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Effects of Trace Elements Supplementation on Methane Enhancement and Microbial Community Dynamics in Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste

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Abstract

Batch anaerobic digestion (AD) using food waste (FW) as a substrate with mono trace element (TE) supplementation of Fe, Co, and Ni was simultaneously carried out under mesophilic conditions. The AD of food waste without TE, was severely inhibited by volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation. TE supplementation improved VFA conversion and methane production, with Ni and Co groups showing better enhancements to the AD process. The optimal group received 5 mg/L Ni supplementation, increasing methane production from the 211.3 to 489.22 mL g−1 VS. The fermentative microbes in TE groups are strengthened by improving the abundance of Firmicutes while decreasing Proteobacteria. Methanosarcina replaced Methanobrevibacter as the dominant methanogen in the TE supplementation groups. The genera Thermovirga and norank_f_Synergistaceae, which could be syntrophic co-culture with hydrogenotrophic methanogens, were distinctly improved in the Ni and Co groups. This study could shed more lights on understanding the TE supplementation effects in AD.

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Funding

Financial support from National Key Research and Development Program of China, China through contract (Grant No. 2021YFE0104600) is greatly acknowledged. In addition, financial support by Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) of Egypt under grant number 43125 is greatly acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Xianpu Zhu and Zengzhen Wang have contributed equally to this paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomass Energy Engineering Research Centre, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xianpu Zhu, Zengzhen Wang, Dominic Yellezuome, Ronghou Liu & Xin Liu

  2. Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Eco-Environmental Change and Management Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Science and Technology, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xianpu Zhu, Zengzhen Wang, Dominic Yellezuome, Ronghou Liu & Xin Liu

  3. College of Biological, Chemical Science and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Zhejiang Province, Jiaxing, 314001, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Sun

  4. Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516, Egypt

    Mohamed Hemida Abd-Alla

  5. Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Suez, 43721, Egypt

    Abdel-Hamied M. Rasmey

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  1. Xianpu Zhu
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ZW, XZ, DY, RL. Performed the experiments: ZW, XZ, DY, XL. Analyzed the data: ZW, XZ. Wrote the paper: XZ, ZW, DY, RL, MHAA, CS, AMR. Acquisition of funding/supervision: RL, MHAA, CS, AMR

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Correspondence to Ronghou Liu.

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Zhu, X., Wang, Z., Yellezuome, D. et al. Effects of Trace Elements Supplementation on Methane Enhancement and Microbial Community Dynamics in Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste. Waste Biomass Valor 14, 2323–2334 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-022-02024-0

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