Assessment of Chlorella sorokiniana Growth in Anaerobic Digester Effluent

Microalgae are considered a potential source of valuable compounds for multiple purposes and are potential agents for bioremediation of aquatic environments contaminated with different pollutants. This work evaluates the use of agricultural waste, unsterilized and anaerobically digested, to produce biomass from a strain of Chlorella sorokiniana. Furthermore, the presence of bacteria in these wastes was investigated based on the bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed a specific growth rate ranging between 0.82 and 1.45 day−1, while the final biomass yield in different digestate-containing treatments (bacterial-contaminated cultures) ranged between 0.33 and 0.50 g L−1 day−1. Besides, substantial amounts of ammonium, phosphate, and sulfate were consumed by C. sorokiniana during the experimental period. The predominant bacteria that grew in the presence of C. sorokiniana in the effluent-containing treatments belonged to the genera Chryseobacterium, Flavobacterium, Sphingomonas, Brevundimonas, Hydrogenophaga, Sphingobacterium, and Pseudomonas. Therefore, this microalga can tolerate and grow in the presence of other microorganisms. Finally, these results show that anaerobically digested agricultural waste materials are a good substitute for growth media for green microalgae; however, phosphate and sulfate levels must also be controlled in the media to maintain adequate growth of microalgae.

Biogas potential and methanogenic community shift in in-situ anaerobic sewage sludge digestion with food waste leachate additions

The objective of this study was to determine methane yields (MY) of organic wastes in biogasification facilities according to the mixing ratio of food waste/food waste leachate and sewage sludge. One biogasification facility that treated sewage sludge only was compared with three biogasification facilities treating sewage sludge and food waste. The theoretical MY was derived based on analyses of carbohydrate, fat, and protein to examine the efficiency of the biogasification facility. The average actual MY was 0.424 Sm3CH4/kg volatile solids, which corresponded to 83.7% of theoretical MY. In the case of combined anaerobic digestion (CD) mixing with food waste/food waste leachate, inhibitory factors (volatile fatty acids [VFAs], total nitrogen [TN], and organic matter contents) showed the tendency to have relatively higher values in CD facilities than in the biogasification facility treating sewage sludge only. Mean concentrations of VFAs and TN in the anaerobic digester effluent, and the organic loading rate were 406 mg/L, 3,721 mg/L, and 1.62 kg volatile solids/m3 day, respectively. The influence of anaerobic digester effluent was in charge of 10% within the influent environmental loading rate from the sewage treatment plants associated with the biogasification facilities. Analyses of the microbial community showed that a remarkable change in the structure of methanogens was directly related to different MY in each plant. In particular, Methanoculleus and Methanosaeta increased with an increasing ratio of food waste/food waste leachate to sludge, while Methanococcus and Methanosarcina decreased. In conclusion, CD showed steady operational conditions and high efficiency of MY by injecting food waste/food waste leachate into the anaerobic digester. It met the current criteria for integrated treatment of organic waste in biogasification facilities in South Korea.