Effects of various feedstocks on isotope fractionation of biogas and microbial community structure during anaerobic digestion.

Feedstock type influences bacterial and methanogenic communities in anaerobic digestion. These two communities work tightly to maintain the stability of anaerobic digestion. How to quick report the changes of microbial community structure especially methanogenesis is the key issue for optimizing anaerobic digestion process. In this study, C isotope fractionations of CH and CO in biogas and microbial community composition were analyzed in 5 different feedstocks. Our results showed that grass silage, maize silage and swine manure fed reactors had similar δ C values and methanogenic community composition, dominated by Methanosarcinaceae. The lowest δ CH values were detected in straw and chicken manure fed reactors, reflecting reduced microbial degradation of material or the presence of toxic components in these feedstocks. The straw fed bioreactor lead to low δ CH values, probably reflecting relatively high levels of the syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria, Synergistaceae and Syntrophaceae, which might work collectively with hydrogenotrophic methanogens, resulting in the low δ CH values in this bioreactor. Significantly, all core microbes in the 5 different feedstock fed bioreactors were either Clostridia species or related to the Synergistaceae (syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria).