Ammonia–methane two-stage anaerobic digestion of dehydrated waste-activated sludge

Nakashimada, Yutaka; Ohshima, Yasutaka; Minami, Hisao; Yabu, Hironori; Namba, Yuzaburo; Nishio, Naomichi

doi:10.1007/s00253-008-1501-7

Cited by 34 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, this method can alleviate ammonia toxicity only to a limited range (Nielsen and Angelidaki 2008b). Other traditional physicochemical methods, based on addition of ammonium-binding ions (Kougias et al 2013), increasing the C/N ratio, dilution with water (Nielsen and Angelidaki 2008a) or striping of ammonia (Nakashimada et al 2008), have not shown any practical applicability, and they are either unrealistic or too expensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dominant acetate degradation pathway/methanogenic composition in full-scale anaerobic digesters operating under different ammonia levels

Fotidis

Karakashev

Angelidaki

2013

Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.

105

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Ammonia is a major environmental factor influencing biomethanation in full-scale anaerobic digesters. In this study, the effect of different ammonia levels on methanogenic pathways and methanogenic community composition of full-scale biogas plants was investigated. Eight full-scale digesters operating under different ammonia levels were sampled, and the residual biogas production was followed in fed-batch reactors. Acetate, labelled in the methyl group, was used to determine the methanogenic pathway by following the 14 CH 4 and 14 CO 2 production. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation was used to determine the methanogenic communities' composition. Results obtained clearly demonstrated that syntrophic acetate oxidation coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was the dominant pathway in all digesters with high ammonia levels (2. ? -N L -1 ), while acetoclastic methanogenic pathway dominated at low ammonia (\1.21 g NH 4? -N L -1 ). Thermophilic Methanomicrobiales spp. and mesophilic Methanobacteriales spp. were the most abundant methanogens at free ammonia concentrations above 0.44 g NH 3 -N L -1 and total ammonia concentrations above 2.8 g NH 4? -N L -1 , respectively. Meanwhile, in anaerobic digesters with low ammonia (\1.21 g NH 4? -N L -1 ) and free ammonia (\0.07 g NH 3 -N L -1 ) levels, mesophilic and thermophilic Methanosaetaceae spp. were the most abundant methanogens.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dominant acetate degradation pathway/methanogenic composition in full-scale anaerobic digesters operating under different ammonia levels

Fotidis

Karakashev

Angelidaki

2013

Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.

105

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“…Removal after first stage fermentation has been tested when treating abattoir, municipal and sewage sludge wastes (Resch et al, 2011, Nakashimada et al, 2008, Yabu et al, 2011. A side-stream process has been tested for slaughterhouse wastes after membrane separation at temperatures below 65 o C and pH 8.5 -9 with NaOH addition (Siegrist et al, 2005); and for the liquid fraction of chicken manure digestate under 80 o C and a vacuum pressure of 600 mbar without pH adjustment (Belostotskiy et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ammonia removal in food waste anaerobic digestion using a side-stream stripping process

