Anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) is generally restricted by the low methane production in the methanogenic process and slow hydrolysis rate. This work provided a method to improve AD performance by adding synthetic polypyrrole materials. Firstly, the crystal structure, functional group, morphology and elemental composition of the as-prepared polypyrrole were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Second, in continuous biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests over 42 days, polypyrrole at the level of 0.3 g/L elevated cumulative methane production and daily methane yield by 27.83% and 29.44%, respectively. The mechanism by which polypyrrole affects the anaerobic digestion of WAS was then investigated. The results showed that polypyrrole had only a slight effect on the solubilization, hydrolysis and acidification processes of WAS, while significantly promoting the methanogenic process. microbial community analysis showed that the addition of polypyrrole enriched hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanospirillum) and direct interspecies electron transfer related microorganisms (Methanosaeta, Bacteroidota, Chloroflexi, Proteobacteria, etc.), possibly enhancing electron exchange to accelerate methane production.

Enhanced anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by in the presence of polypyrrole

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ACS Fall 2022

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