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A critical review of volatile fatty acids produced from waste activated sludge: enhanced strategies and its applications

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Abstract

This paper reviews the recent achievements in the enhanced production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from waste activated sludge (WAS). The enhanced strategies are divided into two approaches. The first strategy focuses on the regulation of carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio by co-digestion of WAS with carbon-rich substrates, including municipal solid wastes (MSW), marine algae, agricultural residues, and animal manures. The other strategy is to enhance the solubilization and hydrolysis of WAS or inhibit the methanogenesis by applying various pretreatments, such as mechanical, chemical, enzymatic, and thermal pretreatment. Finally, the applications of WAS-derived VFAs are discussed. The future researches in enhancing VFAs production and wide application of the VFAs from both technical and economic perspectives are proposed.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No.51779088), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (No. 2018JJ3564), Science and Technology Project of Changsha (KC1809008), and Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy Electric-Technology of Hunan Province (No. 2017ZNDL002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioengineering and Environmental Science, Changsha University, Changsha, 410003, People’s Republic of China

    Kun Luo, Ya Pang, Xue Li, Min Lei & Qi Huang

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, People’s Republic of China

    Qi Yang & Dongbo Wang

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  1. Kun Luo
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  2. Ya Pang
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  3. Qi Yang
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  4. Dongbo Wang
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  5. Xue Li
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  6. Min Lei
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  7. Qi Huang
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Correspondence to Ya Pang or Qi Yang.

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Luo, K., Pang, Y., Yang, Q. et al. A critical review of volatile fatty acids produced from waste activated sludge: enhanced strategies and its applications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 13984–13998 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04798-8

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