Rapid in‐situ aerobic biodegradation of high salt and oily food waste employing constructed synthetic microbiome

Abstract

The high salt content of food waste (FW) severely limits microbial physiological activity and reduces its biodegradability. In this study, a salt‐tolerant thermophilic bacterial agent that consists of four different substrate degradation functional strains was evaluated for efficient high salt and oily FW in solid‐state aerobic biodegradation disposers. The phy‐chemical properties, enzyme activities, microbial community structure, and function during the biodegradation process were evaluated under high salt (5%) stress. The results showed that the agent promoted the degradation rate, increased the matrix temperature, decreased the moisture content (MC), and enhanced enzyme activities without putrid smell. High‐throughput sequencing indicated community structure succession between different groups and the positive contribution of the inoculated functional strains. During the FW biodegradation process, the Bacillus sp. inoculated was the dominant genus in the agent group. Furthermore, CCA further confirmed the positive effects of the four inoculated strains on high salt and oily FW aerobic biodegradation. Functional prediction and metabolite results both confirmed that the agent was more efficient in carbon, amino acid, and lipid metabolism, which demonstrated that the synthetic microbial consortium holds a potential advantage for efficiency and subsequent resource utilization for organic fertilizer.

Microbiome research for advancing engineering in life science

“…Lastly, Xu et al (2023) showcase the utility of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) in efficiently managing high‐salt and oily food waste through solid‐state aerobic biodegradation. Their study highlights the potential of engineered microbial consortia for sustainable waste management and resource recovery [ 7 ].…”