Heng Thong Lam

Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Trends

Author Order

Document Type

Co-Authors

Yen Wah Tong

National University of Singapore

Yong Wei Tiong

National University of Singapore

Jingxin Zhang

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Hailin Tian

Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise

Miao Yan

Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion

Pooja Sharma

Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise

Jie Bu

Agency for Science, Technology and Research

Qian Tan

Guangdong University of Technology

Jonathan T.E. Lee

Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise

Qinglian Wu

Harbin Institute of Technology

Cooperative Institutions

National University of Singapore

Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise

Guangdong University of Technology

Agency for Science, Technology and Research

Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences

Harbin Institute of Technology

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

South China University of Technology

Peking University

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

Plant Growth Enhancement under Combined Amendments of Food Waste Digestate and Rhizosphere Microbial Co-Occurrence

ACS Sustainable Resource Management (2024)

Pooja Sharma Yong Wei Tiong Miao Yan Heng Thong Lam Jingxin Zhang

Food waste contributes to environmental degradation by emitting greenhouse gases and depleting natural resources, but it also exacerbates global hunger and poverty. This study investigated the use of food waste digestate (FWD) as fertilizer on ornamental plant (Piper sarmentosum) cultivation under soil amendment growing media such as organic compost (OC), biochar, and rice husk (RH) in a 56-day trial. A significant increase in plant growth was observed in the potting mix with soil amendments combined with the application of FWD in comparison to the potting mix without the application. In comparison to soil amendments such as OC, FWD found a higher chlorophyll content index of 1.48%. In comparison to biochar, this was followed by 2.76% higher and 1.29% higher than RH. Furthermore, the number of leaves and leaf areas of plants increased significantly (>2%) with FWD added to soil amendments in comparison with OC and RH. The identified microbial phyla were Acidobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobiota, and some have closed to networking, like Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes were listed as plant growth-promoting microbe groups in the study. This approach promotes plant growth and offers a sustainable solution to recycling FW into fertilizer.

Digestate

Amendment

Potting soil

Husk

Food Waste

10.1021/acssusresmgt.4c00051

Cite

Citations (2)

Life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis of small-scale anaerobic digestion system treating food waste onsite under different operational conditions

Bioresource Technology (2023)

Hailin Tian Alvin W.L. Ee Miao Yan Yong Wei Tiong Wenxia Tan

Food Waste

Biogas

Capital cost

10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129902

Cite

Citations (8)

Enhancing Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Efficiency with Biochar as a Sustainable Technology in Decentralized Real-World Systems

ACS ES&T Engineering (2024)

Yong Wei Tiong Hailin Tian Pooja Sharma Miao Yan Heng Thong Lam

Long-term anaerobic digestion (AD) of food waste often faces challenges, with volatile fatty acid inhibition being a common issue that hinders optimal performance. This research explores the effect of biochar supplementation on long-term AD of food waste characterized by volatile fatty acid inhibition. The findings demonstrate that adding a modest amount of biochar (0.055 g/L) effectively enhances AD under ambient conditions at 29 °C. This biochar supplementation reduced volatile fatty acids to a safe level of 1195 mg/L after 36 days, well within the generally accepted safe threshold of 1500 mg/L. This safe threshold is supported by other studies, which indicate that maintaining VFA concentrations below 1500 mg/L minimizes the risk of process inhibition and ensures stable AD operation. Additionally, the normalized specific biogas yield averaged 1.33 ± 0.45 m3/kg VS, representing a 47.4% improvement over the control AD conducted under identical conditions. After stabilization, the study assessed whether AD could maintain functionality and stability under mesophilic conditions (35 °C) without further biochar supplementation, simulating a real-world scenario to test long-term efficacy in industrial-like conditions. This mesophilic postbiochar AD resulted in an additional 31.8% increase in the normalized average specific biogas yield, reaching 1.95 ± 0.25 m3/kg VS. Biochar increased Methanosaeta methanogens by 30%, enhancing direct interspecies electron transfer and strengthening syntrophic interactions. This shift made aceticlastic methanogens 9 times more prominent, improving acetate oxidation, biogas yield, and overall AD stability. These findings highlight biochar's potential to enhance decentralized biogas facilities, promote sustainable food waste management, and advance the bioeconomy by providing a replicable model for closing the food waste loop.

Food Waste

10.1021/acsestengg.4c00575

Cite

Citations (0)

Real-world assessment of a decentralized food waste anaerobic digestion system: A test-bedding case study application

Journal of Cleaner Production (2024)

Yong Wei Tiong Hailin Tian Pooja Sharma Miao Yan Heng Thong Lam

Biogas

Food Waste

Payback period

Biodegradable waste

10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140752

Cite

Citations (3)

Assessing Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl growth response and rhizosphere microbial community structure after application of food waste anaerobic digestate as biofertilizer with renewable soil amendments

Biomass and Bioenergy (2023)

Pooja Sharma Yong Wei Tiong Miao Yan Hailin Tian Heng Thong Lam

Digestate

Amendment

Soil conditioner

10.1016/j.biombioe.2023.106968

Cite

Citations (7)

Startup performance and microbial communities of a decentralized anaerobic digestion of food waste

Chemosphere (2023)

Yong Wei Tiong Pooja Sharma Hailin Tian To‐Hung Tsui Heng Thong Lam

The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of treating food waste generated from a hawker centre in a pilot-scale anaerobic digester operating on site in an urban area of Singapore. For this purpose, a 10.4 m3 digester was housed within two 20 feet containerized systems and sited adjacent to the hawker centre. The system reported in this work was during the startup phase, for over 71 days of real and varying food wastes loading rate. The results demonstrated that the decentralized system had an average specific methane yield of 0.55 ± 0.04 m3CH4/kgVS, with methane concentrations of 56.6 ± 2.3%. For the power generation output, the energy assessment revealed an average of 2.05 ± 0.57 m3/kW h consumption rate. Accordingly, on the last day of startup phase, the inoculum of the digester was richer in organisms from the phylum Thermoplasmatota, i.e., genera Candidatus_Methanogranum and Candidatus_Methanoplasma, alongside with other dominant abundance from phyla Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Synergistota, and Verrucomicrobiota. This study provides new insights into pilot scale decentralized anaerobic digestion with varying food waste relate to the characterizations of digester microbial communities, as well as turning in a typical integrated anaerobic digestion of food waste-to-energy system a reality.

Food Waste

Microbial consortium

Green waste

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137937

Cite

Citations (37)

Enhancing anaerobic digestion of food waste with chemically vapor-deposited biochar: Effective enrichment of Methanosarcina and hydrogenotrophic methanogens

Bioresource Technology (2025)

Jie Bu Yiying Wang Yuhan Gao Quanzhong Zhao Yuhao Luo

Food Waste

10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132225

Cite