A proposed mechanism for the ammonia-LCFA synergetic co-inhibition effect on anaerobic digestion process

Autor: Hailin Tian, Irini Angelidaki, Panagiotis Karachalios, Ioannis A. Fotidis
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Tian, H, Karachalios, P, Angelidaki, I & Fotidis, I 2018, ' A proposed mechanism for the ammonia-LCFA synergetic co-inhibition effect on anaerobic digestion process ', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 349, pp. 574-580 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.05.083
ISSN: 1385-8947
DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2018.05.083
Popis: Ammonia and long chain fatty acids (LCFA) are two major inhibitors of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The individual inhibitory effect of each of these two inhibitors is well established; however, the combined co-inhibition effect has not been thoroughly assessed yet. In the current study, the ammonia-LCFA synergetic co-inhibition effect was investigated in both batch and continuous experiments. In the batch experiments, a clear ammonia-LCFA synergetic co-inhibitory effect was identified when the LCFA concentrations were higher than 0.05 g oleate L−1 and ammonia levels between 4.0 and 7.0 NH4+-N L−1. This synergetic effect for LCFA and ammonia levels above 1.1 g oleate L−1 and 4.5 NH4+-N L−1, respectively, was validated in continuous reactors experiments. Nevertheless, adaptation of the AD microbiome to this synergetic co-inhibition could occur after a period of continuous operation. A potential mechanism to explain the synergetic co-inhibition lies on the initial inhibition of methanogens caused by ammonia resulting in increased VFA and hydrogen concentrations, which in turn renders β-oxidation of LCFA thermodynamically unfavourable and thereby brings about further excess accumulation of LCFA and consequently higher unspecific toxicity of all AD steps. This is a vicious cycle, which makes the combined inhibition of the two toxicants more severe, compared to the sum of their individual inhibition effects at the same operational conditions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE