Effect of Inoculated Baijiu Pit Mud on Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste

In the process of anaerobic digestion (AD) of food waste (FW), anaerobic sludge is the most commonly used inoculant, but the effect of hydrolysis and acidification of FW only with anaerobic sludge as inoculant needs to be improved. There are abundant hydrolytic and acidifying microorganisms and methanogenic archaea in the Baijiu pit mud (PM), which have high compatibility with each stage of AD. In addition, the PM contains yeast, which can use the substrate to produce ethanol in the event of hypoxia, and can strengthen the methanogenic archaea to produce methane through direct intermediate electron transfer. In this paper, the effects of different proportions of PM and anaerobic sludge mixed inoculants on the AD of FW were studied. The introduction of PM as inoculants in the AD system of FW could effectively improve the hydrolysis effect of FW. Compared with the blank group, in the experimental group with anaerobic sludge =1:1, the degradation rate and hydrolysis rate of VS reached 27.93% and 38.36%, respectively, which increased by 11.63% and 8.48% compared with the blank group. This study provides a new way for the selection of FW AD vaccinations, and has important theoretical and practical significance for improving the AD performance of FW.