Synergistic enhancement of volatile fatty acid production from waste activated sludge by citric acid assisted potassium ferrate co-pretreatment: crucial role of citric acid

IF 13.3 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL

Chemical Engineering Journal Pub Date : 2025-05-27 DOI:10.1016/j.cej.2025.164205

Ling Wang, Yurun Ma, Chenxin Zhu, Huan Liu, Ran Gao, Yue Ma, Xiaodong Wang, Xuejun Bi, Heliang Pang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) has the potential to facilitate the recovery of resources from waste biomass, while also playing a substantial role in solid waste management and carbon emission reduction. In this study, a strategy of treating WAS with potassium ferrate (PF) and citric acid (CA) was proposed to enhance WAS solubilization and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production. The effects of CA on VFAs production and methanogenesis following PF pretreatment of WAS were analyzed from multiple perspectives, including EPS dissolution, organic matter conversion, enzymatic activity, and electron transfer. The results demonstrated that the combined pretreatment effectively promoted WAS hydrolysis and solubilization, leading to significant changes in the microbial community structure and composition. This process resulted in the targeted enrichment of key microorganisms involved in VFAs production, such as Enterococcus, Macellibacteroides and Bacillus. The addition of CA regulated pH, increased the activity of key hydrolytic enzymes in anaerobic microorganisms, and significantly elevated the proportions of acetate and butyrate in VFAs through the Citric Acid Cycle (TCA), enabling efficient and rapid VFAs production. This study highlighted the regulatory role of CA in mitigating the inhibitory effects of PF pretreatment on acid-producing bacteria and offered an efficient pretreatment method for the production of VFAs from WAS.

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柠檬酸辅助高铁酸钾共预处理对废活性污泥挥发性脂肪酸生产的协同促进作用：柠檬酸的关键作用

废活性污泥厌氧消化（WAS）具有促进废生物质资源回收的潜力，同时在固体废物管理和碳减排方面也发挥着重要作用。本研究提出了高铁酸钾（PF）和柠檬酸（CA）处理WAS的策略，以促进WAS的增溶和挥发性脂肪酸（VFAs）的产生。从EPS溶解、有机质转化、酶活性和电子转移等方面分析了CA对PF预处理WAS后VFAs生成和甲烷生成的影响。结果表明，复合预处理有效地促进了WAS的水解和增溶，导致微生物群落结构和组成发生了显著变化。这一过程导致了参与VFAs生产的关键微生物，如肠球菌、Macellibacteroides和芽孢杆菌的靶向富集。CA的添加调节了pH，提高了厌氧微生物关键水解酶的活性，并通过柠檬酸循环（Citric Acid Cycle， TCA）显著提高了VFAs中乙酸和丁酸的比例，实现了高效、快速的VFAs生产。本研究强调了CA在减轻PF预处理对产酸菌的抑制作用中的调节作用，为WAS生产VFAs提供了一种有效的预处理方法。

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来源期刊

Chemical Engineering Journal 工程技术-工程：化工

CiteScore

21.70

自引率

9.30%

发文量

6781

审稿时长

2.4 months

期刊介绍： The Chemical Engineering Journal is an international research journal that invites contributions of original and novel fundamental research. It aims to provide an international platform for presenting original fundamental research, interpretative reviews, and discussions on new developments in chemical engineering. The journal welcomes papers that describe novel theory and its practical application, as well as those that demonstrate the transfer of techniques from other disciplines. It also welcomes reports on carefully conducted experimental work that is soundly interpreted. The main focus of the journal is on original and rigorous research results that have broad significance. The Catalysis section within the Chemical Engineering Journal focuses specifically on Experimental and Theoretical studies in the fields of heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and biocatalysis. These studies have industrial impact on various sectors such as chemicals, energy, materials, foods, healthcare, and environmental protection.