Volatile Fatty Acid Production from Food Waste Leachate Using Enriched Bacterial Culture and Soil Bacteria as Co-Digester

Pham Van Hong Thi, Jeongyoon Ahn, Jaisoo Kim, Sangbeom Lee, Ingyu Lee, Sungchul Kim, Soonwoong Chang and Woojin Chung
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Pham Van Hong Thi: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, Graduate School of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Jeongyoon Ahn: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, Graduate School of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Jaisoo Kim: Department of Life Science, College of Natural Science of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Sangbeom Lee: National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Wanju 55365, Korea
Ingyu Lee: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea
Sungchul Kim: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, College of Creative Engineering of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Soonwoong Chang: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, College of Creative Engineering of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Woojin Chung: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, College of Creative Engineering of Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: The production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from waste stream has been recently getting attention as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach in mechanical–biological treatment plants. This is the first study to explore the use of a functional bacterium, AM5 isolated from forest soil, which is capable of enhancing the production of VFAs in the presence of soil bacteria as a co-digester in non-strict anaerobic fermentation processes of food waste leachates. Batch laboratory-scale trials were conducted under thermophilic conditions at 55 °C and different pH values ranging from approximately 5 to 11, as well as under uncontrolled pH for 15 days. Total solid content (TS) and volatile solid content (VS) were observed with 58.42% and 65.17% removal, respectively. An effluent with a VFA concentration of up to 33,849 mg/L (2365.57 mg/g VS; 2244.45 mg/g chemical oxygen demand (COD)-VFA VS; 1249 mg/g VS removed ) was obtained at pH 10.5 on the second day of the batch culture. The pH resulted in a significant effect on VFA concentration and composition at various values. Additionally, all types of VFAs were produced under pH no-adjustment (approximately 5) and at pH 10.5. This research might lead to interesting questions and ideas for further studies on the complex metabolic pathways of microbial communities in the mixture of a soil solution and food waste leachate.

Keywords: volatile fatty acid (VFA); anaerobic fermentation (AF); food waste leachate (FWL); food waste (FW); soil microbes; microbiology in waste treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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