Efficient methane production from Lipid-Rich Wastewater in high-rate anaerobic treatment

Anaerobic digestion allows, simultaneously, wastewater treatment and production of biogas, a renewable energy source. The energy yield of this process is higher for more reduced compounds, such as long chain fatty acids (LCFA), the main products of lipids hydrolysis. However, LCFA conversion to biogas is not always complete, and tends to decrease with the increase of the organic loading rate applied (OLR). Recent results obtained in our research group showed that efficient methane production from lipid-rich wastewater can be accomplished if acclimation of the inoculum is performed through discontinuous or pulsed feeding of fat. (Author)