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Effect of polystyrene microplastics on the volatile fatty acids production from waste activated sludge fermentation
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Researchers studied how different concentrations of polystyrene microplastics affect volatile fatty acid production during anaerobic fermentation of waste activated sludge. Low microplastic concentrations significantly increased fatty acid production by enhancing solubilization and enzyme activity, while high concentrations decreased production by suppressing microbial activity. The findings suggest that microplastic contamination levels in wastewater sludge can either promote or hinder resource recovery depending on concentration.
Anaerobic fermentation is crucial to resource utilization of waste activated sludge (WAS). However, accumulated microplastics (MPs) in sludge could not be ignored. Here, a typical MP, polystyrene (PS), was selected to study the effects of different concentrations of PS on anaerobic fermentation under the optimal volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production. Compared to the control, low PS concentrations (30 particles/g ) significantly (p = 0.002) increased the production of VFAs to 112.8 ± 2.4% due to solubilization enhancement and enzymatic activity. High concentrations of PS (90 particles/g ) significantly (p = 0.000) decreased VFAs production to 83.01 ± 0.76% because of the inactive related microbial activities, although organic matter release was enhanced in the initial stage. Mechanism studies showed that the toxicity of high PS concentration could be attributed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, excess sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and synergistic toxicity of aged MPs with external pollutants.
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