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Biochar alleviates adverse effects of polystyrene microplastics on anaerobic digestion performance of food waste and antibiotic resistance gene propagation
Summary
Researchers tested biochars derived from maize straw, rice husk, and bamboo for their ability to counteract the negative effects of polystyrene microplastics on food waste anaerobic digestion. Biochar addition increased methane production by up to 8.3% and reduced antibiotic resistance gene abundance by up to 72%, with maize straw-derived biochar showing the best performance due to its high surface area and electrical conductivity.
This study systematically evaluated the efficacy of feedstock-derived biochars (maize straw, rice husk, bamboo) in mitigating polystyrene microplastic (PSMP)-induced inhibition of food waste anaerobic digestion performance and antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) dissemination. Biochar addition increased cumulative methane production by 4.3%-8.3% and reduced total ARG absolute abundance by 35.5%-72.1%. Maize straw-derived biochar demonstrated superior mitigation capacity, attributed to its elevated specific surface area, functional group density, and electrical conductivity compared to other biochar. Mechanistically, biochar alleviated PSMP-induced inhibition of organic conversion and acid accumulation through metabolic pathway enhancement. Biochar enhanced methanogenesis by facilitating direct interspecies electron transfer and enriching diverse methanogenic archaea, thereby promoting metabolic pathway diversification. Additionally, biochar reduced ARG abundance through direct adsorption, reactive oxygen species suppression, selective inhibition of potential host bacteria, and horizontal gene transfer interference. This study confirmed that biochar addition simultaneously mitigates PSMP-induced suppression of methanogenesis and ARG propagation while elucidating the underlying mechanisms.