Enhancement of Anaerobic Digestion of Corn Straw: Effect of Biological Pretreatment and Heating with Bio-Heat Recovery from Pretreatment
Shanyue Guan,
Chao He,
Pengfei Li,
Panpan Li,
Tingting Hou,
Zan Gao,
Gang Li,
Youzhou Jiao
Affiliations
Shanyue Guan
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Chao He
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Pengfei Li
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Panpan Li
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Tingting Hou
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Zan Gao
Zhongyuan Environment Zhihe (Zhengzhou) Water Environment Technology Company, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Gang Li
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Youzhou Jiao
Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Mechanical & Electrical engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Biological pretreatment can promote the degradation of biomass and enhance methane production via the subsequent anaerobic digestion. In addition, a large amount of bio-heat can be generated during the pretreatment process to provide heat for the anaerobic digestion process. In this study, composite microorganisms were employed for pretreating corn straw. The impact of different pretreatment times and the heat generated by the pretreatment process on subsequent anaerobic digestion were studied. The results show that the maximum temperature of the pretreatment process was 56.2 °C, obtained on day 6. After 14 days of pretreatment, the degradation rate of the pretreatment group increased by 41% compared with the control group. As a consequence, straws with different pretreatment times were used for anaerobic digestion. The group that underwent 6 days of pretreatment and utilized bio-heat generated from pretreatment achieved the highest cumulative methane production of 401.58 mL/g VS, which was 60.13% higher than in the control group without pretreatment. After 6 days of composite microorganism pretreatment, the group that utilized bio-heat achieved a 29.08% increase in cumulative methane production compared to the group that did not utilize bio-heat. In conclusion, this study highlights the potential of biological pretreatment with composite microorganisms followed by anaerobic digestion using bio-heat as an effective method for treating corn straw.
