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Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technique for sludge treatment and resource recovery. Metals are very important components of sludge and can have substantial effects on its complex nature and microbial activity. However, systematic reviews have not addressed how metals in sludge affect AD and how they can be regulated to improve AD. This paper comprehensively reviews the effects of metals on the AD of sludge from both abiotic and biotic perspectives. First, we introduce the contents and basic characteristics (e.g., chemical forms) of intrinsic metals in sewage sludge. Then, we summarise the main mechanism by which metals influence sludge properties and the methods for removing metals and thus improving AD. Next, we analyze the effects of both intrinsic and exogenous metals on the enzymes and microbial communities involved in anaerobic bioconversion, focusing on the types, critical concentrations and valence states of the metals. Finally, we propose ideas for future research on the roles of metals in the AD of sludge. In summary, this review systematically clarifies the roles of metals in the AD of sludge and provides a reference for improving AD by regulating these metals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The influence of micron-sized silica particles on the distribution of organic matters in sludge and anaerobic degradation of macromolecular organic components (MOCs) in sludge was investigated. With the addition of micron-sized particles in the influent (VS/TS decreased gradually from 90.46 ± 0.21 % to 33.36 ± 0.17 %), the protein degradation percentage was significantly promoted while the polysaccharides degradation percentage was largely inhibited, resulting in the total MOCs degradation and methane production increasing firstly (with the promotion extent within 10 %) and then declining slightly, with the peak value at VS/TS of 56.03 ± 0.21 %. The shifted degradation percentage of protein and polysaccharides were caused by the significant changed distribution of organic matters in sludge. With the addition of micron-sized silica particles, the MW of EPS and secondary structure of protein in EPS changed little, which brought about little influence. While, the promoted extracellular protein content (so that the total protein content) and declined extracellular carbohydrates content (so that the total polysaccharides content), were found to be strongly correlated to the enhanced protein degradation and inhibited polysaccharides degradation. The results suggested that large amounts of grit in sludge might not be the main reason for lower degradability of sewage sludge in China., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated the operation mode of a step-feed anoxic/oxic (A/O) process with distribution of the carbon source from the anaerobic zone in terms of the treatment effects on sewage with low carbon and high nitrogen and phosphorus. After seven phases of operation, an optimal flow distribution ratio of 75%:25% was obtained from the anaerobic zone, and the concentrations of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous in the effluent were 20.8, 0.64, 14.2, and 0.89 mg/L, respectively. The presence of an internal reflux system in the deaeration zone improved the treatment. 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing revealed that the microbial communities in aerobic zone I(O1) of the first-step A/O sludge were different from those in aerobic zone I (O2) of the second-step A/O sludge, whereas microbial communities of the seed sludge were similar to those in O2 of the second-step A/O sludge. The richness and diversity of microbial communities in O1 of the first-step A/O sludge samples were higher than those in O2 of the second-step A/O and seed sludge. At the optimal flow distribution ratio, the microbial abundance and treatment removal efficiency were the highest.

The effect of pH in the range of 3.0-11.0 on anaerobic fermentation of primary sludge (PS) was investigated at room temperature. The experimental results showed that the concentrations of soluble chemical oxygen demands (SCOD), soluble protein and carbohydrate and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) under alkaline conditions were significantly higher than those under other pHs. At fermentation time of 5 days, the average SCFAs concentration increased from 968 to 3511mg COD/L with the increase of pH from 3.0 to 10.0. However, further increasing pH to 11.0 resulted in the decrease of SCFAs. At pH 10.0, acetic, propionic and iso-valeric acids were the three main products, and the volatile suspended solids (VSS) reduction reached 38%. It was also observed that at any pH value investigated, there were obvious ammonia and phosphorus releases during fermentation. According to this study it is obvious that alkaline pH benefited the soluble organic carbon production from PS.