Tonalide facilitates methane production from anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Tonalide (AHTN), a typical polycyclic musk and an emerging pollutant, was found to be enriched in waste activated sludge (WAS). However, the research of its effect on WAS anaerobic digestion was seldom available. This research therefore investigated the effect of AHTN on WAS anaerobic digestion and the underlying mechanism through batch experiments using either real WAS or synthetic wastewaters as the digestion substrates. The results indicated that when the concentration of AHTN increased from 0 to 1000 mg/kg TSS in WAS, the methane production increased linearly from 125.0 +/- 2.2 to 162.9 +/- 1.6 mL/g VSS, while the AHTN concentration further increased to 2000 mg/kg TSS, the methane production decreased to 146.2 +/- 2.1 mL/g VSS. At the same time AHTN can facilitate the utility of volatile fatty acid (VFAs), especially acetate and propionate. It was further found that the degradation efficiency of AHTN in anaerobic digestion was 42.7%. The mechanism investigation demonstrated that AHTN can promote the solubilization, homoacetogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis processes, leading to an increase in methane production. Further analysis revealed that methanogenic archaea mainly belonged to the genera of Methanosaeta and Metheanobacterium, and their relative abundance increased accordingly with the addition of AHTN. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effect of AHTN on waste activated sludge anaerobic digestion, finding that AHTN can enhance methane production up to a certain concentration, but decrease it when reaching a certain threshold. Additionally, AHTN can facilitate the utilization of volatile fatty acids, with a degradation efficiency of 42.7%. Mechanism investigation showed that AHTN can promote solubilization, fermentation, and methanogenesis processes, leading to increased methane production.