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Title: Role of redox-active biochar with distinctive electrochemical properties to promote methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Abstract

Biochar has been reported as an effective additive to improve methane production during anaerobic digestion (AD). However, the mechanism for such a stimulatory impact remains unclear. Here we investigated the capability of three pyrolytic biochars with distinctive electrochemical properties (BC300, BC500, BC700) to promote methanogenic performance of anaerobic digesters treating waste activated sludge (WAS). The cumulative methane production and the maximum methane production rate were increased by 46.9% and 181.6%, respectively, with BC300 amendment. By characterizing the electrochemical properties of biochar, our research team found out that methane production in AD of sludge was positively correlated to biochar’s electron-donating capacity (EDC) rather than its bulk electrical conductivity. These results indicate that the electron transfer mediated by the redox-active functional groups may prevail over the direct electron migration as the predominant mechanism to facilitate interspecies electron transfer in syntrophic communities for enhanced methanogenesis. Microbial community analysis suggests that biochar enriched Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium. Overall, this study shows that functional groups-mediated electron transfer contributes greatly to the improved methane production in WAS digester with biochar amendment.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  3. Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China); Shanghai Inst. of Pollution Control and Ecological Security (China)
  4. Tongji Univ., Shanghai (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
OSTI Identifier:
1768749
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Cleaner Production
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 278; Journal ID: ISSN 0959-6526
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Anaerobic digestion; Interspecies electron transfer; Redox-active biochar; Syntrophy; Waste activated sludge

Citation Formats

Shen, Yanwen, Yu, Yamei, Zhang, Yue, Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem, Yuan, Haiping, Zhu, Nanwen, and Dai, Xiaohu. Role of redox-active biochar with distinctive electrochemical properties to promote methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123212.
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Shen, Yanwen, Yu, Yamei, Zhang, Yue, Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem, Yuan, Haiping, Zhu, Nanwen, & Dai, Xiaohu. Role of redox-active biochar with distinctive electrochemical properties to promote methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123212
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Shen, Yanwen, Yu, Yamei, Zhang, Yue, Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem, Yuan, Haiping, Zhu, Nanwen, and Dai, Xiaohu. Sat . "Role of redox-active biochar with distinctive electrochemical properties to promote methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123212. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1768749.
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@article{osti_1768749,
title = {Role of redox-active biochar with distinctive electrochemical properties to promote methane production in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge},
author = {Shen, Yanwen and Yu, Yamei and Zhang, Yue and Urgun-Demirtas, Meltem and Yuan, Haiping and Zhu, Nanwen and Dai, Xiaohu},
abstractNote = {Biochar has been reported as an effective additive to improve methane production during anaerobic digestion (AD). However, the mechanism for such a stimulatory impact remains unclear. Here we investigated the capability of three pyrolytic biochars with distinctive electrochemical properties (BC300, BC500, BC700) to promote methanogenic performance of anaerobic digesters treating waste activated sludge (WAS). The cumulative methane production and the maximum methane production rate were increased by 46.9% and 181.6%, respectively, with BC300 amendment. By characterizing the electrochemical properties of biochar, our research team found out that methane production in AD of sludge was positively correlated to biochar’s electron-donating capacity (EDC) rather than its bulk electrical conductivity. These results indicate that the electron transfer mediated by the redox-active functional groups may prevail over the direct electron migration as the predominant mechanism to facilitate interspecies electron transfer in syntrophic communities for enhanced methanogenesis. Microbial community analysis suggests that biochar enriched Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium. Overall, this study shows that functional groups-mediated electron transfer contributes greatly to the improved methane production in WAS digester with biochar amendment.},
doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123212},
journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production},
number = ,
volume = 278,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Sat Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123212
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