Abstract
The objective of this study was to apply the concept of substrate complementarity. Algal biomass cultivated in effluent (domestic or from the brewing industry) in combination with olive mill wastewater was anaerobically digested, without any pre-treatment or correction of the substrate, allowing stability of the process and improvement of the digestion unit performance. For biomass produced in domestic sewage, the substitution of 10% of its volume by olive mill wastewater resulted in a better performance, with a yield of 0.10 m3 CH4 kg−1 volatile solids and an increase of 61% in methane production, when compared to the yield from the digestion of only algal biomass. Concerning algal biomass produced in domestic sewage, among others, the high content of ash (40%) and the low content of carbohydrates (3.6%) were the main factors to be overcome with the addition of complementary substrate. Regarding the algal biomass produced in brewing effluent, proportions of up to 20% of olive mill wastewater could be used without inhibiting anaerobic activity, however, a period of adaptation of the inoculum should be considered. Due to its more balanced chemical composition, biomass from the brewing industry alone presented better yield in methane production; 0.16 m3 CH4 kg−1 volatile solids, 14% higher than when digested together with 10% of the volume of olive mill wastewater substrate. The best performance of anaerobic digestion of algal biomass with another substrate was not related to the carbon–nitrogen ratio used. Therefore, other characteristics have influenced the algal biomass anaerobic process, such as the chemical constitution of algal biomass, mostly associated with the type of medium where it was cultivated.
Graphic Abstract
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sittijunda, S., Reungsang, A.: Methane production from the co-digestion of algal biomass with crude glycerol by anaerobic mixed cultures. Waste Biomass Valoriz (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-018-0542-0
Dar, R.A., Urmila, P., Phutela, G.: Enzymatic and hydrothermal pretreatment of newly isolated Spirulina subsalsa BGLR6 biomass for enhanced biogas production. Waste Biomass Valoriz 1, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00712-y
Sialve, B., Bernet, N., Bernard, O.: Anaerobic digestion of microalgae as a necessary step to make microalgal biodiesel sustainable. Biotechnol. Adv. 27, 409–416 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2009.03.001
Speece, R.E.: Anaerobic Biotechnology for Industrial Wastewaters. Archae Press, Nashville (1996)
González-Fernández, C., Sialve, B., Bernet, N., Steyer, J.P.: Comparison of ultrasound and thermal pretreatment of Scenedesmus biomass on methane production. Bioresour. Technol. 110, 610–616 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.01.043
Zamalloa, C., Boon, N., Verstraete, W.: Anaerobic digestibility of Scenedesmus obliquus and Phaeodactylum tricornutum under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Appl. Energy 92, 733–738 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.08.017
Mussgnug, J.H., Klassen, V., Schlüter, A., Kruse, O.: Microalgae as substrates for fermentative biogas production in a combined biorefinery concept. J. Biotechnol. 150, 51–56 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.07.030
Brown, M.R., Jeffrey, S.W., Volkman, J.K., Dunstan, G.A.: Nutritional properties of microaglae for mariculture. Aquaculture 151, 315–331 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0044-8486(96)01501-3
Geider, R.J., Roche, J.La: Redfield revisited: variability of C:N:P in marine microalgae and its biochemical basis. Br. Phycol. Soc. 37, 1–17 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0967026201003456
Elser, J.J., Fagan, W.F., Denno, R.F., Dobberfuhl, D.R., Folarin, A., Huberty, A., Interlandi, S., Kilham, S.S., McCauley, E., Schulz, K.L., Siemann, E.H., Sterner, R.W.: Nutritional constraints in terrestrial and freshwater food webs. Nature 408, 578–580 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35046058
Sosnowski, P., Wieczorek, A., Ledakowicz, S.: Anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and organic fraction of municipal solid wastes. Adv. Environ. Res. 7, 609–616 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1016/s1093-0191(02)00049-7
Marques, I.P.: Anaerobic digestion treatment of olive mill wastewater for effluent re-use in irrigation. Desalination 137, 233–239 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0011-9164(01)00224-7
Sampaio, M.A.P., Gonçalves, M.R., Marques, I.P.: Anaerobic digestion challenge of raw olive mill wastewater. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 1684–1692 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0011-9164(01)00224-7
Morvová, M., Onderka, M., Morvová, M., Morva, I., Chudoba, V.: Pyrolysis of olive mill waste with on-line and ex-post analysis. Waste Biomass Valoriz. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-017-0126-4
International Olive Oil Council: World Olive Oil Production. International Olive Oil Council, Madrid (2018)
Sousa, D.A., Costa, A., Aleandre, M.R., Prata, J.V.: Carbon nanodots from olive mill wastewater: a sustainable route. In: I Reunião do Grupo do Carbono, p. 31. Sociedade Portuguesa de Química, Porto (2017)
Gonçalves, M.R., Freitas, P., Marques, I.P.: Bioenergy recovery from olive mill effluent in a hybrid reactor. Biomass Bioenergy 39, 253–260 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.01.014
Azbar, N., Bayram, A., Filibeli, A., Muezzinoglu, A., Sengul, F., Ozer, A.: A review of waste management options in olive oil production. Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 34, 209–247 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/10643380490279932
