The recalcitrance of propionate degradation constitutes a major bottleneck in anaerobic digestion for biogas production.To address this,a two-chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) inoculated with acclimated sludge was employed to evaluate propionate decomposition across an applied voltage range of 0.65-1.15 V.Propionate removal efficiencies exceeded 87% under all tested voltages,with the majority of degradation occurring within the first 5 days.Chemical oxygen demand (COD) degradation exhibited a distinct volcano-shaped response to increasing voltage,achieving optimal performance at 0.95 V.Under this condition,propionate concentration plummeted from 1500 mg/L to 113.72 mg/L within 4 days,yielding a peak methane production of 117.24 mL/g COD at a methane concentration of 92.95%.Microbial community analysis revealed Methanothrix and Methanobacterium as the dominant genera,collectively accounting for 46.69% of the relative abundance.Mechanistically,these findings suggest the concurrent involvement of interspecies hydrogen/formate transfer (IHFT) and direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET),with DIET emerging as the predominant syntrophic pathway for enhanced methanogenesis.
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