This study investigated the impact of stimulating direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET), by supplementing nano-sized magnetite (nFe3O4, 0.5 g Fe/g VSS) and carbon nanotubes (CNT, 1 g/L), in anaerobic digestion of oleic acid (OA) at various concentrations (0.10–4.00 g chemical oxygen demand(COD)/L). Both supplementations could enhance CH4 production, and its beneficial impact increased with increased OA concentration. The biggest improvements of 114% and 165% compared to the control were achieved by nFe3O4 and CNT, respectively, at OA of 4 g COD/L. The enhancement can be attributed to the increased sludge conductivity: 7.1 ± 0.5 (control), 12.5 ± 0.8 (nFe3O4-added), and 15.7 ± 1.1 µS/cm (CNT-supplemented). Dissolved iron concentration, released from nFe3O4, seemed to have a negligible role in improving CH4 production. The excretion of electron shuttles, i.e., humic-like substances and protein-like substances, were found to be stimulated by supplementing nFe3O4 and CNT. Microbial diversity was found to be simplified under DIET-stimulating conditions, whereby five genera accounted for 88% of the total sequences in the control, while more than 82% were represented by only two genera (Methanotrix concilli and Methanosarcina flavescens) by supplementing nFe3O4 and CNT. In addition, the abudance of electro-active bacteria such as Syntrophomonas zehnderi was significantly increased from 17% to around 45%.
The aim of this study is to assess an innovative economic approach for the production of both fermentative hydrogen and biochar from fruit and vegetable peels (FVPs) via fermentation/pyrolysis process. Firstly, in fermentation batches, multi-fermentation of FVPs positively affected the harvested hydrogen yield and COD reduction efficiency, which reached their maximal values of 3.9 ± 0.6 mmol/g COD and 56.2 ± 4.6% at batch of 25% pea + 25% tomato + 25% banana + 25% orange (M4). Secondly, digestates produced from all batches were pyrolyzed at 500°C for investigating the potential for biochar production. Based on the characteristics of the pyrolyzed digestate, biochar produced from S1 (spinach) exhibited the highest specific surface area, density, pore volume, biochar production yield, and pyrolysis profit of 28.43 ± 3.95 m 2 /g, 1.93 ± 0.18 g/cm 3 , 0.59 ± 0.08 cm 3 /g, 59.04 ± 2.36%, and 3.66 $/kg feedstock , respectively. However, the maximum overall profit from both fermentation and pyrolysis processes was 5.21 $/kg feedstock and was denoted for M4.
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