Abstract

The bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge was attempted at different applied voltages ranged from 0.2 V to 0.4 V. At 0.3 V of the applied voltage, pH and VFAs were at 7.32 and 760 mg COD/L, respectively, which were quite stable. The methane production rate was , and the methane content in biogas was 73.8%, indicating that the performance of the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion could be considerably improved by applying a low voltage. At 0.4 V of the applied voltage, however, the contents of the minor VFA components including formic acid and propionic acid were increased. The methane production rate was reduced to and the biogas methane content was also reduced to 72.4%. At 0.2 V of the applied voltage, the pH was decreased to 6.3, and VFAs was accumulated to 5,684 mg COD/L. The contents of propionic acid and butyric acid in the VFAs were considerably increased, The performances in terms of the methane production rate and the biogas methane content were deteriorated. The poor performance of the bioelectrochemical reactor at 0.2 V of the applied voltage was ascribed to the thermodynamic potential lack for the driving of the carbon dioxide reduction into methane at cathode.

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