APHA: Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater. APHA, Washington, DC (2012)
Singleton, V.L., Rossi, J.A.: American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. American Society of Enologists, Davis (1965)
Dubois, M., Gilles, K.A., Hamilton, J.K., Rebers, P.A., Smith, F.: Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Anal. Chem. 28(3), 350–356 (1956)
AOAC: Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis. AOAC, Washington, DC (2000)
Raposo, F., Fernández-Cegrí, V., De la Rubia, M.A., Borja, R., Béline, F., Cavinato, C., Demirer, G., Fernández, B., Fernández-Polanco, M., Frigon, J.C., Ganesh, R., Kaparaju, P., Koubova, J., Méndez, R., Menin, G., Peene, A., Scherer, P., Torrijos, M., Uellendahl, H., Wierinck, I., de Wilde, V.: Biochemical methane potential (BMP) of solid organic substrates: evaluation of anaerobic biodegradability using data from an international interlaboratory study. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 86, 1088–1098 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.2622
Nielfa, A., Cano, R., Fdz-Polanco, M.: Theoretical methane production generated by the co-digestion of organic fraction municipal solid waste and biological sludge. Biotechnol. Rep. 5, 14–21 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.btre.2014.10.005
Ryan, D., Antolovich, M., Prenzler, P., Robards, K., Lavee, S.: Biotransformations of phenolic compounds in Olea europaea L. Sci. Hortic. (Amsterdam) 92, 147–176 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0304-4238(01)00287-4
Dai, J., Mumper, R.J.: Plant phenolics: extraction, analysis and their antioxidant and anticancer properties. Molecules 15, 7313–7352 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules15107313
Erwin, J.: Comparative biochemistry of fatty acids in eukaryotic microorganisms. In: Erwin, J.A. (ed.) Lipids and Biomembranes of Eukaryotic Microorganisms, pp. 141–143. Academic Press, New York (1973)
Hu, Q., Sommerfeld, M., Jarvis, E., Ghirardi, M., Posewitz, M., Seibert, M., Darzins, A.: Microalgal triacylglycerols as feedstocks for biofuel production: perspectives and advances. Plant J. 54, 621–639 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-313x.2008.03492.x
Passos, F., Astals, S., Ferrer, I.: Anaerobic digestion of microalgal biomass after ultrasound pretreatment. Waste Manag. 34, 2098–2103 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.06.004
Van Den Hende, S., Laurent, C., Bégué, M.: Anaerobic digestion of microalgal bacterial flocs from a raceway pond treating aquaculture wastewater: need for a biorefinery. Bioresour. Technol. 196, 184–193 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.07.058
Olsson, J., Feng, X.M., Ascue, J., Gentili, F.G., Shabiimam, M.A., Nehrenheim, E., Thorin, E.: Co-digestion of cultivated microalgae and sewage sludge from municipal waste water treatment. Bioresour. Technol. 171, 203–210 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.08.069
Gonçalves, M.R., Costa, J.C., Marques, I.P., Alves, M.M.: Inoculum acclimation to oleate promotes the conversion of olive mill wastewater to methane. Energy 36, 2138–2141 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.04.042
Sampaio, M.A., Gonçalves, M.R., Marques, I.P.: Anaerobic digestion challenge of raw olive mill wastewater. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 10810–10818 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.09.001
Yen, H.W., Brune, D.E.: Anaerobic co-digestion of algal sludge and waste paper to produce methane. Bioresour. Technol. 98, 130–134 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2005.11.010
Ehimen, E.A., Sun, Z.F., Carrington, C.G., Birch, E.J., Eaton-Rye, J.J.: Anaerobic digestion of microalgae residues resulting from the biodiesel production process. Appl. Energy 88, 3454–3463 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.10.020
Wang, M., Sahu, A.K., Rusten, B., Park, C.: Anaerobic co-digestion of microalgae Chlorella sp. and waste activated sludge. Bioresour. Technol. 142, 585–590 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.05.096
Li, R., Duan, N., Zhang, Y., Liu, Z., Li, B., Zhang, D., Lu, H., Dong, T.: Co-digestion of chicken manure and microalgae Chlorella 1067 grown in the recycled digestate: nutrients reuse and biogas enhancement. Waste Manag. 70, 247–254 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.09.016
Khalid, A., Arshad, M., Anjum, M., Mahmood, T., Dawson, L.: The anaerobic digestion of solid organic waste. Waste Manag. 31, 1737–1744 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2011.03.021
Zhong, W., Zhang, Z., Luo, Y., Qiao, W., Xiao, M., Zhang, M.: Biogas productivity by co-digesting Taihu blue algae with corn straw as an external carbon source. Bioresour. Technol. 114, 281–286 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.02.111
Herrmann, C., Kalita, N., Wall, D., Xia, A., Murphy, J.D.: Optimised biogas production from microalgae through co-digestion with carbon-rich co-substrates. Bioresour. Technol. 214, 328–337 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.04.119
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Sociedade Central Cervejas e Bebidas (SCC), Portugal, to the access of brewery effluent and anaerobic inoculum. Paula Assemany appreciates her sandwich Ph.D. scholarship (CNPq 234510/2014-5) funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Assemany, P., de Paula Marques, I., Calijuri, M.L. et al. Complementarity of Substrates in Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater Grown Algal Biomass. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 5759–5770 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00875-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00875-8