To study the microbial community change when immobilized in hydrogel compared to dispersed condition

Recently, the addition of conductive materials (CMs) into anaerobic digestion has been receiving many attention as it could improve the methane production rate through the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) mechanism. However, washout of CM from reaction in continuous operation remains a challenge that has yet been overcome. In this study, establishment of immobilizing anaerobic microbes and CM inside the hydrogel has been made, and evaluated in a 3 weeks methane fermentation batch experiment. The objective of this project is to elucidate the how immobilization could influence the growth of DIET-related microbes and change in the microbial community. Sludge was sampled before and after the experiment for all conditions, then 16S rRNA gene transcript-based amplicon sequencing was used to analyze the microbial community structure.