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Exploring the Biochemical Methane Potential of Wholesale Market Waste from Jordan and Tunisia for a Future Scale-Up of Anaerobic Digestion in Amman and Sfax

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Abstract

Local open markets, trading fruits and vegetables, are widespread in Mediterranean countries, such as Tunisia and Jordan, producing large amounts of organic waste. Applying an anaerobic digestion process on this substrate makes it crucial to evaluate the waste mixture composition and seasonal variability properly. In this study, after defining an average composition of the fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) mixture produced in Sfax (Tunisia) and Amman (Jordan) in three seasonal intervals (autumn–winter, spring, and summer), the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of an artificially created FVW mixture was individually determined by three European institutions located in Spain, Italy, and Greece. The average BMP from all three seasons and laboratories was 286 ± 52 NmL CH4 g CODadded−1, close to the theoretical maximum yield of 350 NmL CH4 g CODadded−1, indicating a high biodegradability of the waste. Τhe biochemical methane yields of the spring mixtures were not statistically different across the three labs. The most significant differences among the BMP results were obtained for the autumn/winter and the summer mixtures used in Spain, likely due to the variety or ripeness of fruits and vegetables collected in the local markets. In the other two labs in Italy and Greece, no statistical difference was observed for the BMPs of the three season mixtures within the same lab. Therefore, not a critical difference in the biodegradability of such FVW is expected along the different seasons, indicating that the operation of a full-scale digester over a whole year would constantly benefit from the supplementation of a high biochemical methane potential feedstock.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to confidentiality reasons but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been carried out with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme.

Funding

This work was funded by the project entitled “Employing circular economy approach for OFMSW management within the Mediterranean countries – CEOMED” number A_B.4.2_0058, funded under the ENI CBC MED 2014–2020 programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Napoli Federico II, 80125, Naples, Italy

    S. Papirio, Ε. Scotto di Perta & G. Esposito

  2. Instituto de la Grasa, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Ctra. de Utrera, km. 1, 41013, Seville, Spain

    Á. Trujillo-Reyes & F. G. Fermoso

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67132, Xanthi, Greece

    A. Kalogiannis & K. Stamatelatou

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

    G. Kassab

  5. Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax, BP “1177”, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    S. Khoufi

  6. Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    S. Sayadi

  7. Department of Mathematics and Applications “Renato Caccioppoli”, University of Napoli Federico II, 80126, Naples, Italy

    L. Frunzo

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and analysis were performed by SP, ÁT-R, ΕSDP, FGF, LF, GE and KS. Experimental data were obtained by ÁT-R, ΕSDP and AK. Waste composition was determined by GK, SK and SS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SP, ÁT-R, ΕSDP, FGF, and KS and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to K. Stamatelatou.

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Papirio, S., Trujillo-Reyes, Á., di Perta, Ε.S. et al. Exploring the Biochemical Methane Potential of Wholesale Market Waste from Jordan and Tunisia for a Future Scale-Up of Anaerobic Digestion in Amman and Sfax. Waste Biomass Valor 13, 3887–3897 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-022-01790-1

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