Role of Biochar in Anaerobic Fermentation of Kitchen Waste

Abstract

Food waste has high moisture content and organic matter content. If it is not treated in a timely manner, it will have a very terrible impact on people’s living environment and health, and it is simple to breed pathogenic microbes, bacteria and other chemicals that are hazardous to the human body. Anaerobic fermentation of kitchen waste can produce methane while processing kitchen waste, realizing resource utilization. However, in the process of anaerobic fermentation, there is poor system stability, low efficiency, and prone to acid inhibition. The development of an efficient treatment method has become a current research hotspot. Due to its physicochemical properties, biochar can effectively alleviate the phenomenon of acid inhibition and improve the efficiency of anaerobic fermentation. As a result, adding biochar to an anaerobic fermentation system has a positive effect on system operation. In this research, effects of biochar as an additive on anaerobic fermentation systems and their mechanisms were analyzed from three aspects, including anaerobic fermentation system stability, interspecific direct electron transfer (DIET) and microbial community. And prospected the aspects to be further studied in the application of biochar for the anaerobic fermentation of kitchen waste.