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Transitions of microbial communities in high-solids anaerobic digestion with percolate recirculation
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- Author / Creator
- Ting, Hok Nam Joey
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High-solids anaerobic digestion (HSAD) is a growingly popular strategy for recovery of biomethane from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). The focus of this thesis study is to advance fundamental understanding and engineering performance of high-solids anaerobic digestion process with percolate recirculation.
The study presents a microbiological diagnosis of a mesophilic HSAD system with percolate recirculation. The results demonstrated a significant decrease in microbial diversity in both the solid digestate and the liquid percolate. Also, the digestate from the top and middle sections of the digester had similar diversity, whereas the digestate from the bottom of the tank had a slightly lower diversity. These results suggest that despite percolate recirculation, substrate gradients might have developed across the system. Archaeal communities showed shifts towards known hydrogenotrophic and ammonia-tolerant methanogens (genera Methanocelleus, Methanolinea, Methanosarcina, vadin CA11, etc.), which was a consequence of changing volatile fatty acids and increased ammonia-nitrogen levels over time. Compared to initial solid and liquid inoculum, the relative abundances of some bacteria (phyla Proteobacteria and Firmicutes) and archaea of the genus Methanosarcina changed between two phases in the opposite direction, indicating a shift of microbes between two phases. -
- Graduation date
- Spring 2021
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.