Preliminary investigation on microbial community of urban organic waste submitted to small-scale anaerobic digestion for biomethanation

摘要

The biomethanation process is used for disposal of organic waste and production of methane as a biofuel (Ferry, 2008). In biogas digesters, the organic substances are converted to methane, carbon dioxide, and other organic and inorganic compounds by anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a biological process, which depends on a complex cooperation of numerous partner organisms of different metabolic capacities (Schink, 2008). Because mixed-culture fermentation involves large microbial communities it is important to select and identify microbial community members that catalyze the desired reactions. Since the characteristics of the mixed-culture system depend on the characteristics of the organic waste (Angenent and Wrenn, 2008), it is necessary to optimize the selection of appropriate microbial strains to exploit in bioreactor design (Kleerebezem and van Loosdrecht, 2007).