Deciphering the impacts of multi-source materials on semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of food waste: performance enhancement and mechanism analysis.

Anaerobic digestion is a promising technology for food waste valorization, enabling resource recovery and renewable energy production. However, while exogenous material supplementation improves digestion performance, the mechanisms governing semi-continuous operation remain unclear. Via 120-day semi-continuous experiments, this study assessed the impacts of iron-based composites (Fe + C, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4) and granular activated carbon (GAC) on system efficiency. Results showed that exogenous materials significantly enhanced biogas production (up to 808.1 ± 66.0 mL/g VS in mesophilic anaerobic digestion + Fe2O3 reactor) (MAD + Fe2O3), improved organic degradation (VS removal: 82.7 ± 0.7%), and mitigated volatile fatty acid (VFA) inhibition (reduced from 5000 to 2800 mg/L). Notably, iron-based materials exerted selective regulatory effects: Fe and Fe3O4 boosted hydrogenotrophic methanogen metabolism, while Fe2O3 enhanced hydrolase activity and upregulated tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle-related genes. Microbial analysis uncovered a dual enhancement mechanism: 1) enrichment of hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanobacterium) and acetoclastic methanogens (Methanosarcina/Methanosaeta) and 2) upregulation of critical metabolic genes, including pyc (pyruvate carboxylase) and acs (acetyl-CoA synthetase). Intriguingly, direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) contributed insignificantly, challenging the common assumption of DIET-dominated enhancement. This work clarifies how exogenous materials orchestrate methanogenic pathways via microbe-material coupling, and bridges the knowledge gap between material-enhanced performance and functional microbiome in semi-continuous anaerobic digestion, providing a theoretical basis for optimizing energy-efficient treatment systems.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Journal of Environmental Management

• Publication date

  2026-02-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Materials Science, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.128824PMID 41633172
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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