Improved volatile fatty acid production in anaerobic digestion via simultaneous temperature regulation and persulfate activation by biochar: Chemical and biological response mechanisms

Increasing volatile fatty acid (VFA) production via persulfate activation (i.e., chemical effect) in anaerobic digestion (AD) is an emerging resource utilization method. However, the reaction mechanisms responsible for improving VFA production in AD via simultaneous temperature regulation and persulfate activation by biochar remain unclear. In this study, three PB15 treatment systems of low temperature (15 °C), medium temperature (35 °C) and high temperature (55 °C) were set to explore the relationship between VFAs production and treatment temperature and the influence of temperature on the reaction mechanism. The results show that the improvement of hydrolysis and acidification efficiency of the system in the medium temperature system is the highest. The VFA yield and acid production rate in the treatment group at 35 °C were 2.49 and 5.22 times higher than those in the control group, respectively. The chemical effect effectively initiated the anaerobic acid production process and maintained the dominant role of the biological effect. The activity of persulfate is too low at low temperature, and its decomposition is too fast at high temperature. Plenty of free radicals lead to enhanced oxidation of the system, which may kill the fermentation bacteria. The NCM model indicates that microbial stability is reduced in high temperature systems. The SEM model showed that temperature change mainly affected substrate degradation by hydrolytic bacteria and indirectly affected acid production by acid-producing bacteria. This study provides a new strategy for realizing pollutant recycling and increasing VFAs production in cold area.