The responses of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge to periodic fluctuation disturbance of organic loading rate

Fluctuation disturbance of organic loading rate (OLR) is common in actual anaerobic digestion (AD), but its effects on AD of municipal sludge gets little attention. This study investigated the responses of reactor performance and active microbial community in mesophilic and thermophilic AD of municipal sludge before, during and after OLR periodic fluctuation disturbance. The performance of both reactors were similar before and after disturbance although some parameter values changed during the disturbance, which indicated their enough buffer capacity to OLR periodic fluctuation. Different microbial community at RNA level was observed in the two reactors. When the OLR disturbance commenced, the microbial community changed greatly in thermophilic AD. Error and attack tolerance of the microbial network was analyzed in order to learn the response mechanisms to OLR disturbance. The results assisted that the thermophilic microbial community was more vulnerable, but the reactor performance of which could be maintained using the functional redundancy strategy under OLR fluctuation disturbance.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of fluctuation disturbance of organic loading rate (OLR) on anaerobic digestion (AD) of municipal sludge. The performance of the AD reactors remained similar before and after disturbance, indicating their buffer capacity to OLR periodic fluctuation. Different microbial community at RNA level was observed in the two reactors, with greater changes in the thermophilic AD. The results showed that the thermophilic microbial community was more vulnerable, but the reactor performance could be maintained using the functional redundancy strategy under OLR fluctuation disturbance.