Influence of sludge pre-treatment on the microbial community structure in anaerobic digesters

Anaerobic digestion plays a key role in the generation of sustainable energy carriers, in the form of biogas, from various organic waste streams. Although the process has been known and implemented for many decades, it is not yet fully understood, which is mainly due to the complexity of the different (microbial and physicochemical) reactions involved. In addition to this, the efficiency of the process is rather low. This is overcome by applying a pre-treatment method such as a thermal, chemical or ultrasound treatment. In this paper, the effects of an ultrasound and a microwave pre-treatment on sludge COD, biogas production and microbial community is discussed. It was seen that an increase in the soluble COD concentration also leads to a shift in the microbial community during the digestion period.status: publishe