Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technology for stabilization of waste activated sludge (WAS) and energy recovery. Choline as a kind of alkaloid performed well in enhancing methane production from AD for WAS according to our previous research. This study furtherly investigated the influences of choline on the methanogenetic pathway and microbial community during AD process. Results showed that the biochemical methane potential was increased by 28.1% with 0.3 g/L choline applied. Significant impacts on distribution for methanogenesis pathways (acetoclastic methanogenesis (AM) and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (HM)) in the process were found: AM was the major pathway in the control, while HM became dominant with choline addition, accounting for 64.7% of methane production. Meanwhile, the enrichment of Methanobrevibacter (+129.2%) and Methanosarcina (+202.7%) also verified the promotion of HM pathway, indicating an increased microbial adaptability and stabilization. The analysis of choline metabolism revealed a stimulation of acidification and hydrogen production by intermediate products.

厌氧消化（AD）是用于稳定废物活性污泥（WAS）和回收能量的有前途的技术。根据我们先前的研究，胆碱作为一种生物碱，在提高AD用于WAS的甲烷生产中表现良好。本研究进一步研究了胆碱对AD过程中产甲烷途径和微生物群落的影响。结果表明，使用0.3 g / L胆碱可提高28.1％的生化甲烷潜力。发现该过程中对甲烷生成途径的分布有重要影响（乙酰碎屑甲烷生成（AM）和氢营养性甲烷生成（HM））：AM是对照中的主要途径，而HM在添加胆碱的情况下占主导地位，占甲烷产量的64.7％。 。同时，丰富甲基短杆菌（+ 129.2％）和甲烷菌（+ 202.7％）也证实了HM途径的促进，表明增加了微生物的适应性和稳定性。胆碱代谢的分析表明，中间产物会刺激酸化和产氢。