Digestion Of Swine Manure Research Articles

Effect of indirect electrochemical pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion of swine manure

The increase in pig population has led to an accumulation of swine manure (SM) in the environment. Improper disposal of this waste can lead to environmental pollution. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising method for utilizing SM, but its industrial application is still limited due to high lignocellulose content and a suboptimal carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. In this study, indirect electrochemical pretreatment (IEP) was used to improve AD of SW. IEP involves treating SM with reactive oxygen species generated by tap water electrolysis. Three different pretreatment modes (acidic-alkaline, acidic, and alkaline-acidic-alkaline) were tested, differing in the time of water flow through the electrochemical unit of the IEP device. Using scanning electron microscopy and UV–Vis spectroscopy, it was found that as a result of IEP, the particle size of the SM decreased from 200 to 500 to 15–50 μm. This led to an increase in biodegradability by 37–38%, compared to untreated SM. Using the alkaline-acid-alkaline pretreatment mode, the highest methane yield of 94.48 ± 1.42 mL CH4/g VS was obtained, which was 41.28 ± 2.21% higher than in the control group. During AD of pretreated SM, more complex microbial aggregates were observed in the anaerobic microbial community, and the relative abundance of hydrolytic (Bacillus, Ureibacillus, and Geobacillus genera) and syntrophic (Smithella genus and Christensenellaceae R-7 group) microorganisms increased.

Effect of aeration pretreatment on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

ABSTRACT To investigate the effects of aeration pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure, five pretreatment groups were established with dissolved oxygen (DO) in each group set to 0.0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.4, and 2.0 mg/L, respectively. The results demonstrated that compared to the non-aeration group, methane production increased to varying degrees with different aeration pretreatments (AP), with a maximum increase of 27.98% (DO = 2.0 mg/L). AP reduced the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) content of biogas. The H2S concentration in the DO = 2.0 mg/L was only 0.209%, and this represented an increased H2S removal rate of 49.27% compared to that of the DO = 0.0 mg/L (0.412%). Simultaneously, AP increases the hydrolysis rate. When the DO concentration reached 2.0 mg/L, the hydrolysis rate reached its maximum. An increase in the hydrolysis rate further enhanced the removal rate of organic matter. The organic matter removal rate was highest (36.96%) at DO = 2.0 mg/L. AP effectively prolonged the methane generation time and shortened the lag time of methane generation. AP creates a brief micro aerobic environment, accelerates substrate hydrolysis, and promotes the production and consumption of total volatile fatty acids, particularly acetic acid. Additionally, AP promoted the symbiotic relationship between Caldicoprobacter (20.93%–34.96%) and Metanosaeta (14.73%–18.45%).

Alleviation of volatile fatty acids inhibition in anaerobic digestion of swine manure with nano-bubble water supplementation

Nano-bubble water (NBW) was applied to anaerobic digestion (AD) to alleviate volatile fatty acids (VFAs) inhibition, improve the buffering capacity and CH4 production in this work. Results indicated that NBW accelerated the consumption of VFAs and prevented inhibition due to VFAs accumulation. Additionally, NBW facilitated a rapid increase in partial alkalinity (PA) and total alkalinity (TA) as well as a corresponding rapid decrease in intermediate alkalinity (IA)/PA and VFA/TA, thereby improving buffering capacity and alleviating VFAs inhibition. Moreover, CH4 production improved by more than 12.2% by NBW. Similarly, the activities of the extracellular hydrolases and coenzyme F420 increased. Besides, NBW increased the abundance of microbial community and strengthened the metabolic pathways of hydrogenotrophic methanogens, which could be the intrinsic mechanism by which NBW alleviated VFAs inhibition, improved system stability, and increased CH4 production. This study demonstrates that NBW supplementation can be an effective method for mitigating frequent VFAs inhibition.

Prolonging the time of manure by water soaking can alleviate the inhibition of lime disinfection wastewater in a batch anaerobic digestion of swine manure

The African swine fever poses significant challenges for swine farms using lime-based disinfectants, leading to pronounced inhibition of anaerobic digestion systems due to the influx of lime disinfection wastewater. This study focuses on treating swine manure containing lime through water soaking (2d, 4d, 6d, 8d) before biogas digestion. An 8-day water soaking period significantly reduces Ca2+ and PO43--P concentrations by 20.36 % and 56.79 %, respectively. Batch tests show enhanced performance, with T1, T2, T3, and T4 witnessing increases in biogas production of 25.73 %, 114.36 %, 119.59 %, and 181.83 %, and Ca2+ sedimentation rates escalating by 6.59 %, 13.47 %, 28.94 %, and 35.64 %, respectively, compared to the control group (CK). In continuous tests, the pre-treated sample C1 maintains Ca2+ at 4.1 g/L, leading to a 104.86 % increase in biogas production compared to the control group. The study advocates extending water soaking durations as a strategy to mitigate lime disinfectant inhibition in swine manure anaerobic digestion systems, highlighting its potential for enhancing acidification, hydrolysis, and ultimately, the efficiency of biogas production.

