Abstract
Nejayote (corn step liquor) production in Mexico is approximately 1.4 × 1010 m3 per year and anaerobic digestion is an effective process to transform this waste into green energy. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) test is one of the most important tests for evaluating the biodegradability and methane production capacity of any organic waste. Previous research confirms that the addition of conductive materials significantly enhances the methane production yield. This study concludes that the addition of granular activated carbon (GAC) increases methane yield by 34% in the first instance. Furthermore, results show that methane production is increased by 54% when a GAC biofilm is developed 10 days before undertaking the BMP test. In addition, the electroactive population was 30% higher when attached to the GAC than in control reactors. Moreover, results show that electroactive communities attached to the GAC increased by 38% when a GAC biofilm is developed 10 days before undertaking the BMP test, additionally only in these reactors Geobacter was identified. GAC has two main effects in anaerobic digestion; it promotes direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) by developing an electro-active biofilm and simultaneously it reduces redox potential from −223 mV to −470 mV. These results suggest that the addition of GAC to biodigesters, improves the anaerobic digestion performance in industrial processed food waste.
Highlights
The Mexican corn tortilla industry produces between 2.2–3.5 m3 ·t−1 of wastewater from processed corn [1,2]
It is imperative to have an explicit waste management strategy to deal with the unpleasant by-products, and it is essential to ascertain the potential uses of the wastewater in order to harness and capitalise on the large quantities that are produced through nixtamalization
The results of this study clearly demonstrate that generating a previous granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilm before starting the wastewater anaerobic digestion enhances methane biogas production and results in an overall improved anaerobic digestion performance
Summary
The Mexican corn tortilla industry produces between 2.2–3.5 m3 ·t−1 of wastewater from processed corn [1,2]. Nixtamalization is the ancient Aztec process of cooking corn with lime to produce corn masa [3]. Corn, and lime are cooked at 80 ◦ C during three hours and is . The process was carried out on an industrial scale but based on the process carried out by the Aztecs known as nixtamalization. This complex waste has a pH in the
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