Preparation of volatile fatty acid (VFA) calcium salts by anaerobic digestion of glucose

Many potentially useful intermediates such as hydrogen and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are formed during the complex anaerobic digestion processes that produce methane from biomass. This study recovers VFAs from an anaerobic digester by a combination of gas stripping and absorption with calcium carbonate slurry. Glucose was used as the model substrate because it is readily available, inexpensive, and easily digested. Sludge from a meatworks anaerobic digester produced methane and carbon dioxide (and sometimes a small amount of hydrogen) when batch‐fed with glucose. Conditioning the neutral anaerobic sludge to an acidic pH (below 4.8) was achieved using repeated 1 g L−1 doses of glucose. After conditioning, mainly VFAs and hydrogen were produced. The intermediate VFAs could be stripped using headspace gas. In subsequent fed‐batch digestion/stripping cycles, the pH decreased when glucose was added and then increased when the VFA was gas stripped. The predominant acids formed at low pH values were lactic, butyric, and acetic acids. Lactic acid was converted to VFAs during stripping. The VFA calcium salts recovered were 80% butyrate and 20% acetate with minor quantities of propionate and valerate.