Start-up performances of dry anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic digestions of organic solid wastes

Abstract

Two dry anaerobic digestions of organic solid wastes were conducted for 6 weeks in a lab-scale batch experiment for investigating the start-up performances under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The enzymatic activities i.e. β-glucosidase N-α-benzoyl-L-argininamide (BAA)-hydrolysing protease urease and phosphatase activities were analysed. The BAA-hydrolysing protease activity during the first 2–3 weeks was low with low pH but was enhanced later with the pH increase. β-Glucosidase activity showed the lowest values in weeks 1–2 and recovered with the increase of BAA-hydrolysing protease activity. Acetic acid dominated most of the total VFAs in thermophilic digestion while propionate and butyrate dominated in mesophilic digestion. Thermophilic digestion was confirmed more feasible for achieving better performance against misbalance especially during the start-up period in a dry anaerobic digestion process.