PhD thesis: Methane and Volatile Fatty Acid Production from Toxic Substrates

 In a previous thesis, we showed how to produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from food wastes. However, what to do if the material are toxic such as citrus wastes? Lukitawesa worked with two toxic materials including #citrus_wastes and #patchouli wastes. Both of these materials contain flavours that kill the bacteria in methane production. So Luki tried to protect the bacteria using hydrophilic membranes or use the self defence mechanism in granules where the bacteria support each other in #biogas production. Then, the question is if these toxic materials kills #methane producing bacteria, why not turn the problem to an opportunity and to produce VFAs instead of methane? So, it took him several years to succeed in producing also the VFAs and hopefully a PhD for himself as well. He nailed his thesis now and will defend it on 30 Oct. His defence can be followed live on this link on Zoom or this link on YouTube.

Here is his thesis:

Methane and Volatile Fatty Acid Production from Toxic Substrates

including these articles:

1- Inhibition of patchouli oil for anaerobic digestion and enhancement in methane production using reverse membrane bioreactors

2- Semi-continuous reverse membrane bioreactor in two-stage anaerobic digestion of citrus waste

3- Effect of effluent recirculation on biogas production using two-stage anaerobic digestion of citrus waste

4- Factors influencing volatile fatty acids production from food wastes via anaerobic digestion

5- Effect of pH, substrate loading, oxygen and methanogens inhibitors on volatile fatty acid production from citrus waste by anaerobic digestion

6- Semi-continuous Production of Volatile Fatty Acids from Citrus Waste using Membrane Bioreactors