Anaerobic co-digestion of foodwaste with liquid dairy manure or manure digestate: Co-substrate limitation and inhibition

Insights into nutrients recovery from food waste liquid Digestate: A critical review and systematic analysis

This review paper presents a critical analysis of global research on the liquid fraction of food waste (FW) digestate. The study found that research on FW liquid fraction management accounted for 43% of the literature, followed by treatment methods (26%) and physical-chemical characterization (22%). By 2023, China led in scientific production on FW liquid fraction, contributing 46%, followed by Poland with 10% and the USA with 8%. The review emphasizes current technologies for nutrient recovery from the liquid fraction, as well as practical implications and limitations, identifying gaps in the literature. The most used methods for nutrient recovery were biofertilizer production from microalgae and membrane technologies. However, there is a need for further research on nutrient value, circular economy integration, the impact of food additives, ecological problems associated with FW decomposition, pathogen breeding, harmonized legislation to support recovered fertilizer commercialization and innovative nutrient recovery technologies. This approach provides valuable insights for stakeholders, enabling the creation of effective strategies that promote sustainable agricultural practices and circular economy initiatives through nutrient recovery from FW digestate.

Porous hollow microspheres based on industrial solid waste enhance biomethane recovery from corn straw

The increasing production of industrial solid waste requires better disposal solutions. Porous hollow microspheres (PHM) are small inorganic materials with high surface area and adsorption capacity, but their potential for use in anaerobic digestion (AD) has not been explored. With PHM as additive, the effects of different industrial solid wastes (waste glass, steel slag, and fly ash) with different loadings (2 %-8 %), respectively, on the AD of corn straw were investigated in this study. The results showed that PHM could supplement trace elements and promote biofilm formation, which effectively shortened the lag period (25.00-60.87 %) and increased the methane yield (4.75 %-16.28 %). The 2 % PHM loading based on steel slag gave the highest methane yield (300.16 NmL/g VSadd). Microbial and PICRUSt2 analyses indicated that PHM enriched hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria, increased the abundance of methanogenesis-related enzyme genes. This study provides a theoretical basis for the comprehensive utilization of coupled industrial and agricultural wastes.

Bio-CH4 yield of swine manure and food waste optimized by co-substrate proportions diluted in domestic sewage and pH interactions using the response surface approach

This research aimed at evaluating optimal conditions to obtain value-added metabolites, such as bio-CH4, by co-digesting swine manure and food waste diluted in domestic sewage. The assays were carried out in batches using the statistical methods of Rotational Central Composite Design (RCCD) and Surface Response to evaluate the ranges of food waste (1.30-9.70 gTS.L-1), pH (6.16-7.84) and granular Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket sludge as inoculum (2.32-5.68 gTS.L-1), besides about 250 mL of swine manure in 500 mL Duran flasks. According to the RCCD matrix, bio-CH4 yields among 600.6 ± 60.1 and 2790.0 ± 112.0 mL CH4 gTS.L-1 were observed, besides the maximum CH4 production rate between 0.4 ± 0.5 and 49.7 ± 2.0 mL CH4 h-1 and λ between ≤0.0 and 299.3 ± 4.5 h. In the validation assay, the optimal conditions of 9.98 gTS.L-1 of food waste, pH adjusted to 8.0 and 2.20 gTS.L-1 of inoculum were considered, and the bio-CH4 yield obtained (5640.79 ± 242.98 mL CH4 gTS.L-1 or also 5201.83 ± 224.07 mL CH4 gTVS.L-1) was 11.3 times higher than in assays before optimization (499.3 ± 16.0 mL CH4 gTS.L-1) with 5 gTS.L-1 of food waste, 3 gTS.L-1 of inoculum and pH 7.0. Besides, the results observed about the energetic balance of the control and validation assays highlight the importance of process optimization, as this condition was the only one with energy supply higher than the energy required for its operation, exceeding max consumption sevenfold. Based on the most dominant microorganisms (Methanosaeta, 31.06%) and the metabolic inference of the validation assay, it could be inferred that the acetoclastic methanogenesis was the predominant pathway to CH4 production.

