Quantitation of the Inhibition Effect of Model Compounds Representing Plant Biomass Degradation Products on Methane Production
Silvie Pekařová,
Marie Dvořáčková,
Petr Stloukal,
Marek Ingr,
Jana Šerá,
Marek Koutny
Affiliations
Silvie Pekařová
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
Marie Dvořáčková
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
Petr Stloukal
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Centre of Polymer Systems, University Institute, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Trida Tomase Bati 5678, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
Marek Ingr
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
Jana Šerá
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
Marek Koutny
Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 76001 Zlín, Czech Republic; Czech Republic
During the steam explosion pretreatment of plant biomass, degradation products are generated, and some of these have inhibitory activity against biogas production. The aim of this study was to investigate and quantify the effect of selected model inhibitory compounds on methane production. The results showed no significant inhibition of methane production by furfural at concentrations below 1 g/L. In addition, the microbial community was able to restore biogas production inhibited by this compound after a certain time. 5 hydroxymethylfurfural was evaluated as a more potent inhibitor, with a significant effect above 0.2 g/L. Both compounds were more effective inhibitors with cellulose as the carbon substrate, probably reflecting higher sensitivity of the cellulolytic step in biogas production. No significant inhibition was observed for the phenolic compounds tested, gallic and tannic acids, at concentrations of up to 2 g/L. Thus, the compounds investigated should not represent a problem for the biogas production involving steam explosion preprocessed plant biomass.
