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A modeling approach to direct interspecies electron transfer process in anaerobic transformation of ethanol to methane

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 24, pages 855–863 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) plays an important part in contributing to methane production from anaerobic digestion. However, so far anaerobic digestion models that have been proposed only consider two pathways for methane production, namely, acetoclastic methanogenesis and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, via indirect interspecies hydrogen transfer, which lacks an effective way for incorporating DIET into this paradigm. In this work, a new mathematical model is specifically developed to describe DIET process in anaerobic digestion through introducing extracellular electron transfer as a new pathway for methane production, taking anaerobic transformation of ethanol to methane as an example. The developed model was able to successfully predict experimental data on methane dynamics under different experimental conditions, supporting the validity of the developed model. Modeling predictions clearly demonstrated that DIET plays an important role in contributing to overall methane production (up to 33 %) and conductive material (i.e., carbon cloth) addition would significantly promote DIET through increasing ethanol conversion rate and methane production rate. The model developed in this work will potentially enhance our current understanding on syntrophic metabolism via DIET.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Recruitment Program of Global Experts and the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51578391). Yiwen Liu acknowledges the support from the UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. The authors are grateful to research collaboration among University of Technology Sydney, Dalian University of Technology, and Tongji University.

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Affiliations

  1. Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Yiwen Liu, Huu Hao Ngo, Wenshan Guo & Junliang Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Yaobin Zhang & Zhiqiang Zhao

  3. Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium

    Lai Peng

  4. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, People’s Republic of China

    Bing-Jie Ni

Authors
  1. Yiwen Liu
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  2. Yaobin Zhang
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  3. Zhiqiang Zhao
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  4. Huu Hao Ngo
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  5. Wenshan Guo
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  6. Junliang Zhou
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  7. Lai Peng
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  8. Bing-Jie Ni
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huu Hao Ngo or Bing-Jie Ni.

Additional information

Yiwen Liu and Yaobin Zhang contribute equally to this work.

Responsible editor: Gerald Thouand

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Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhao, Z. et al. A modeling approach to direct interspecies electron transfer process in anaerobic transformation of ethanol to methane. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 855–863 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7776-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7776-9

Keywords

  • Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET)
  • Anaerobic digestion
  • Ethanol
  • Methane production
  • Syntrophy
  • Mathematical model