Enhanced short-chain fatty acids production from waste activated sludge with alkaline followed by potassium ferrate treatment

Abstract This study reported an efficient approach, i.e., alkaline followed by potassium ferrate (PF) pretreatment, to enhance short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production from waste activated sludge anaerobic fermentation process. The optimum condition was initial pH of 10.0 and PF dosage of 28 mg Fe(VI)/g total suspended solid, with the highest SCFAs production of 382 mg chemical oxygen demand/g volatile suspended solid, which was 2.03 and 2.06 times higher than that of corresponding sole treatments. It was found that the alkaline + PF treatment could provide more soluble substrates for subsequent acidification process by accelerating disruption of both microbial cells and extracellular polymeric substances. And the alkaline + PF treatment also benefited to the activity promotion of specific hydrolases and inhibition of methanogens. Besides, the abundances of microorganisms related to SCFAs production, such as Proteiniclasticum and Macellibacteroides , were increased greatly, whereas the main SCFAs consumer, Proteobacteria , was decreased from 29.1% to 14.4%.