A comprehensive review on food waste anaerobic co-digestion: Research progress and tendencies

Food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion systems are prone to imbalance during long-term operation, and the imbalance mechanism is complex. Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of FW and other substrates can overcome the performance limitations of single digestion, allowing for the mutual use of multiple wastes and resource recovery. Research on the AcoD of FW has been widely conducted and successfully applied to a practical engineering scale. Therefore, this review describes the research progress of AcoD of FW with other substrates. By analyzing the problems and challenges faced by AcoD of FW, the synergistic effects and influencing factors of different biomass wastes are discussed, and improvement strategies to improve the performance of AcoD of FW are summarized from different reaction stages of anaerobic digestion. By combing the research progress of AcoD of FW, it provides a reference for the optimization and improvement of the performance of the co-digestion system.

Sustainable management of food waste; pre-treatment strategies, techno-economic assessment, bibliometric analysis, and potential utilizations: A systematic review

Food waste (FW) contains many nutritional components such as proteins, lipids, fats, polysaccharides, carbohydrates, and metal ions, which can be reused in some processes to produce value-added products. Furthermore, FW can be converted into biogas, biohydrogen, and biodiesel, and this type of green energy can be used as an alternative to nonrenewable fuel and reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources. It has been demonstrated in many reports that at the laboratory scale production of biochemicals using FW is as good as pure carbon sources. The goal of this paper is to review approaches used globally to promote turning FW into useable products and green energy. In this context, the present review article highlights deeply in a transdisciplinary manner the sources, types, impacts, characteristics, pre-treatment strategies, and potential management of FW into value-added products. We find that FW could be upcycled into different valuable products such as eco-friendly green fuels, organic acids, bioplastics, enzymes, fertilizers, char, and single-cell protein, after the suitable pre-treatment method. The results confirmed the technical feasibility of all the reviewed transformation processes of FW. Furthermore, life cycle and techno-economic assessment studies regarding the socio-economic, environmental, and engineering aspects of FW management are discussed. The reviewed articles showed that energy recovery from FW in various forms is economically feasible.

A Review on the Challenges and Choices for Food Waste Valorization: Environmental and Economic Impacts

Valorization of food waste (FW) is instrumental for reducing the environmental and economic burden of FW and transitioning to a circular economy. The FW valorization process has widely been studied to produce various end-use products and summarize them; however, their economic, environmental, and social aspects are limited. This study synthesizes some of the valorization methods used for FW management and produces value-added products for various applications, and also discusses the technological advances and their environmental, economic, and social aspects. Globally, 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food is lost or wasted each year, during which about 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas is emitted. The environmental (-347 to 2969 kg CO₂ equiv/tonne FW) and economic (-100 to $138/tonne FW) impacts of FW depend on the multiple parameters of food chains and waste management systems. Although enormous efforts are underway to reduce FW as well as valorize unavoidable FW to reduce environmental and economic loss, it seems the transdisciplinary approach/initiative would be essential to minimize FW as well as abate the environmental impacts of FW. A joint effort from stakeholders is the key to reducing FW and the efficient and effective valorization of FW to improve its sustainability. However, any initiative in reducing food waste should consider a broader sustainability check to avoid risks to investment and the environment.

Identification of key steps and associated microbial populations for efficient anaerobic digestion under high ammonium or salinity conditions

Ammonium (NH₄⁺) and salinity are major inhibitors of CH₄ production in anaerobic digestion. This study evaluated their inhibitory effects on CH₄ production and explored the key populations for efficient CH₄ production under high NH₄⁺ and NaCl concentrations to understand their inhibition mechanisms. Comparative batch experiments for mesophilic anaerobic digestion were conducted using three seeding sludges under different concentrations of NH₄⁺ (1-5 gNH₄-N/L) and NaCl (10-30 g/L). Although all sludges tolerated 3 gNH₄-N/L and 10 g/L NaCl, NH₄⁺ or NaCl concentrations higher than these substantially reduced CH₄ production, depending on the seeding sludge, primarily by impairing the initial hydrolysis and methanogenesis steps. In addition, propionate was found to be a deterministic factor affecting CH₄ production. Based on microbial community analysis, Candidatus Brevefilum was identified as a potential syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacterium that facilitates the mitigation of propionate accumulation, allowing the maintenance of unaffected CH₄ production under high inhibitory conditions.

