i am trying to set up BMP assay on some organic waste and the only sludge i could find is one stored for 4 months or more. Can i use it? Or any other recommendations on what other inoculum i can use?
While setting BMP assay for organic waste, it is important to use activated sludge from anaerobic digesters of sewage treatment plant, food waste/ organic waste. If not available then you can check the literature and use pure or mixed cultures, or you can activate/ enrich the stored sludge and then use it for your experiment.
You can check the following book as reference "The Microbiology of Anaerobic Digesters" by Michael H. Gerardi. In chapter 11. Start-up, it is mentioned that "Numerouos methane-forming bacteria are alive and active deep within cow manure". Hence maybe you can try to arrange the seed for your tests using this material. Probably it will take some time (longer than using sludge) to develop a full range of microorganisms, but it could be worthy to try. Good luck!
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