Revealing the methanogenic pathways for anaerobic digestion of key components in food waste: Performance, microbial community, and implications

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) process is widely considered the most sustainable technology for food waste (FW) disposal due to its advantage of biomethane recovery and beneficial environmental consequences. However, the effects of key components in FW (i.e. starchy food, vegetables, fruits, and meats) on AD process and their methanogenic pathways remain unclear. In this study, the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of cooked rice, cabbage, banana peel, pork and local FW was 288, 283, 254, 630, and 476 NmL CH4/g VSadded, with t80 (time required for 80% methane produced) of 3, 9, 3, 11 and 11 days, respectively. Kinetic analysis suggested diverse hydrolysis rates (0.104–0.679 d-1) and specific methane yields (39–119 NmL CH4/g VSadded/d). The relative abundances of key methanogens in the reactors were diverse, leading to the variation in acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathways. This study provides fundamental information for the operation of AD systems with different FW compositions.