Biogas production from residual marine macroalgae biomass: Kinetic modelling approach

Modelling the conversion of residual biomass to renewable fuels is of high relevance to promote the development of effective technological solutions. The present study compares the performance of five different kinetic models (pseudo-first-order kinetics, logistics, modified Gompertz, double-Gompertz, and multi-Gompertz) to describe the cumulative methane production during a low-solids anaerobic digestion of marine macroalgae waste. Different substrate concentrations were evaluated (0.9, 1.7 and 2.5% TS) with the best methane yield (105.2 mL CH₄.g VS^-1) being obtained at the highest amount of biomass. All models fitted the experimental data with R² > 0.988. The innovative multi-Gompertz model herein proposed led to the best performance indexes for all tested experimental conditions, allowing to predict methane yields more accurately when the digestion occurs in two or more steps, as it was the case with marine macroalgae waste.

Valorization of cow manure via hydrothermal carbonization for phosphorus recovery and adsorbents for water treatment

The increased quantities of manure being generated by livestock and their extensive agronomic use have raised concerns around run-off impacting soil and groundwater quality. Manure contains valuable nutrients (especially phosphorus) that are critical to agriculture, but when directly land-applied the run-off of such nutrients contributes to eutrophication of waterways. This study investigates the hydrothermal carbonization of cow manure at two industrially feasible process extremes: 190 °C, 1 h and 230 °C, 3 h, to concentrate and then recover phosphorus from the solid hydrochar via acid leaching and precipitation. Up to 98 wt% of phosphorus initially present in the hydrochar (88% in the raw manure) can be recovered, with the dominant crystalline species being hydroxyapatite. Acid leached hydrochars were subsequently pyrolyzed at 600 °C for 30 min, and then evaluated as adsorbent materials for water remediation by using methylene blue as a model adsorbate. Although pyrolyzed hydrochars have surface areas an order of magnitude higher (160-236 m²/g) than the non-pyrolyzed acid leached hydrochars (11-23 m²/g), their adsorption capacity is three times lower. Furthermore, while the higher carbonization temperature leads to greater recovery of phosphorus, it likewise leads to higher heavy metal concentrations in the precipitate (ranging from 0.1 to 100 mg_metal/g_ppt). As such, lower temperature carbonization followed by acid-extraction - without further solid processing - is a potential pathway to recover phosphorus and adsorbent materials.

Anaerobic digestate management, environmental impacts, and techno-economic challenges

Digestate is a nutrient-rich by-product from organic waste anaerobic digestion but can contribute to nutrient pollution without comprehensive management strategies. Some nutrient pollution impacts include harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and eutrophication. This contribution explores current productive uses of digestate by analyzing its feedstocks, processing technologies, economics, product quality, impurities, incentive policies, and regulations. The analyzed studies found that feedstock, processing technology, and process operating conditions highly influence the digestate product characteristics. Also, incentive policies and regulations for managing organic waste by anaerobic digestion and producing digestate as a valuable product promote economic benefits. However, there are not many governmental and industry-led quality assurance certification systems for supporting commercializing digestate products. The sustainable and safe use of digestate in different applications needs further development of technologies and processes. Also, incentives for digestate use, quality regulation, and social awareness are essential to promote digestate product commercialization as part of the organic waste circular economy paradigm. Therefore, future studies about circular business models and standardized international regulations for digestate products are needed.

Anaerobic co-digestion of various organic wastes: Kinetic modeling and synergistic impact evaluation

Anaerobic mono- and co-digestion of coffee pulp (CP), cattle manure (CM), food waste (FW) and dewatered sewage sludge (DSS), were assessed using biochemical methane potential tests. The effects of two different inocula, anaerobically digested cattle manure (ADCM) and anaerobically digested waste activated sludge (ADWAS), and five different co-feedstock ratios for CP:CM and FW:DSS (1:0, 4:1, 2:1, 4:3, and 0:1) on specific methane yields were also evaluated. Mono-digestions of both CP and FW yielded the highest methane yield compared to the co-digestion ratios examined. Furthermore, no synergistic or antagonistic effect was observed for any of the co-digestion ratios tested. Nine different kinetic models (five conventional mono-digestion models and four co-digestion models) were compared and evaluated for both mono- and co-digestion studies. For CP:CM, cone and modified Gompertz with second order equation models were the best-fit for mono- and co-digestion systems, respectively, while for FW:DSS, superimposed model showed the best-fit for all systems.

