Novel bioaugmentation strategy boosted with biochar to alleviate ammonia toxicity in continuous biomethanation

The primary aim of this study was to use, for the first time, a gel-immobilised ammonia tolerant methanogenic consortium (Biogel) as bioaugmentation inoculum in a thermophilic continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), to alleviate ammonia toxicity effect and thus improve methane production efficiency. An additional aim was to further enhance the bioaugmentation effect by combining Biogel and Biochar in an ammonia-inhibited thermophilic CSTR reactor. A secondary aim was to investigate potential synergistic interactions between Biogel and Biochar on alleviating ammonia inhibition throughout the microbial analysis.