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Insights into redox mediator supplementation on enhanced volatile fatty acids production from waste activated sludge

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Abstract

Anaerobic fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) for recycling valuable volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is economically valuable. However, the fermentation of protein is the rate-limiting step of VFA production with WAS as a substrate. In this study, the effect of redox mediators (RMs, i.e., riboflavin and lawsone) on the enhanced production of VFAs from WAS was investigated. The results indicate that both RMs can promote protein-dependent fermentation, increasing maximum VFA accumulation by 43.9% and 42.5% respectively. In cultures supplemented with riboflavin and lawsone, VFA production was highly correlated with protease activities, but not with α-glucosidase activities. This implies that RMs affected the redox reaction of amino acids degradation, resulting in an increased release of ammonia. Sequencing results showed that RMs significantly increased the abundance of bacteria related to VFA fermentation and protein/amino acid degradation at the levels of phylum, class, order, family, and even genus.

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Funding

This research was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M642349) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51408171), Jingang Huang received partial financial support from the China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Room 112, The 6th Building, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Jingang Huang, Susu Chen, Weihong Wu, Huiping Chen, Kangyin Guo & Junhong Tang

  2. College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Jingang Huang & Jianping Li

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  1. Jingang Huang
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  2. Susu Chen
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  3. Weihong Wu
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  4. Huiping Chen
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  5. Kangyin Guo
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  6. Junhong Tang
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  7. Jianping Li
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Correspondence to Jingang Huang or Weihong Wu.

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Details about pH, ORP, ammonia concentrations, and important bacteria can be found in the Supplementary Materials.

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Huang, J., Chen, S., Wu, W. et al. Insights into redox mediator supplementation on enhanced volatile fatty acids production from waste activated sludge. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 27052–27062 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05927-z

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