Anaerobic Digestion DNA Analysis

Anaerobic digestion is a microbial process that relies on the presence of many different types of microbes to produce renewable energy and decompose wastewater sludge, biosolids, food and other organic waste. With Microbe Detectives’ Anaerobic Digestion DNA Analysis, one can attain an intimate understanding of their system’s microbial community, develop best practices and optimize performance.

Challenges with Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion relies on the presence of many different types of microbes to work. The microbial community that makes up a specific digester’s microbiome (the combination of all types of microbes in the digester) will be influenced by operational and design conditions, such as SRT, mixing, operating temperature and pH, feedstocks, and chemical addition. The microbial community in turn will affect digester outcomes such as COD removal and biogas production. However, archaeal microbes essential to anaerobic digestion are not identifiable with field microscopes nor other standard test methods.

Advancements in Molecular Test Methods

Advancements in molecular methods (i.e., DNA analysis) have opened a new window to the microbial world of water. Our 2.0 DNA Analysis identifies and quantifies nearly all bacteria and archaea that are important in anaerobic digestion using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and qPCR. To attain higher resolution methanogen data, we offer mcrA gene DNA amplicon sequencing. The mcrA gene is specific to methanogens and enables more detailed data. We also identify and quantify eukaryotic organisms such as Protists (Protozoa, Amoeba, Algae) and Fungi for anaerobic digestion systems requiring diagnostics on higher life forms. 

Key Benefits of Anaerobic Digestion DNA Analysis

Know who’s there, how many, and what they are doing

Identify and quantify nearly all microbes important in anaerobic digestion.

• Hydrolytic Bacteria Clostridium, Variovorax, Methanoculleus, Janthinobacterium, and Syntrophus convert raw feedstocks into smaller organic molecules that can be used by other microbial groups.
• Acetogenic Bacteria Acetivibrio, Anaerobaculum, Anaerovirgula, Butyrivibrio, Clostridium, Coprothermobacter, Garciella, Gelria, Paludibacter, Propionicicella, Streptococcus, Syntrophomonas, Syntrophorhabdus, and Tissierella metabolize certain sugars (such as xylose or glucose), carbon dioxide or hydrogen to produce acetate.
• Syntrophs can be Hydrolytic or Acetogenic. Aminobacterium, Geobacter, Smithella, Syntrophobacter, Syntrophorhabdus, and Syntrophus are syntrophs that decompose a variety of organic materials (usually fatty acids, alcohols and aromatic compounds) to produce acetate and H2, the primary food relied on by methanogens.
• Methanogenic Archaea include aceticlastic and hydrogenoclastic methanogens. Aceticlastic methanogens Methanobrevibacter, Methanomicrobium, Methanosaeta, and Methanosarcina, metabolize acetate to produce methane biogas. Hydrogenoclastic methanogens Methanobacterium, Methanoculleus, Methanomethylovorans, Methanomethylovorans, Methanomicrobiales, Methanoregula, Methanosphaerula, Methanospirillum, Methanothermobacter, Methanothermus, and Methanothermus metabolise hydrogen to produce methane biogas.

Discover answers to questions and problems that you have been unable to solve

Use DNA analysis to quantify impacts of changes in feedstocks, system design, operating practices, or treatment, on anaerobic digestion performance.

Increase Biogas or high-purity Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) production by 10 – 30%+

Improving biogas production in a one-million gallon reactor by 5-10% can offset up to $200,000 annually in power costs when used for onsite power (Ling, A. 2020). RNG produced from an anaerobic digester sized for a municipality serving 50,000 residents is enough biofuel to power 32 transit buses, eliminating 2,745 metric tons of annual carbon emissions.

Mitigate risks of upset conditions, odor and foaming problems

As biological diversity increases an anaerobic digestion process is more resilient and less susceptible to upsets. Biological Diversity is quantified using Shannon’s Diversity Index. Odor and foaming associated microbes are also identified and quantified.

Anaerobic Digestion Systems Analyzed by Microbe Detectives

Municipal, industrial, food processing, agricultural and landfills.

Example DNA Analysis Dashboards for Anaerobic Digestion

Data is presented in tables to provide details. Dashboards show how Anaerobic Digestion processes change over time, and how they compare to other similar processes. Below are a few examples.

2017 Performance Comparison of Biogas Anaerobic Digesters Report

2017 comparative study of biogas anaerobic digesters based on DNA sequencing of samples collected. Includes the DNA sequencing results of each sample, grouped and analyzed for each digester included in the study, and each digester type. Survey data is included to augment DNA testing. Includes pdf version available for immediate download after purchase (64 pages).