Acids Production from Microalgae Biomass: Anaerobic Digester Performance and Population Dynamics during Stable Conditions, Starvation, and Process Recovery

Biowaste management by hydrothermal carbonization and anaerobic co-digestion: Synergistic effects and comparative metagenomic analysis

The feasibility of anaerobic co-digestion in semicontinuous mode of two major urban biowaste, food waste (FW) and garden and park waste (GPW) (75 % FW and 25 % GPW) as well as the co-digestion of FW with the process water originated from the hydrothermal carbonization of GPW (95 % FW and 5 % process water), both on a COD basis, has been assessed. The effect of varying organic loading rate (OLR) from 1.5 to 3.5 g COD/L·d on methane yield, gross energy recovery, and microbiome population was evaluated. For comparison, anaerobic digestion of FW was also conducted to determine the best strategy for sustainable biowaste management. This study showed an optimal OLR of 2.5 g COD/L·d. Acetic and propionic acid content increased as OLR raised for each condition studied, while methane yield decreased at the highest OLR tested indicating overloading of the system. The anaerobic co-digestion of FW and process water showed a 10 % increase on methane production compared to anaerobic digestion of FW (324 vs. 294 mL CH4 STP/L·d). Moreover, it enhances the process due to a greater abundance and diversity of hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria belonging to Bacterioidota, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi phyla, as well as promotes the hydrogenotrophic pathway under higher propionic concentrations which is not usually favoured for methane production. The integration of hydrothermal carbonization of GPW with the anaerobic co-digestion of 95 % FW and 5 % of process water results in the highest potential energy recovery and could be a good strategy for sustainable management of urban biowaste.

Improvement of biogas production and nitrogen recovery in anaerobic digestion of purple phototrophic bacteria by thermal hydrolysis

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) are a novel driver to recover organics and nutrients from wastewater by assimilative growth. Depending on the source, assimilated resources from the PPB biomass can still be recovered after a releasing step. Anaerobic digestion (AD) releases carbonand nutrients, but the release is incomplete. Thermal hydrolysis (TH) as a pretreatment before AD improves the digestibility, release, and subsequent recovery potentials. This work determines the effects of TH in batch and continuous modes regarding methane potential, nutrients' release efficiencies, volatile solids destruction, degradability, and hydrolysis rates. Continuous runs over 165 days (d) confirmed enhanced recovery potentials, achieving up to 380 LCH₄/kgVS (83 % solids destruction) and 73 % N release, respectively. The TH pretreatment is energy-intensive, but with appropriate heat recovery and increased methane production in the AD of the pretreated biomass, a combined configuration is energy positive.

Comparative genomic analysis reveals starvation survival systems in Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus ΔH

Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus ΔH (MTH) is a thermophilic hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaeon capable of reducing CO₂ with H₂ to produce methane gas. It is the potential candidate in the biomethanation of CO₂ and CO in anaerobic reactors and biogas upgrading process. However, systematic studies addressing its genome conservation and function remain scant in this genome. In this study, we have evaluated its evolutionary resemblance and metabolic discrepancy, particularly in starvation survival systems by comparing the genomic contexts with Methanothermobacter marburgensis str. Marburg (MMG) and Methanobacterium formicicum DSM 1535 (MFO). The phylogenomic analysis of this study indicated that there was a strong phylogenomic signal among MTH, MMG, and MFO in the whole-genome tree. DNA replication machinery was conserved in the MTH genome and might have evolved at different evolution rates. Genome synteny analysis observed collinearity of either gene orders or gene families has to be maintained with syntenic blocks located in the syntenic out-paralogs. A genome-wide metabolic analysis identified some unique putative metabolic subsystems in MTH, which are proposed to determine its growth characteristics in diverse environments. MTH genome comprised of 93 unique genes-coding for starvation survival and stress-response proteins. These proteins confer its adaptation to nutritional deprivation and other abiotic stresses. MTH has a typical system to withstand its growth and cell viability during stable operation and recovery after prolonged starvation. Thus, the present work will provide an insight to improve the genome refinement and metabolic reconstruction in parallel to other closely related species.