Augmentation of Granular Anaerobic Sludge with Algalytic Bacteria Enhances Methane Production from Microalgal Biomass

Abstract

The efficiency of anaerobic digestion relies upon activity of the inoculum converting organic substrate into biogas. Often, metabolic capacity of the inoculum needs to be augmented with new capabilities to accommodate changes in the substrate feed composition. However, bioaugmentation is not a widely used strategy possibly due to the lack of studies demonstrating successful applications. This study describes the bioaugmentation of granular anaerobic sludge digesting mixed algal biomass in batch-scale reactors. The addition of an algalytic bacterial mixture to the granular consortium increased methane yield by 11%. This study also investigated changes in the microbial 16SrRNA composition of the augmented and non-augmented granular inoculum, which demonstrates a significant change in the hydrolytic microbial community. Overall, the studies’ results aim to provide a feasible checklist to assess the success rates of bioaugmentation of anaerobic digestion applications.