Anaerobic digestion of food waste for volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production with different types of inoculum: Effect of pH

Food waste anaerobic fermentation was carried out under acidic conditions using inocula based on aerobic activated sludge (Inoculum AE) or anaerobic activated sludge (Inoculum AN) for volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production. The results showed that food waste hydrolysis increased obviously when Inoculum AN was used relative to Inoculum AE at any pH investigated. Hydrolysis at pH 4.0 and uncontrolled pH was higher than that at other pHs when either inoculum was used. Additionally, VFAs production at pH 6.0 was the highest, regardless of the inoculum used. The optimum VFA yields were 0.482 g/g VSSremoval with Inoculum AE and 0.918 g/g VSSremoval with Inoculum AN, which were observed after 4 d and 20 d of fermentation, respectively. VFAs composition analysis showed that butyrate acid was the prevalent acid at pH 6.0, followed by acetate acid and propionic acid.