Ozonation as Pretreatment of Digested Swine Manure Prior to Microalgae Culture

Ozonation as Pretreatment of Digested Swine Manure Prior to Microalgae Culture

Multi-objective optimization for microbial electrolysis cell-assisted anaerobic digestion of swine manure

As a new technology, microbial electrolysis cell-assisted anaerobic digestion (MEC-AD) has been applied to the utilization of swine manure. Methane production and total energy efficiency are both important indicators in MEC-AD; thus, it is necessary to simultaneously optimize methane production and total energy efficiency. In this study, the Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used as the experimental design, the response surface methodology (RSM) and back propagation neural network (BP-NN) methods were used to construct multi-objective models, and the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) was used for multi-objective optimization. The BP-NN model was superior to the RSM model in terms of goodness of fit. Additionally, the relative error between the predicted and experimental values of the Pareto front was determined to be <3%. The maximum methane production and total energy efficiency were 333.97 mL/g total solid and 61.38%, respectively. Therefore, multi-objective optimization of MEC-AD systems may be accomplished using BBD-(BP-NN)-NSGA II.

Comparing the effects of magnetite-mediated direct interspecies electron transfer with biogas mixing-driven interspecies hydrogen transfer on anaerobic digestion

Although the promotive effect of direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) on methane production has been well-documented, the practical applicability of DIET in different scenarios have not yet been systematically studied. This study compared the effects of magnetite-mediated DIET with conventional biogas mixing-driven interspecies hydrogen transfer (IHT) on anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM). Compared with control, magnetite supplementation, biogas circulation, and their integration enhanced the CH4 yield by 19.3%, 25.9%, and 26.2%, respectively. Magnetite mainly enriched DIET-related syntrophic bacteria (Anaerolineae and Synergistia) and methanogens (Methanosarcina) to accelerate acidification and establish DIET, while biogas circulation mainly enriched hydrolytic bacteria (Clostridia) and hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanolinea and Methanobacterium) to promote hydrolysis and accelerate IHT. Coupling magnetite addition with biogas circulation led to the enrichment of the above six microorganisms to different extents. The effectiveness of the strategies for lowering the H2 pressure followed: magnetite + biogas circulation ≈ biogas circulation > magnetite. Under stress-free environment, the enhancement effect of magnetite-induced DIET was not even as pronounced as biogas circulation—a simple and common mixing strategy in commercial AD plants, and the promotion effect of magnetite was insignificant in the well-mixed digesters. In short, the magnetite-mediated DIET is not always effective in improving AD of SM.

Microbial analysis of anaerobic digester reveals prevalence of manure microbiota

Anaerobic digestion of swine manure reduces farm greenhouse gases emissions and provides a renewable gas in the agricultural sector. The particular composition of manure, with high concentrations of ammoniacal nitrogen and volatile fatty acids, often threatens the stability of the process through inhibition of methanogens. In this work, continuous production of biogas was tested under relative short hydraulic retention time (15 days). Although a strong inhibition period was detected, adaptation of the microbiota and displacement of bacteria and archaea present in the inoculum by microorganisms present in the animal manure resulted in biogas production close to the values found in standardized batch tests in absence of inhibitions. These findings suggest that in anaerobic digestion of manure, it is not necessary to inoculate, as manure itself contains a large number of active fermentative microorganisms that can even resist long-term digestion inhibition.

Effects of Fe-modified digestate hydrochar at different hydrothermal temperatures on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

Hydrothermal carbonization temperature is a key factor in controlling the physico-chemical properties of hydrochar and affecting its function. In this study, effects of hydrochar and Fe-modified hydrochar (Fe-HC) prepared at 180 °C (180C-Fe), 220 °C (220C-Fe) and 260 °C (260C-Fe) on anaerobic digestion (AD) performance of swine manure was investigated. Among the three Fe-HCs, 220C-Fe had the highest amount of Fe and Fe2+ on the surface. The relative methane production of control reached 174 %-189 % in the 180C-Fe and 220C-Fe treatments between days 11 and 12. The degradation efficiency of swine manure was highest in the 220C-Fe treatment (61.3 %), which was 14.8 % higher than in the control. Fe-HC could act as an electron shuttle, stimulate the coenzyme F420 formation, increase the relative abundance of Methanosarcina and promote electron transport for acetotrophic methanogenesis in the AD. These findings are helpful for designing an efficient process for treating swine manure and utilizing digestate.

