Influence of pH, Heat Treatment of Inoculum, and Selenium Oxyanions on Concomitant Selenium Bioremediation and Volatile Fatty Acid Production from Food Waste

[Image: see text] Developing novel strategies to enhance volatile fatty acid (VFA) yield from abundant waste resources is imperative to improve the competitiveness of biobased VFAs over petrochemical-based VFAs. This study hypothesized to improve the VFA yield from food waste via three strategies, viz., pH adjustment (5 and 10), supplementation of selenium (Se) oxyanions, and heat treatment of the inoculum (at 85 °C for 1 h). The highest VFA yield of 0.516 g COD/g VS was achieved at alkaline pH, which was 45% higher than the maximum VFA production at acidic pH. Heat treatment resulted in VFA accumulation after day 10 upon alkaline pretreatment. Se oxyanions acted as chemical inhibitors to improve the VFA yield at pH 10 with non-heat-treated inoculum (NHT). Acetic and propionic acid production was dominant at alkaline pH (NHT); however, the VFA composition diversified under the other tested conditions. More than 95% Se removal was achieved on day 1 under all the conditions tested. However, the heat treatment was detrimental for selenate reduction, with less than 15% Se removal after 20 days. Biosynthesized Se nanoparticles were confirmed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy and and energy dispersive X-ray analyses. The heat treatment inhibited the presence of nonsporulating bacteria and methanogenic archaea (Methanobacteriaceae). High-throughput sequencing also revealed higher relative abundances of the bacterial families (such as Clostridiaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and Prevotellaceae) that are capable of VFA production and/or selenium reduction.