The application of conventional thermophilic composting (TC) is limited by poor efficiency. Newly-developed hyperthermophilic composting (HTC) is expected to overcome this shortcoming. However, the characterization of microbial communities associated with HTC remains unclear. Here, we compared the performance of HTC and TC in a full-scale sludge composting plant, and found that HTC running at the hyperthermophilic and thermophilic phases for 21 days, led to higher composting efficiency and techno-economic advantages over TC. Results of high-throughput sequencing showed drastic changes in the microbial community during HTC. Thermaceae (35.5–41.7%) was the predominant family in the hyperthermophilic phase, while the thermophilic phase was dominated by both Thermaceae (28.0–53.3%) and Thermoactinomycetaceae (29.9–36.1%). The change of microbial community could be the cause of continuous high temperature in HTC, and thus improve composting efficiency by accelerating the maturation process. This work has provided theoretical and practical guidance for managing sewage sludge by HTC.

常规嗜热堆肥（TC）的应用受到效率低下的限制。新开发的超高温堆肥技术（HTC）有望克服这一缺点。但是，与HTC相关的微生物群落的表征仍不清楚。在这里，我们比较了全尺寸污泥堆肥厂中HTC和TC的性能，发现HTC在高温和嗜热阶段运行21天，与TC相比，具有更高的堆肥效率和技术经济优势。高通量测序的结果显示HTC期间微生物群落发生了巨大变化。嗜热科（35.5–41.7％）是超嗜热阶段的主要家族，而嗜热阶段则以热科（28.0–53.3％）和嗜热放线菌科（29.9–36.1％）为主。微生物群落的变化可能是HTC持续高温的原因，从而通过加速成熟过程提高了堆肥效率。这项工作为HTC管理污水污泥提供了理论和实践指导。