Influence of support materials on methanogenic biofilm formation in ammonia rich environments

Abstract

Ammonia is the main inhibitor of methanogenesis during the anaerobic digestion (AD) of protein-rich materials. Promoting biomass development as biofilm is a well-known strategy to overcome inhibition by toxic compounds in engineered AD systems. In the on-going study, the biofilm formation on three supports (zeolite, magnetite and nylon) and the bacterial acclimatisation of syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea (HMA) was successfully attained. The results suggest that magnetite and nylon could enhance the proliferation of SAOB above the support, while zeolite due to its capacity to retain ammonia in its structure avoid the presence of those communities.