ENZYMES FOR ANAEROBIC MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE DISPOSAL

It is estimated that of the 320 billion pounds of industrial and domestic waste generated in the United States each year, approximately 240 billion pounds are biodegradable (1). This waste is composed primarily of paper products, food and yard waste, and a wide array of organic byproducts. The majority of municipal solid wastes are deposited in landfills that permit decomposition through natural anaerobic processes. These anaerobic processes are complex, with a consortia of microorganisms responsible for the production of specific enzyme mixtures necessary for effective breakdown of the polymeric substrates. The uncontrolled nature of the landfill environment results in variable populations of microorganisms and/or enzyme systems, as well as suboptimal environmental parameters, which contribute to the characteristically slow and ineffective rates of anaerobic degradation in landfills. Controlled anaerobic digestion systems may be used on a small scale to develop appropriate microbial consortia and to determine optimal nutrient levels and environmental parameters necessary for effective degradation rates in large-scale processing.