Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-Oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Xueyuan Road No. 30, Beijing 100083, China.
Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Molecules. 2024 Oct 3;29(19):4692. doi: 10.3390/molecules29194692.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the most significant processes for treating fecal sludge. However, a substantial amount of microplastics (MPs) have been identified in septic tanks, and it remains unclear whether they impact the resource treatment of feces. To investigate this, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was used as an indicator of MPs to study their effect on the anaerobic digestion of fecal sludge (FS). Two digestion systems were developed: FS mono-digestion and FS co-digestion with anaerobic granular sludge. The results indicated that the effects of PET varied between the two systems. PET inhibited volatile fatty acid synthesis in both systems, but the inhibition period differed. During mono-digestion, PET slightly increased gas and methane production, in contrast to the co-digestion system, where PET reduced methane production by 75.18%. Furthermore, in the mono-digestion system, PET increased soluble chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen concentrations while blocking phosphorus release, whereas the co-digestion system showed the opposite effects. Ultimately, the choice of digestion method is crucial for the resource utilization of septic tank sludge, and the impact of MPs on AD cannot be ignored.
厌氧消化（AD）是处理粪便污泥的最重要过程之一。然而，化粪池中已经发现了大量的微塑料（MPs），目前尚不清楚它们是否会影响粪便的资源处理。为了研究这一点，使用聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）作为 MPs 的指示剂来研究它们对粪便污泥（FS）厌氧消化的影响。开发了两种消化系统：FS 单消化和 FS 与厌氧颗粒污泥共消化。结果表明，PET 在这两个系统中的影响不同。PET 抑制了两个系统中的挥发性脂肪酸合成，但抑制期不同。在单消化过程中，PET 略微增加了气体和甲烷的产生，与共消化系统相反，PET 减少了 75.18%的甲烷产生。此外，在单消化系统中，PET 增加了可溶化学需氧量和氨氮浓度，同时阻止了磷的释放，而共消化系统则表现出相反的效果。最终，消化方法的选择对化粪池污泥的资源利用至关重要，并且 MPs 对 AD 的影响不容忽视。