Serna‐Maza

Heaven

Banks

2014

Bioresource Technology

111

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Three 35-L anaerobic digesters fed on source segregated food waste were coupled to side-stream ammonia stripping columns and operated semi-continuously over 300 days, with results in terms of performance and stability compared to those of a control digester without stripping. Biogas was used as the stripping medium, and the columns were operated under different conditions of temperature (55, 70, 85 ⁰C), pH (unadjusted and pH 10), and RT (2 to 5 days). To reduce digester TAN concentrations to a useful level a high temperature (≥70⁰C) and a pH of 10 were needed; under these conditions 48% of the TAN was removed over a 138-day period without any detrimental effects on digester performance. Other effects of the stripping process were an overall reduction in digestate organic nitrogen-containing fraction compared to the control and a recovery in the acetoclastic pathway when TAN concentration was 1770 ± 20 mg kg -1 . Keywords IntroductionThe source segregation, separate collection and subsequent anaerobic digestion of food waste can help to reduce the organic fraction of municipal solid waste for disposal and, in some cases, help governments to meet the targets of the EU Directive on the landfilling of waste (1999/31/EC). Importantly, it also offers a method of reclaiming potential energy in the waste in the form of a fuel gas, and opens up a route by which nutrients can be recycled back to land. This has advantages even compared to incineration for energy recovery, as the high moisture content of food waste negates much of the energy gain and in thermal processing most nutrients are lost. Digestion may therefore offer a more sustainable route to resource recovery compared to other waste treatment technologies that are less suited to dealing with this high moisture fraction. Anaerobic digestion of food waste is not without difficulties, however, mainly associated with its high protein content. On hydrolysis this releases ammoniacal nitrogen which, although essential for the growth of anaerobic microorganisms, can lead to free ammonia concentrations that are inhibitory to the digestion process. The ammonia inhibits the methanogenic archaea, in particular the acetoclastic methanogens (Kayhanian, 1999, Chen et al., 2008, Liu and Sung, 2002, Prochazka et al., 2012, Angelidaki and Ahring, 1993. The result is operational instability, a decrease in biogas production, and in the worst cases failure of digestion. To some extent these problems have been resolved at mesophilic temperatures through stimulation of the hydrogenotrophic metabolic pathway by the addition of selenium and cobalt, both of which are commonly deficient in food waste (Climenhaga and Banks, 2008). This strategy has allowed stable digestion of food waste at high organic loading rates (OLR) (> 5 kg VS m -3 day -1 ) and total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) concentrations > 6 g l -1 (Banks et al., 2012). At temperatures in the thermophilic range the toxic threshold is reduced as the equilibrium moves towards free ammonia, and under these conditions trace e...

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“…Waste-activated sludge is usually reduced and stabilised by anaerobic digestion technology [Nakashimada et al, 2008] as in the case of wastewater treatment plant under investigation. Methane produced in anaerobic digesters is inhibited by ammonia [Percheron et al, 1999].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…DNRA is the main nitrate reduction pathway in anaerobic digesters and in other methanogenic environments [Percheron et al, 1999]. Unfortunately, methane production in anaerobic digesters could be inhibited by high concentration of ammonia released from wasteactivated sludge [Nakashimada et al, 2008]. Mazeas et al [2008] reported that the accumulation of ammonia nitrogen, as there is no ammonia elimination process in anaerobic condition, is a biotechnological challenge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Non-Degenerate Primer Pair for the Specific Detection of the Nitrite Reductase Gene nrfA in the Genus Desulfovibrio

Giacomucci

Purdy²,

Zanardini³

et al. 2012

Microb Physiol

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Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA) is the process in which nitrate is reduced, via nitrite, to ammonia. Bacteria known to carry out DNRA mainly originate from wastewater treatment plants, where DNRA is a relevant process. The ability to carry out DNRA is phylogenetically widespread, and the gene nrfA, encoding for the key enzyme of the second step of the pathway, could be used as a marker for this process. In this study we developed a new primer pair specific for nrfA in the genus Desulfovibrio. The specificity of the primer pair was tested on DNA from thirteen species of Desulfovibrio and DNA from two wastewater samples. PCR amplifications yielded products of the expected size (850 bp), and sequences obtained from Desulfovibrio strains and environmental sample clone libraries matched the Desulfovibrio nrfA gene. Nevertheless, we found nrfA gene sequences in the environmental samples that are not present in the databases. The new primer set can be used to obtain more sequences of the nrfA gene and improve our knowledge of the DNRA pathway in this genus, e.g. with the aim to improve the wastewater treatment process.

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Ammonia–methane two-stage anaerobic digestion of dehydrated waste-activated sludge

Cited by 34 publications

References 28 publications

The dominant acetate degradation pathway/methanogenic composition in full-scale anaerobic digesters operating under different ammonia levels

The dominant acetate degradation pathway/methanogenic composition in full-scale anaerobic digesters operating under different ammonia levels

Ammonia removal in food waste anaerobic digestion using a side-stream stripping process

A New Non-Degenerate Primer Pair for the Specific Detection of the Nitrite Reductase Gene <b><i>nrfA</i></b> in the Genus <b><i>Desulfovibrio</i></b>

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