Extracellular polymer proteins have been reported to play an important role in enhancing sludge dewaterability during anaerobic digestion in our previous study. However, how the proteins in sludge determine sludge dewaterability remains to be determined. In this work, proteins from digested sludge were identified using label free proteomics analysis, and its hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity properties and functional groups were analysed. We determined that the microbial community variation between the three stages during the anaerobic digestion process was responsible for enhancing sludge dewaterability; The transformation from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity of digested sludge surface is the result of functional groups distribution variation which caused by the proteins and microbial communities. This study provides a new insight into the development of anaerobic digestion based on sludge dewaterability.

中文翻译：

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关于污泥蛋白对亲水/疏水特性影响的新见解，可改善厌氧消化过程中污泥的脱水性。

在我们先前的研究中，据报道细胞外聚合物蛋白在厌氧消化过程中对提高污泥脱水能力起着重要作用。但是，污泥中的蛋白质如何确定污泥的脱水能力仍有待确定。在这项工作中，使用无标记蛋白质组学分析鉴定了消化污泥中的蛋白质，并对其亲水性/疏水性和官能团进行了分析。我们确定厌氧消化过程中三个阶段之间的微生物群落变化是造成污泥脱水能力增强的原因。消化后的污泥表面从亲水性转变为疏水性是蛋白质和微生物群落引起的官能团分布变化的结果。