Start-up performances of dry anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic digestions of organic solid wastes

Two dry anaerobic digestions of organic solid wastes were conducted for 6 weeks in a lab-scale batch experiment for investigating the start-up performances under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The enzymatic activities,i.e., β-glucosidase, β-glucosidase, N-α -benzoyl-L-argininamide (BAA)-hydrolysing protease, urease and phosphatase activities were analysed. The lower BAA-hydrolysing protease activity during the first 2-3 weeks was due to the inhibition of the low pH, but was enhanced simultaneously later with the pH increase. β-glucosidase activity showed the lowest values in weeks 1-2, and recovered simultaneously with the increase of BAA-hydrolysing protease activity. Acetic acid dominated most of the total VFAs in thermophilic digestion, while propionate and butyrate dominated in mesophilic digestion. Thermophilic digestion is confirmed more feasible for achieving better performance against misbalance, especially during the start-up period in a dry anaerobic digestion process.