Unveiling the behaviors and mechanisms of percarbonate on the sludge anaerobic fermentation for volatile fatty acids production

Percarbonate (PC), as a cheap and environmental-friendly chemical oxidant, has been applied extensively in various fields. However, the impacts of PC on the waste activated sludge (WAS) anaerobic fermentation process are unknown. This study mainly aimed to investigate its effects on the production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and disclose the underlying mechanisms. Results indicated that the maximal VFAs yield at 0.3 g PC/g TSS within 4 d was 1452.9 mg COD/L while it was only 296.4 mg COD/L in the control at the fermentation time of 6 d. The mechanistic analysis demonstrated that PC treatment substantially promoted the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) disruption and cell lysis, and meanwhile improved the biodegradability of released organics, thereby providing more bio-availability substrates for further acidogenic metabolic processes. Moreover, the abundance of fermentative microorganisms (i.e., Proteiniclasticum) and the microbial activities correlated with substrates metabolism and VFAs biosynthesis (i.e. hydrolases and metabolic genetic expression levels) were also evidently improved by the PC. This work provides a feasible method for improving the resource recovery from WAS and discloses the responses of the microbial community to chemicals stimulus for the regulations of the biochemical fermentation process in anaerobic systems.