Mesophilic bio-liquefaction of lincomycin manufacturing biowaste: The influence of total solid content and inoculum to substrate ratio

As the potential source of environmental antibiotic pollution, large amount of biowaste generated from antibiotic fermentation manufacture highlights its beneficial utilization for resource and nutrients recovery; which is suitable for anaerobic bio-liquefaction (hydrolysis and acidification). However, its high solid content and residual antibiotics are a cause for concern. In this study, batch anaerobic experiments were conducted to evaluate the bio-liquefaction performance of lincomycin manufacturing biowaste at different total solid content (TS) and the ratios of seeding granular sludge (inoculum) to substrate (ISR). The results showed that lincomycin manufacturing biowaste had high bio-liquefaction efficiency, with the highest 10d volatile solid (VS) degradation rate being approximately 38%. The bio-liquefaction efficiency of protein could reach 100%. Predicted by response surface methodology, 1580 mg/L gVS volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and 497 mg/L gVS ammonium were obtained at a TS of 10%, ISR of 3 and solid retention time of 9.5 d, which is the optimum scenario.