Anaerobic conversion of Organic Wastes to Short Chain Fatty Acids and Biogass

Anaerobic treatment offers significant advantages in using biowaste for the production of high-value organic acids and energy from biogas.

• In AF of agroindustrial waste, long hydraulic retention time promotes the SCFAs production, achieving a high total SCFAs concentration with significant chain elongation and caproic acid content.
• Canonical Correspondence Analysis can establish correlations between metabolite production and microbial community structure in the AF/AD of biowaste. This analysis reveals significant correlations between the abundance of a specific genera of microorganisms and high levels of specific acid or biogas.
• Biochemical methane potential (BMP) provides an early estimation of biogas production, identifying potential problems such as biodegradability, inhibition, and low inoculum activity. BMP test allows to suggest new strategies to improve the biodegradability of the biowaste.
• The addition of conductive materials (biochar, activated carbon, zero-valent iron, and iron nanoparticles) to anaerobic digesters enhances direct interspecies electron transfer, leading to increased methane production.