Enhancing methanogenesis efficiency in anaerobic digestion of food waste through incremental salinity and nanobubble utilization to domesticate inoculum: Adaptability and optimal inoculation ratios

Tingting Hou, Youzhou Jiao, Jiamin Zhao, Zhenya Zhang, Zhongfang Lei, Guizhuan Xu, Xiaohui Pan, Pengfei Li, Francesco Petracchini and Chao He

Renewable Energy, 2025, vol. 249, issue C

Abstract: High salinity inhibits methane production in food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion (AD). This study investigated the salinity tolerance (1 %–3 %) of inoculum acclimated with air nanobubble water (Air-NBW) and evaluated methanogenic potential under 3 % salinity across varying inoculum-to-substrate (I/S) ratios (volatile solids (VS) basis). As results, the methane yield of the Air-NBW group significantly increased by 31 %, 18 %, and 16 % (p < 0.05 for all phases) relative to the control group across the three phases. Remarkably, the lag period in the Air-NBW group exhibited a notable reduction as the salinity increased, particularly at the salinity of 2 % where a significant decrease of 14 days in the lag period was observed in comparison to the control group. Additionally, the Air-NBW digester showed a non-significant increase in methane yield (228.88 ± 4.36 mL/g-VSfed, p = 0.061) at I/S = 1, while demonstrating a significant increase to 307.45 ± 3.77 mL/g-VSfed at I/S = 0.5 (p = 0.007 < 0.05) compared to the DW groups at equivalent I/S ratios. These results indicate that the using a salinity-adaptable inoculum could effectively facilitate the swift initiation and sustained stability of FW digesters.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Food waste; Salinity tolerance; Methane yield enhancement; Air nanobubble water (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:249:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125009206

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123258

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