Effect of Sludge Residence Time over Anaerobic Biodegradation of High Saline Biomass

Halophytes are unique in that they can thrive in a wide range of soil conditions, from normal to extremely saline. This has recently prompted researchers to consider using halophytes as a phytoremediation end-product as a source for biogas generation. Therefore, applying the anaerobic digestion process for halophytes may have the potential advantage in terms of efficient land utilization, soil remediation, and biogas production. Based on this, the anaerobic digestion efficiency of high saline biomass was investigated in continuous laboratory-scale anaerobic reactors at two different sludge residence times (SRT) of 40 and 80 days. Under mesophilic atmosphere, two reactors were operated, one reactor used organic substrate with 30 g-Na+.L-1 originating from sodium chloride whereas the other was operated with the presence of sodium bicarbonate and sodium sulfate. The salt-tolerant microorganism was gradually developed and the salt concentrations were selected based on the elemental analyses results of 30 species of wild halophyte plants taken from the saline-affected area of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan during the early phase of the operation. For 40 and 80 days of SRT, respectively, 65.56 percent and 60.42 percent of the feed COD were converted into methane gas by the chloride system. However, only about 60% of the feed COD was converted into methane for bicarbonate, and the remaining fraction of gas was assigned to sulfide as a final product of increased sulfate reduction bacteria activity. These findings showed that the salt-tolerant microorganism could be incubated and the anaerobic digestion process could be adapted for a high-saline substrate, implying that the biodegradability of phytoremediation end-products may be used for methane production.