Effect of sodium salt on anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste

Abstract

The effect of different sodium salt concentration on anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste was investigated. The methane production performance, the corresponding methane production model and sodium salt inhibition model were studied, and the degradation efficiency was analyzed. With the increase of sodium salt concentration, the methane yield and the maximal methane production rate decreased along with the increase of lag phase time. The highest methane yield of 594 mL/g-VSadded (VS: volatile solids) was found with no sodium salt addition while the lowest was obtained with addition of 16 g/L NaCl. The declines of the methane yield were negligible when the sodium salt concentration was below 8 g/L, which corresponded to <10% inhibiting efficiency. In contrast, a sharp decrease of methane yield was observed with addition of >8 g/L NaCl (causing 17–80% inhibition). Five kinds of regression models were developed to describe the sodium salt inhibition efficiency, and the cubic regression model of y = 0.508 + 2.401x − 0.369x2 + 0.033x3 showed the best fitting. The volatile fatty acids/ethanol gradually accumulated along with the increase of the sodium salt concentration, and the volatile solid removal efficiency represented a gradual decline accordingly. It is recommended that the sodium salt concentration in the anaerobic digesters should be controlled below 8 g/L in order to avoid intense methane inhibition.