Stable, high-rate anaerobic digestion through vacuum stripping of digestate

This study coupled anaerobic digestion with vacuum stripping to achieve stable digestion at higher organic loading rates. Besides mitigation of ammonia inhibition, vacuum stripping of digestate improves solids solubilization and dewaterability due to vacuum-enhanced low-temperature thermal and mild-alkaline treatment under the vacuum stripping conditions (65 °C, 25-27 kPa, and pH 9). Batch vacuum stripping for 8 h removed 97.4-99.4% of ammonia, increased the dissolved fraction of volatile solids (VS) by 72.5%, and improved dewaterability with 30% decreases in time-to-filter and viscosity. The digesters having 2.9% of digestate replaced daily by vacuum stripped digestate were stable up to organic loading rate of 4.3 g-VS/L_reactor/d with biogas production at 3.15 L/L_reactor/d, while the digesters without stripping attained biogas production of 1.90 L/L_reactor/d at its highest stable organic loading rate of 2.5 g-VS/L_reactor/d. Acetoclastic Methanosaeta were the dominant methanogens, which became more resistant to ammonia stress in the digesters with vacuum stripping.

Elucidating the kinetics of ammonia inhibition to anaerobic digestion through extended batch experiments and stimulation-inhibition modeling

Ammonia can be accumulated to a level inhibitory to methanogenesis. There are large discrepancies in the reported inhibition thresholds. Through extended batch digestion experiments (up to 110 d) at 6 ammonia concentrations (0.70-13 g N/L), this study discovered sequential occurrence of adaptable and unadaptable inhibition that reveals the discrepancies. Lag phase length representing adaptable inhibition increased exponentially with ammonia concentration. The kinetics of specific biogas yield that reveals unadaptable inhibition was best simulated with the Han & Levenspiel model. The 50% unadaptable inhibition thresholds were 10.7 g N/L with active inoculum and 6.8 g/L with stressed inoculum. The digesters with stressed inoculum had faster adaptation to adaptable inhibition though less resistance to unadaptable inhibition. The inhibition sequence was evidenced by microbial population shifts and confirmed by earlier studies employing short (2-65 d) and long (80-198 d) batch experiments. Distinguishing adaptable from unadaptable inhibition provides precise guidance for mitigating ammonia inhibition.

Monitoring of Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Performance: Conventional Co-Substrates vs. Unmarketable Biochar Additions

This study proposed the selection of cost-effective additives generated from different activity sectors to enhance and stabilize the start-up, as well as the transitional phases, of semi-continuous food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion. The results showed that combining agricultural waste mixtures including wheat straw (WS) and cattle manure (CM) boosted the process performance and generated up to 95% higher methane yield compared to the control reactors (mono-digested FW) under an organic loading rate (OLR) range of 2 to 3 kg VS/m³·d. Whereas R3 amended with unmarketable biochar (UBc), to around 10% of the initial fresh mass inserted, showed a significant process enhancement during the transitional phase, and more particularly at an OLR of 4 kg VS/m³·d, it was revealed that under these experimental conditions, FW reactors including UBc showed an increase of 144% in terms of specific biogas yield (SBY) compared to FW reactors fed with agricultural residue. Hence, both agricultural and industrial waste were efficacious when it came to boosting either FW anaerobic performance or AD effluent quality. Although each co-substrate performed under specific experimental conditions, this feature provides decision makers with diverse alternatives to implement a sustainable organic waste management system, conveying sufficient technical details to draw up appropriate designs for the recovery of various types of organic residue.

