Enhancement of performance and stability of anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and kitchen waste by using bentonite

There are large amounts of waste activated sludge (WAS) and kitchen waste (KW) produced every year in China. It has been confirmed that anaerobic co-digestion is an effective method to solve this problem. The targets of the present study were optimizing the digestive performances and clearing of the mechanism of bentonite addition by adding bentonite into digestive system. Group M (WAS: KW = 1:2, based on VS) presented higher cumulative methane yield (CMY), where the CMY increased from 19.8 to 36.3 mL/g VS with the bentonite dosage from 0 to 2 g/g VS. After bentonite addition, the lag phase of every digester presented an obvious decrease from 15.1 to 1.4 d. Furthermore, and the moderating effects on microbial community by…