Abstract
It is difficult to task to achieve high biological nutrient removal from municipal wastewater because of low organic content. Volatile fatty acids(VFAs) produced from acid fermentation of food wastes can be utilized as external carbon sources for the biological nutrient process. Significant reduction and stabilization of the food wastes can also be obtained from the acid fermentation. The objective of this study is to evaluate characteristics of acid fermentation of the food wastes. Results obtained from the batch experiment of various organic wastes showed that the food wastes had high potential to be used as an external carbon source because of the largest production of the VFAs with low nitrogen and phosphorus content. The fish waste was found to be the next possible organic waste, while the others such as radish cabbage and molasses waste showed high VFAs consumption potential as a results of high nitrogen and phosphorus content. alkaline hydrolysis of the food waste was carried out using NaOH prior to the acid fermentation. As the alkali addition increased, solubilization of the organics as well as TSS reduction increased. However, fraction of soluble COD to total COD became stable after a sharp increase. Alkali addition greater than 0.5g NaOH per g TS resulted in significant increase in pH.