Overcoming microplastics induced inhibition on waste-to-energy conversion

该项目旨在开发一种创新技术和基础科学，以实现稳定有效地缓解新兴微塑料引起的抑制作用，这种抑制作用正在成为阻碍厌氧消化中废物转化为能源的关键障碍。厌氧消化是一种低成本的技术，广泛用于将污水污泥转化为可再生能源。然而，污泥中捕获的微塑料水平的增加导致甲烷产量低和工艺失败，因为它们的小尺寸和特定的特性。该项目的成果将消除新出现的障碍，以提高能源回收，可应用于现有的厌氧消化基础设施，以解决澳大利亚日益增长的能源需求。

This project aims to develop an innovative technology and the underpinning science to achieve stable and efficient mitigation of emerging microplastics induced inhibition that is becoming a key barrier hindering waste-to-energy conversion in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is a low-cost technology widely used to divert sewage sludge to renewable energy production. However, the increasing levels of microplastics captured in sludge leads to low methane yield and process failure due to their small size and specific characteristics. The outcome of the project will remove the emerging barrier to enhance energy recovery that can be applied in existing anaerobic digestion infrastructure for addressing Australia’s increasing energy demand.