Improving anaerobic digestion of easy-acidification substrates by promoting buffering capacity using biochar derived from vermicompost

Acid-buffering of VCBC and VC was evaluated using 4 VFAs, and their application on anaerobic digestion of CM and KW was investigated. Results indicated acid-buffering capacity of VCBC to acetic, propionic, butyric, and valeric acid was 2.5, 1.1, 1.9 and 1.6-fold higher comparing with VC. CM digestion was not initiated at higher organic loading of 50 g TS/kg, while it worked well with 5.0% VCBC or VC. KW was not digested even though VC or VCBC was increased to 15% and 20%. However, KW digestion can be alleviated with increasing VCBC or VC proportion, in which the alleviation by VCBC was better than VC. Average VFAs concentration during CM digestion with VC was 4077.7 mg/L comparing with 2835.8 mg/L of VCBC, and biogas release was delayed for 10-days accompanying rapid pH decrease in CM digestion with VC, which reflected acid-buffering of biochar played a crucial role on improving anaerobic digestion. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.