Influence of zero-valent iron nanoparticles on anaerobic digestion of swine manure: effects on methane yield

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effect of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (NZVI) on the anaerobic digestion of swine manure. A wide range of doses of NZVI was evaluated (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, and 100 mgFe°/gVS). The maximum methane yield of 0.4506 L/gVSremoved was obtained with the concentration of 10 mgFe°/gVS representing an increase of 58.99% than the control system with 0.2834 L/gVSremoved, indicating that Fe° improves the methanogenic activity. However, when using doses greater than 20 mgFe°/gVS, there were decreases in the methane yield of 34.4–47.98%. Also, to observe the effect of NZVI in anaerobes was evaluated the activity in the electron transport system (ETS), where the control reactor showed an activity of 31.91 μg INTred/gVS•h, while in reactors with NZVI showed values of 39.48 μg INTred/gVS•h (10 Fe°mg/gVS), observing a stimulation of Fe° in microbial activity. However, the dose of 100 mgFe°/gVS showed the greatest decrease in methane yield (0.1474 L/gVSremoved) and a reduction in ETS was observed by 8.5% compared to the control. The effect on the composition of the volatile fatty acids was observed, where the control system obtained a maximum production of acetic acid of 639 mg/L, which was exceeded with the dose of 10 mg Fe°/gVS by 215% and a decrease of 41.15% with the inhibitory concentration of 100 mg Fe°/gVS. As a result, higher doses of NZVI affect the metabolic activity of anaerobes as well as the acetoclastic pathway causing a decrease in the methane production.

Biochar facilitates methanogens evolution by enhancing extracellular electron transfer to boost anaerobic digestion of swine manure under ammonia stress

This study explored the mechanisms by which biochar mitigates ammonia inhibition in anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure. Findings show 2–8 g/L exogenous ammonia dosages gradually inhibited AD, leading to decreases in the efficiencies of hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis by 3.4–70.8%, 6.0–82.0%, and 4.9–93.8%, respectively. However, biochar addition mitigated this inhibition and facilitated methane production. Biochar enhanced microbial activities related to electron transport and extracellular electron transfer. Moreover, biochar primarily enriched Methanosarcina, which, consequently, upregulated the genes encoding formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase and methenyltetrahydromethanopterin cyclohydrolase for the CO2-reducing methanogenesis pathway by 26.9–40.8%. It is believed that biochar mediated direct interspecies electron transfer between syntrophic partners, thereby enhancing methane production under ammonia stress. Interestingly, biochar removal did not significantly impact the AD performance of the acclimated microbial community. This indicated the pivotal role of biochar in triggering methanogen evolution to mitigate ammonia stress rather than the indispensable function after the enrichment of ammonia-resistance methanogen.

Coupled systems of pre-denitrification and partial nitritation/anammox improved functional microbial structure and nitrogen removal in treating swine manure digestate

This study evaluated the functional activity and microbial structure of a pre-denitrification and single-stage partial nitritation/anammox process (DB-SNAP) coupled system for effectively treating swine manure digestate (SMD). At influent ammonium concentrations of (1000 to 1500) mg/L, the pre-denitrification reactor increased the nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) by 5%, resulting in an average NRE of 96%. The DB-SNAP and nitrogen-limited strategy facilitated the rapid adoption of anammox bacteria (AnAOB) in the SMD, maintaining a high specific rate of 0.3gN/gVSS/d. A high secretion of tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (76 mg/gVSS to 102 mg/gVSS) promoted micro-granule aggregation and stability. Moreover, Ca. Kuenenia, an AnAOB genus, was highly enriched from 21% to (27 to 30) %, whereas Nitrospira, a nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, was significantly suppressed to (0 to 0.05) %. These findings will provide valuable guidance in implementing the anammox process in swine wastewater treatment.

