This investigation links methane production variations in food waste digestion to phylogenetic distributions of methanogens, suggesting design insights for AD systems.
Key Points
The aim is to explore how phylogenetic assembly of methanogens affects methane yield in anaerobic digestion of food waste.
Investigated seven full-scale mesophilic anaerobic digestion systems across China
Analyzed phylogenetic distributions of methanogens and methanogenic genes
Measured methane production rates and related them to gene-level phylogeny
Methane yields varied from 0.38 to 2.11 m3/m3•d-1 across systems
Higher yields (1.61 vs. 0.61 m3/m3•d-1) were linked to reduced phylogenetic diversity of methanogenic genes
Gene-level phylogeny was more closely associated with methane yield than species-level phylogeny