(48f) Microbial Network Analysis Using Co-Occurrence Patterns of Methanogens and Bacteria in Full-Scale Biogas Plants

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a complex microbial process and different types of microorganisms with the symbiotic association are involved. Several reports showed microbial community structures were dependent with feedstocks and co-substrate types. Methanogens use acetate (acetoclastic), methanol (methylotrophic), CO₂/H₂ (hydrogenotrophic) for methane production as the final step in AD process, which are products from organic materials by bacteria. The co-occurrence patterns between methanogen and bacteria in full-scale biogas plants were investigated using microbial network analysis. Microbiome data were collected from 60 samples of 18 commercial biogas plants located in Korea, fed with different types of organic sources such as food waste, activated sludge, swine manure, etc. The positive/negative correlation was analyzed between archaeal family and bacterial phylum using correlation methods. The key microorganisms contributing for high methane production were also investigated to better understand the interaction of methanogens and bacteria in biogas plant and to suggest an idea on the enhancement of biogas production, and the key microorganism could be used as biomarkers to indicators for the performance check of methane production.