Improving removal of combined veterinary antibiotics and mitigating their negative impacts during anaerobic digestion of swine manure using modified bentonite

This study investigated the potential of modified bentonite (MB) material in mitigating the negative effects of combined veterinary antibiotics (CVAs) on anaerobic digestion (AD) process treating swine manure. Four CVAs (i.e., Oxytetracycline (OTC), Tetracycline (TC), Norfloxacin (Norf), and Sulfadiazine (SDZ)) were selected as they are most frequently detected in swine manure; and anaerobically incubated for 30 days under mesophilic conditions (37 °C) and with addition of different MB weights (1, 5, and 10 g L−1). Results showed that 1, 5, and 10 g L−1 of MB enhanced the removal of CVAs from 61.5 (no MB addition) to 72.7, 86.4, and 91.4 %, respectively. CVAs removal was accredited to biodegradation rather than adsorption to MB. Norf was rapidly transferred to solids causing an adsorption competition and decreasing co-antibiotics removal, while it was fast removed when MB was added. When 10 g L−1 of MB were added, the CVAs' adsorption competition diminished and their inhibition on CH4 production decreased from 27 % to 1.7 %. MB addition lowered the impact of CVAs significantly by maintaining pH stability, enhanced COD removal, decreased the VFAs accumulation, and improved the activity of bacteria and archaeal communities. The cost analysis showed that MB additions to AD would reduce cost by 52 % than applied methods for animal slurry pre-treatment or post-digestive treatment for reducing antibiotic residues. These findings suggests that using MB as an environmentally-friendly and commercial additive holds promise for reducing CVAs and eradicating their negative impacts with safe digestate disposal to land applications.

High-throughput profiling the effects of zinc on antibiotic resistance genes in the anaerobic digestion of swine manure

ABSTRACT The problem of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) caused by heavy metals has attracted extensive attention of human beings. Zn, a widely used feed additive, has a very high residue in swine manure, but the distribution characteristics of ARGs imposed by Zn in anaerobic digestion (AD) products are not clear. In this study, the behaviour of mobile genetic elements (MGEs), bacterial community, and their association with ARGs were determined in the presence of 125 and 1250 mg L–1 Zn in AD system of swine manure. Zn-treated enriched the abundance of ARGs, and produced some new genotypes that were not detected in CK treatment. In addition, low concentration of Zn significantly increased the relative abundance of ARGs, as compared to higher Zn and CK group. Correspondingly, the abundances of most top30 genus were highest in ZnL (125 mg L–1 Zn), followed by CK and ZnH (1250 mg L–1 Zn). Notably, network analysis showed that the relationship between ARGs and MGEs is closer than that ARGs and bacteria, suggesting that ARGs increased in Zn-treated, especially low level Zn, may be due to the amplification transfer of ARGs among varied microorganisms by horizontal transfer with MGEs. Therefore, strengthen the management of in livestock manure is crucial to control the spread of ARGs in organic fertilizers.

Addition of iron ore tailings to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of swine manure: ecotoxicological and elemental analyses in digestates

Addition of iron ore tailings to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of swine manure: ecotoxicological and elemental analyses in digestates

Influence of Dairy Manure as Inoculum Source on Anaerobic Digestion of Swine Manure.

Inoculation is a widely used method to improve the efficiency of anaerobic digestion (AD) with a high organic load. This study was conducted to prove the potential of dairy manure as an inoculum source for AD of swine manure. Furthermore, an appropriate inoculum-to-substrate (I/S) ratio was determined to improve methane yield and reduce the required time of AD. We carried out 176 days of anaerobic digestion for five different I/S ratios (3, 1, and 0.3 on a volatile solid basis, dairy manure alone, and swine manure alone) of manure, using solid container submerged lab-scale reactors in mesophilic conditions. As a result, solid-state swine manure inoculated with dairy manure could be digested without inhibition caused by ammonia and volatile fatty acid accumulation. The highest methane yield potential was observed in I/S ratios 1 and 0.3, as 133 and 145 mL CH4·g-1-VS, respectively. The lag phase of swine manure alone was more extended, 41 to 47 days, than other treatments containing dairy manure, directly related to tardy startup. These results revealed that dairy manure can be used as an inoculum source for AD of swine manure. The proper I/S ratios leading to successful AD of swine manure were 1 and 0.3.