Microbial and functional characterization of an allochthonous consortium applied to hydrogen production from Citrus Peel Waste in batch reactor in optimized conditions

Energy recovery from lignocellulosic waste has been studied as an alternative to the problem of inappropriate waste disposal. The present study aimed at characterizing the microbial community and the functional activity of reactors applied to H₂ production through lignocellulosic waste fermentation in optimized conditions. The latter were identified by means of Rotational Central Composite Design (RCCD), applied to optimize allochthonous inoculum concentration (2.32-5.68 gTVS/L of granular anaerobic sludge), pH (4.32-7.68) and Citrus Peel Waste (CPW) concentration (1.55-28.45 g/L). After validation, the conditions identified for optimal H₂ production were 4 gSTV/L of allochthonous inoculum, 29.8 g/L of CPW (substrate) and initial pH of 8.98. In these conditions, 48.47 mmol/L of H₂ was obtained, which is 3.64 times higher than the concentration in unoptimized conditions (13.31 mmol H₂/L using 15 g/L of CPW, 2 gTVS/L of allochthonous inoculum, pH 7.0). Acetogenesis was the predominant pathway, and maximal concentrations of 3,731 mg/L of butyric acid and 3,516 mg/L of acetic acid were observed. Regarding the metataxonomic profile, Clostridium genus was dramatically favored in the optimized condition (79.78%) when compared to the allochthonous inoculum (0.43%). It was possible to identify several genes related to H₂ (i.e dehydrogenases) and volatile fatty acids (VFA) production and with cellulose degradation, especially some CAZymes from the classes Auxiliary Activities, Glycoside Hydrolases and Glycosyl Transferase. By means of differential gene expression it was observed that cellulose degradation and acetic acid production pathways were overabundant in samples from the optimized reactors, highlighting endo-β-1,4-glucanase/cellulose, endo-β-1,4-xylanase, β-glucosidase, β-mannosidase, cellulose β-1,4-cellobiosidase, cellobiohydrolase, and others, as main the functions.

Anaerobic co-digestion: Current status and perspectives

Anaerobic digestion is a long-established technology for the valorization of diverse organic wastes with concomitant generation of valuable resources. However, mono-digestion (i.e., anaerobic digestion using one feedstock) suffers from challenges associated with feedstock characteristics. Co-digestion using multiple feedstocks provides the potential to overcome these limitations. Significant research and development efforts have highlighted several inherent merits of co-digestion, including enhanced digestibility due to synergistic effects of co-substrates, better process stability, and higher nutrient value of the produced co-digestate. However, studies focused on the underlying effects of diverse co-feedstocks on digester performance and stability have not been synthesized so far. This review fills this gap by highlighting the limitations of mono-digestion and critically examining the benefits of co-digestion. Furthermore, this review discusses synergistic effect of co-substrates, characterization of microbial communities, the prediction of biogas production via different kinetic models, and highlights future research directions for the development of a sustainable biorefinery.

Isolation and Identification of Dominant Bacteria From Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens) Envisaging Practical Applications

This study aimed to establish a representative strain collection of dominant aerobic bacteria from black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens, BSFL). The larvae were fed either chicken feed or fiber-rich substrates to obtain a collection of BSFL-associated microorganisms. Via an approach based on only considering the highest serial dilutions of BSFL extract (to select for the most abundant strains), a total of 172 bacteria were isolated. Identification of these isolates revealed that all bacteria belonged to either the Proteobacteria (66.3%), the Firmicutes (30.2%), the Bacteroidetes (2.9%) or the Actinobacteria (0.6%). Twelve genera were collected, with the most abundantly present ones (i.e., minimally present in at least three rearing cycles) being Enterococcus (29.1%), Escherichia (22.1%), Klebsiella (19.8%), Providencia (11.6%), Enterobacter (7.6%), and Morganella (4.1%). Our collection of dominant bacteria reflects largely the bacterial profiles of BSFL already described in literature with respect to the most important phyla and genera in the gut, but some differences can be noticed depending on substrate, biotic and abiotic factors. Furthermore, this bacterial collection will be the starting point to improve in vitro digestion models for BSFL, to develop mock communities and to find symbionts that can be added during rearing cycles to enhance the larval performances, after functional characterization of the isolates, for instance with respect to enzymatic potential.

