Enhancing the Methane Yield of <i>Salicornia</i> spp. via Organosolv Fractionation as Part of a Halophyte Biorefinery Concept
Aadila Cayenne,
Maxwel Monção,
Leonidas Matsakas,
Ulrika Rova,
Paul Christakopoulos,
Mette H. Thomsen,
Hinrich Uellendahl
Affiliations
Aadila Cayenne
Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering and Maritime Technologies, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Kanzleistr. 91-93, 24943 Flensburg, Germany
Maxwel Monção
Biochemical Process Engineering, Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Leonidas Matsakas
Biochemical Process Engineering, Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Ulrika Rova
Biochemical Process Engineering, Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Paul Christakopoulos
Biochemical Process Engineering, Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Mette H. Thomsen
Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Niels Bohrs Vej 8, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark
Hinrich Uellendahl
Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering and Maritime Technologies, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Kanzleistr. 91-93, 24943 Flensburg, Germany
The present research investigated the effect of organosolv pretreatment on two species of salt-tolerant Salicornia spp. biomass, Salicornia dolichostachya and Salicornia ramosissima, for increasing biomethane production through anaerobic digestion. The final biomethane yield of de-juiced green fibers of Salicornia spp. from wet fractionation increased by 23–28% after organosolv treatment. The highest methane yield of about 300 mL-CH4/gVS was found after organosolv treatment with 60% v/v ethanol solution at 200 °C for 30 min, or at 180 °C for 30 or 60 min treatment time. Furthermore, the methane production rate increased significantly, reducing the time until 95% of the final methane yield was reached from 20 days to 6–10 days for the organosolv-treated biomass. This research shows that the process of anaerobic digestion of halophyte biomass benefits from cascade processing of Salicornia fibers in a biorefinery framework by sequential wet and organosolv fractionation for full utilization of halophytic biomass.