Potential of hydrochar/pyrochar derived from sawdust of oriental plane tree for stimulating methanization by mitigating propionic acid inhibition in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of swine manure

VFAs accumulation in anaerobic digestion systems can lead to disturbance of the acid base balance, which has brought major challenges for methane production. Meanwhile, less research explored the potential of biochar derived from wood wastes of oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis L.) for stimulating methanization in mesophilic anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effects of pyrochar and hydrochar derived from sawdust of oriental plane tree on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of swine manure were compared for the first time. Fourier infrared transform analysis indicated that more functional groups existed on the surface of hydrochar, whereas higher ash content and BET specific surface area were found in pyrochar. The maximum methane production rate during anaerobic digestion was observed in the pyrochar treatment, which increased by 59.5% compared with the control without biochar. Although stimulative effects on dissolved organic carbon and volatile fatty acids production were both observed in the pyrochar and hydrochar treatments, the pyrochar treatment was much easier to trigger multipath methanogenesis and direct interspecific electron transport and subdue propionic acid accumulation compared to the hydrochar treatment. Moreover, redundancy analysis indicated that the variations in acetic acid and dissolved organic carbon were mostly associated with microbial succession. These results suggest that pyrochar has better promoting effects than HC in terms of methane generation and propionic acid inhibition alleviation owing to its special porous structures, functional groups (e.g., C=O, C–O and O–H), and physicochemical properties. These excellent properties play a greater role in recruiting functional archaea and bacteria to regulate the levels of volatile fatty acids and dissolved organic carbon to enhance the methane yield of anaerobic digestion. This study provides novel and valuable information for further engineering applications of pyrochar and hydrochar derived from sawdust of oriental plane tree in energy production and environmental waste treatment.

Biological nitrogen removal mechanisms during anaerobic digestion of swine manure: Effects of biogas circulation and activated carbon addition

This study investigated the biological nitrogen removal mechanisms during the anaerobic digestion of swine manure and the effects of biogas circulation and activated carbon (AC) addition. Biogas circulation, AC addition, and their combination increased the methane yield by 25.9%, 22.3%, and 44.1%, respectively, when compared to the control. Nitrogen species analysis and metagenomic results indicated that nitrification–denitrification was the dominant ammonia removal pathway in all digesters with little oxygen, while anammox did not occur. Biogas circulation could promote mass transfer and induce air infiltration to enrich nitrification- and denitrification-related bacteria and functional genes. And AC might act as an electron shuttle to facilitate ammonia removal. The combined strategies showed a synergetic effect on the enrichment of nitrification and denitrification bacteria and functional genes, significantly lowering the total ammonia nitrogen by 23.6%. A single digester with biogas circulation and AC addition could enhance methanogenesis and ammonia removal via nitrification and denitrification.

Biogas circulation for improving the promotive effect of zero-valent iron on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

Zero-valent iron (ZVI) supplementation for enhancing anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM) has been widely studied. However, the low utilization efficiency of ZVI in AD process greatly limits the development of this technology. In this study, a promising approach, biogas circulation was proposed to promote ZVI dissolution during AD. Compared with the control with ZVI only, the CH4 yield was increased by 53.84 % in the digester with ZVI addition and biogas circulation. Biogas circulation apparently increased the system alkalinity and lowered the oxidation-reduction potential through promoting ZVI dissolution and enhancing gas-liquid-solid contact. Particularly, ethanol-type fermentation was favored, as evidenced by the 19.96–183.45 % higher ethanol concentrations in R-Circulation, which might provide more H2 and ethanol to consolidate the hydrogenotrophic pathways and direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET), respectively. Hydrogenotrophic Methanobacterium and Methanothrix that capable of mediating DIET were enriched by 38.81 % and 26.41 % with biogas circulation, respectively.

Long-term inhibition of chlortetracycline antibiotics on anaerobic digestion of swine manure

This study aimed to identify whether chronic effects are present in the anaerobic digestion (AD) of swine manure (SM) containing chlortetracycline (CTC), which is one of the major broad-spectrum veterinary antibiotics, and to elucidate the long-term inhibitory effects and recovery from the inhibition based on AD performance and microbial community. Two continuous-stirred tank reactors treating SM with and without CTC spiking (3 mg/L) were operated for 900 days. Due to the degradation and transformation, the total concentration including CTC's epimer and isomer in the test reactor was 1.5 mg/L. The exposure level was determined according to probabilistically estimated concentrations with uncertainties in field conditions. Until the cessation of CTC exposure on day 585, the methane generation of test reactor continuously decreased to 55 ± 17 mL/g-VS/day, 53% that of control. The methane generation and organic removal were not recovered within 300 days after the CTC exposure was stopped. During the experiment, stability parameters such as pH, total ammonium nitrogen, the composition of methane and alkalinity were the same for both reactors. The concentration and composition of VFAs in the test reactor were different with those of control but not in inhibition level. Microbial profiles revealed that reduction in bacterial diversity and changed balance in microbial species resulted in the performance downgrade under the long-term antibiotic pressure. Since it is hard to recover from the inhibition and difficult to predict the inhibition using physicochemical indicators, continuous exposure to CTC needs to be avoided for the sustainable management of AD plants treating SM.