PRJNA869462
High-Throughput Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene: Methanogenic potential of organic fraction of municipal solid waste generated in a large city of a developing country
Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a complex and expensive challenge especially for developing countries in which waste generation rates are continuously increasing and where the current MSW management strategies are only focused on inadequate practices, such as landfilling, causing health and environmental problems. Anaerobic digestion plants have been implemented worldwide aiming to decrease the amount of MSW disposed in landfills. This study aimed to evaluate the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of the organic fraction of MSW (OFMSW) generated in different socio-economical strata areas within the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (MAG). From a microscale perspective, the microbial communities within the experimental AD system were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing to assess the relationship between microbial communities and the biogas composition. This microbial identification revealed a typical AD composition consisting of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. Through the identification of Methanobacterium and Methanosaeta, two methanogenesis pathways (hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic) were identified in this study. Furthermore, a multi-stage Gompertz kinetic model was used to describe the cumulative biogas production considering the complex nature of the OFMSW substrate, to estimate the potential of biogas production for the MAG using a weighted average based on the proportion of population of each socioeconomic strata in the city (732.8 mL/g VS). This study further provides an estimation of economic, energetic, and environmental benefits of potentially treating the OFMSW produced in the MAG using anaerobic digestion, through which 8.5 MWh/year of electrical power could be produced, accounting for a 1.13 million USD yearly revenue and a significant reduction in GHG emissions (10519 TCO2eq/year).