Biomethane Recovery and Prokaryotic Shifts in Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food Waste and Paper Waste in Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste: Effect of Paper Content

Abstract

A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was used to investigate the feasibility of the mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD) of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) containing food waste (FW) and paper waste (PW) with the increasing in PW ratio from 0% to 50%. The entire system obtained a relatively stable COD removal efficiency and a volatile solid (VS) removal efficiency both over 80% and a biogas production rate of  2.0~2.3 L L-1 d-1. Artificial dose of alkalinity was needed when PW ratio reached 50% due to the consumption of alkalinity and decrease of total ammonia-nitrogen (TAN). A high content of cellulose/lignocellulose limited the hydrolysis, and the lack of TAN also inhibited the synthesis of cells and weakened the degradation performance of MAD system. This study indicates that the co-digestion strategy is suitable to the anaerobic treatment of OFMSW and the PW ratio should be lower than 50%.

Keywords: Single-stage AD, Mesophilic, co-digestion, Paper waste, Cellulose hydrolysis