Long-term evaluation of the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and landfill leachate to alleviate ammonia inhibition

Abstract

To evaluate the feasibility of the co-digestion of food waste (FW) and landfill leachate (LL) to alleviate ammonia inhibition, a series of batch co-digestion experiments were conducted to explore the optimal substrate mixing ratio, and semi-continuous experiments were conducted to evaluate the long-tern effects of LL addition on methane generation and digestate characteristics of the anaerobic co-digestion system under ammonia stress. The optimum methane generation and digestate properties were observed when the concentration of LL in the dilution liquid in the co-digestion reactor was 40 % (v/v). Significant volatile fatty acid accumulation and lower methane yields were both observed during the long-term FW mono-digestion when the total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentration reached 3391.27 mg·L–1. However, stable methane generation was observed in the co-digestion system, even when the TAN was 3721.59 mg·L–1, confirming that the LL alleviated the ammonia inhibition of the FW-based anaerobic digestion (AD) system. Microbial analysis of the AD reactors demonstrated that the relative abundance of Pelotomaculum was higher in the co-digestion system than in the mono-digestion system. Analysis of the phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) confirmed the enrichment of genes involved in butyrate, propionate, and methane metabolism in the co-digestion system. In addition, analysis of the digestate characteristics (i.e., dewaterability, germination index, and heavy metals concentrations) indicated that there was no ecological risk for utilization of the digestate after long-term co-digestion operation. These results aim to provide guidance for using LL to promote the processing of FW in the future.