Enhancing volatile fatty acids production from waste activated sludge: The role of pretreatment by N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-L-glutamate (GLDA)

N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-L-glutamate (GLDA) is an eco-friendly chelating agent that effectively extracts multivalent metal ions from waste activated sludge (WAS) flocs, which could potentially alter their structure. However, the effect of GLDA on the production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from WAS is not well known. Here, we demonstrate that pretreatment with GLDA at a concentration of 200 mmol per kg VSS results in a significant increase of 142% in extractable extracellular polymeric substances and enhances the total VFAs yield by 64% compared to untreated samples. We reveal GLDA's capability to mobilize organic-binding multivalent metal ions within sludge flocs. Specifically, post-pretreatment analyses showed the release of 69.1 mg L⁻¹ of Ca and 109.8 mg L⁻¹ of Fe ions from the flocs, leading to a more relaxed floc structure and a reduced apparent activation energy (10.6 versus 20 kJ mol⁻¹) for WAS solubilization. Molecular dynamic simulations further demonstrate GLDA's preferential binding to Fe³⁺ and Ca²⁺ over Mg²⁺. Our study suggests that GLDA pretreatment causes minimal disruption to reactor stability, thereby indicating the stability of microbial community composition. GLDA has emerged as a viable pretreatment agent for enhancing volatile fatty acids production from waste activated sludge.