Effect of moisture on continuous methane biofilters
The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of compost initial moisture content on continuously operated column methane biofilters. Previous reports have shown that moisture significantly affects biofilter process performance and microbial communities. In this study, we explore the long-term effect of initial compost moisture on the microbial community dynamics of methane biofilters. Experiments were conducted using compost-based column biofilters operated under a controlled inlet methane concentration of 5000 ppmv at a flow rate of 1 L/m, with compost media moisture levels of 45%, 55%, and 65% (wet basis). Samples of the biofiltration media are used for DNA extraction and shotgun metagenomic sequencing to study the microbial communities.