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Inhibition of residual n-hexane in anaerobic digestion of lipid-extracted microalgal wastes and microbial community shift

  • Biological waste as resource, with a focus on food waste
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Abstract

Converting lipid-extracted microalgal wastes to methane (CH4) via anaerobic digestion (AD) has the potential to make microalgae-based biodiesel platform more sustainable. However, it is apparent that remaining n-hexane (C6H14) from lipid extraction could inhibit metabolic pathway of methanogens. To test an inhibitory influence of residual n-hexane, this study conducted a series of batch AD by mixing lipid-extracted Chlorella vulgaris with a wide range of n-hexane concentration (∼10 g chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L). Experimental results show that the inhibition of n-hexane on CH4 yield was negligible up to 2 g COD/L and inhibition to methanogenesis became significant when it was higher than 4 g COD/L based on quantitative mass balance. Inhibition threshold was about 4 g COD/L of n-hexane. Analytical result of microbial community profile revealed that dominance of alkane-degrading sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and syntrophic bacteria increased, while that of methanogens sharply dropped as n-hexane concentration increased. These findings offer a useful guideline of threshold n-hexane concentration and microbial community shift for the AD of lipid-extracted microalgal wastes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from a Strategic Research Project (Water Reuse Technology for Smart Water Micro-Grids, Code# 2014-0020-1-1) funded by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology and by a grant (code 13IFIP-B065893-01) from Industrial Facilities & Infrastructure Research Program funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Korean government. In addition, this paper was supported by research funds of Chonbuk National University in 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea

    Yeo-Myeong Yun & Hang-Sik Shin

  2. Water Resources and Environment Research Department, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, 283 Daehwa-dong, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 411-712, Korea

    Chang-Kyu Lee

  3. Biomass and Waste Energy Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 102 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343, Korea

    You-Kwan Oh

  4. Department of Environmental Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekjedae-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, 561-756, Korea

    Hyun-Woo Kim

Authors
  1. Yeo-Myeong Yun
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  2. Hang-Sik Shin
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  3. Chang-Kyu Lee
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  4. You-Kwan Oh
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  5. Hyun-Woo Kim
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Correspondence to Hyun-Woo Kim.

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Responsible editor: Gerald Thouand

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Yun, YM., Shin, HS., Lee, CK. et al. Inhibition of residual n-hexane in anaerobic digestion of lipid-extracted microalgal wastes and microbial community shift. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7138–7145 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4643-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4643-z

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