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Effect of municipal sludge/blue-green algae ratio on thermophilic aerobic composting and its dissolved organic matter dynamic process

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Abstract

This work evaluated the performance of thermophilic aerobic co-composting of municipal sludge and blue-green algae and explored the dissolved organic matter dynamic evolution simultaneously. The results of 28-day monitoring demonstrated that the addition of blue-green algae greatly upgraded the municipal sludge thermophilic aerobic composting performance with the highest microcystin removal efficiency averaging 94.9%, germination index over 90% and moisture content below 45% at municipal sludge: blue-green algae ratio of 4:1. The synergistic effect of municipal sludge and blue-green algae enhanced microbial activity through creating a better aerobic composting environment and, therefore, improved the permeability of the input streams. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix spectra of the input streams were resolved by the parallel factor analysis model, and the main components were humic acid-like (Component 1), fulvic acid-like (Component 2), tryptophan-like (Component 3), and tyrosine-like (Component 4). In addition, the relative Fmax of Component 1 and Component 2 increased during aerobic composting, while the Fmax of Component 3 and Component 4 decreased sharply. The variation indicated that aerobic co-composting could enhance the decomposition of protein-like substances and promote the generation of humus-like substances, thus leading to the increased humification. Hence, the aerobic co-composting of municipal sludge and blue-green algae provided important theoretical support for the scale-up engineering treatment of MS.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the associate editor and the reviewers for their useful feedback that improved this paper.

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  1. J. H. Wang, and L. Y. Wang: co-first author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CCCC National Engineering Research Center of Dredging Technology and Equipment Co. Ltd, 1088 Yangshupu Road, Shanghai, 200082, China

    J. H. Wang, L. Y. Wang, Q. B. Zhang, J. Wang, Y. C. Li, S. Y. Wang, J. C. Li & Y. F. Chi

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  1. J. H. Wang
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Contributions

[JW] and [LW] did conceptualization; [JW], [LW], [JW], [YL], [SW], [YC] done methodology; [JW] and [LW] done formal analysis; [JW], [YL], [SW], and [YC] investigated the study; [JW], [JW], [YL], [SW], and [YC] validated the study; [JW], [LW], [JW], [Y L], [SW], [YC] performed data curation; [JW] contributed to roles/writing—original draft and visualization; [JW], [LW], [YC], [QZ] done writing-review & editing; [JW], [LW], [YC], and [QZ] did supervision; [LW] and [QZ] did funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to J. H. Wang.

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We are sure that we maintain integrity of the research and its presentation, which include: The manuscript has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. The submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere in any form or language. The submitted work is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time. Results are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image based manipulation). No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own.

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Wang, J.H., Wang, L.Y., Zhang, Q.B. et al. Effect of municipal sludge/blue-green algae ratio on thermophilic aerobic composting and its dissolved organic matter dynamic process. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 11309–11320 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05147-6

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