Evaluation of the Effect of the Application of Combined Pretreatments and Inoculum with High Alkalinity on Food Residues Through BMP Tests

The management and control of food waste is currently seen as a growing concern; anaerobic digestion is a promising alternative for the valorization of food waste. This study evaluates the effect of the application of three pretreatments (grinding, pH control, thermal treatment) and organic load control, employing a high alkalinity inoculum for methane production through BMP tests, using a Taguchi L 8 experimental design of 4 factors and 2 levels, resulting in the best performance (65.91 NmL · g - 1 TVS) with pretreatment conditions of grinding with fine particle size, pH 11, thermal pretreatment at 60 ∘ C and a concentration of 14 g TVS · L - 1 , which represents an improvement of 34.66% in comparison with the food waste without pretreatments. Graphical Abstract