16S Amplicon Analysis of Microbial Communities in Laboratory-Scale, Temperature-Phased Biogas Reactors

This study examined the microbial communities in laboratory-scale biogas reactors digesting food waste in a temperature-phased digestion system consisting of a thermophilic, hydrolysis phase followed by a mesophilic, methanogenic phase. The effect of 2 factors were examined: 1) temperature (either 55 or 65°C) in the hydrolysis phase and 2) lowered hydraulic retention time in the methanogenic phase. This dataset consists of 16S amplicon data that was obtained at several timepoints during steady-state operation of the reactors, and it includes matched metadata such as pH, chemical oxygen demand, volatile fatty acid and ammonium concentrations, alkalinity, volatile solids, and biogas production.