Anaerobic digestion of different agricultural wastes: A techno-economic assessment

In this work, techno-economic evaluation of anaerobic digestion (AD) system (8000 metric tons (MT)/year) with singular (dairy manure), binary (dairy manure and corn stalk), and ternary mixture (dairy manure, corn stalk, and tomato residues) under bio-methane and combined heat and power (CHP) pathways based on a plant service life of 20 years were carried out. Solid state-AD (SS-AD) of ternary mixture improved the efficiency of investment, benefited the digestate price, and was shown to be economic viability. The introduction of a CHP unit highly improved the economics of SS-AD. SS-AD of the binary mixture under CHP pathway was able to compensate the initial required investment, however was not financially attractive under bio-methane pathway. Besides, SS-AD of the ternary mixture under CHP pathway had higher net present value (NPV) ($0.60 million vs $0.40 million) and internal rate of return (IRR) (23% vs 20%) than that under bio-methane pathway.

Three-stage treatment for nitrogen and phosphorus recovery from human urine: Hydrolysis, precipitation and vacuum stripping

Source separation of human urine has not been widely adopted because of scaling on urine collecting fixtures and lack of verified technologies for on-site utilization of waterless urine. This study investigated the effects of flushing liquid, temperature and urease amendment on hydrolysis of urea to ammonia, explored ammonia recovery via vacuum stripping in connection with phosphorus recovery via struvite precipitation in different sequences, and performed economic analysis of a proposed nutrient recovery strategy. It was found that acetic acid could be dosed at 0.05-0.07 N to flush urine-diverting toilets and urinals for hygiene and prevention of scaling. However, a high dosage of 0.56 N completely inhibited urea hydrolysis. Source-separated urine could be stored at 25 °C with ample urease for complete urea hydrolysis within approximately 20 h. Fully hydrolyzed waterless urine contained 9.0-11.6 g/L ammonia-N, 0.53-0.95 g/L phosphate-P and only 2.3-9.1 mg/L magnesium. When magnesium was supplemented to attain the optimum Mg²⁺: PO₄^3- molar concentration ratio of 1.0 in hydrolyzed urine, batch operation of a pilot-scale air-lift crystallizer removed 93-95% of phosphate and produced 3.65-4.93 g/L struvite in 1-5 h. Batch operation of a pilot-scale vacuum stripping - acid absorption system for 12 h stripped 72-77% of ammonia and produced 37.6-39.7 g/L (NH₄)₂SO₄. Compared with the ammonia → phosphorus recovery sequence, the struvite precipitation → vacuum stripping sequence produced more struvite and ammonium sulfate. The strategy of urea hydrolysis → struvite precipitation → vacuum stripping of ammonia is a sustainable alternative to the conventional phosphorus fertilizer production and ammonia synthesis processes.

Enhanced bioconversion of dairy and chicken manure by the interaction of exogenous bacteria and black soldier fly larvae

Generation of insects' biomass from lignocellulose rich organic wastes is of significant challenges in reducing the environmental impact of wastes and in sustaining feed and food security. This research looked at the effects of lignocellulotic exogenous bacteria in the black soldier fly (BSF) organic waste conversion system for biomass production and lignocellulose biodegradation of dairy and chicken manures. Six exogenous bacteria were investigated for cellulolytic activity with carboxymethyl cellulose and found that these tested bacterial strains degrade the cellulose. In this study; a co-conversion process using Hermetia illucens larvae to convert the previously studied best mixing ratio of dairy manure (DM) and chicken manure (CHM) (2:3) and cellulose degrading bacteria was established to enhance the larval biomass production, waste reduction and manure nutrient degradation. BSF larvae assisted by MRO₂ (R₅) has the best outcome measures: survival rate (99.1%), development time (19.0 d), manure reduction rate (48.7%), bioconversion rate (10.8%), food conversion ratio (4.5), efficiency of conversion of ingestion (22.3), cellulose (72.9%), hemicellulose (68.5%), lignin (32.8%), and nutrient utilization (protein, 71.2% and fat, 67.8%). By analyzing the fiber structural changes by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), we assume that exogenous bacteria assist the BSF larvae that trigger lead to structural and chemical modification of fibers. We hypothesized that these surface and textural changes are beneficial to the associated gut bacteria, thereby helping to larval growth and reduce waste. The finding of the investigation showed that enhanced conversion of DM and CHM by BSF larvae assisted with lignocellulotic exogenous bacteria could play key role in the manure management.