Insights into the impact of quaternary ammonium disinfectant on sewage sludge anaerobic digestion: Dose-response, performance variation, and potential mechanisms.

Wide commercial applications of antimicrobial quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) inevitably lead to the release into wastewater and enrichment in sewage sludge. This study evaluated the impacts of levels and structures of QACs on sewage sludge properties, microbial community, and methane production during anaerobic digestion. Methane production was stimulated or not affected at low QACs concentrations, but significantly inhibited at high QACs concentrations. Compared with benzyl and alkyltrimethyl QACs, dialkyl QACs showed least toxicity on digestion performance. Meanwhile, microbial community analysis indicated that shifts in bacterial communities mainly depended on QACs doses, but the archaeal communities were affected by both QACs doses and types. The dominant methanogenic pathway shifted from acetotrophic/methylotrophic methanogens to mixotrophic methanogens by low levels of benzyl and alkyltrimethyl QACs but not dialkyl QACs, and further to hydrogenotrophic methanogens at high QACs concentration. Mechanism exploration revealed that the presence of QACs promoted sludge solubilization by the integrated effects of cell lysis, electric neutralization, and hydrophobicity improvement, but inhibited methanogenesis due to the accumulation of volatile fatty acids and susceptibility of methanogens to QACs. These findings provided a reference for potential impacts of different QACs on sludge biological treatment, which had implications for the use and selection of QACs disinfectants.