Carbon based conductive materials mediated recalcitrant toxicity mitigation during anaerobic digestion of thermo-chemically pre-treated organic fraction of municipal solid waste.

High-temperature thermal pretreatment alone or in conjugation with chemical pretreatment (highly acidic or alkaline) produced recalcitrant compounds, which inhibits the anaerobic digestion (AD) process performance. This study aims to develop a strategy to use carbon-based conductive materials to mitigate the recalcitrant toxicity and enhance the methane generation in the downstream AD. The formation of recalcitrant compounds, mainly the furan derivatives, i.e., furfural and 5-HydroxyMethyl furfurals (5-HMF) during thermo-chemical pretreatment of OFMSW at 150 °C, 175 °C, 200 °C with 3 g/L-NaOH dose, and the alleviation of their inhibitory effects by adding 25 g/L of each of granular activated carbon (GAC) and granular biochar (GBC) during mesophilic AD were studied. The addition of conductive materials resulted in the highest biogas yield of 462 mL/gVSadded (GAC) and 449 mL/gVSadded (GBC) for 175°C-3g/L-NaOH pretreatment, which was >45% higher over control. The highest improvement of >65% in biogas yield was observed for 200°C-3g/L-NaOH pretreatment despite the lower biogas yield. The conductive materials amended digester shows a significant decrease in the 5-HMF and furfurals concertation. The highest reduction in 5-HMF (44%) and furfural (51%) concentrations were observed for 200°C-3g/L-NaOH pretreatment, and 25 g/L GBC amended tests. The score plots from the principal component analysis (PCA) of the characterization of the digestate showed that the data were significant, whereas the loading plots depicted the correlation of different experimental parameters studied (like fate of recalcitrant, biogas yield and other parameters post AD of OFMSW when aided with conductive materials). Application of regression models in all the batch assays depicted that a lag phase of 2-4 days was observed in Modified Gompertz Model (MGM), 4-5 days in Logistic Model (LM) and a rapid hydrolysis was proven with the value of hydrolysis coefficient being between 0.003 and 0.029 from the first-order (FO) model.

Recalcitrant compounds formation, their toxicity, and mitigation: Key issues in biomass pretreatment and anaerobic digestion.

Increasing energy demands and environmental issues have stressed the importance of sustainable methods of energy production. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the biodegradable waste, i.e., agricultural residues, organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), sewage sludge, etc., results in the production of biogas, which is a sustainable and cost feasible technique that reduces the dependence on fossil fuels and also overcomes the problems associated with biomass waste management. To solubilize the organic matter and enhance the susceptibility of hardly biodegradable fraction (i.e., lignocellulosic) for hydrolysis and increase methane production, several pretreatments, including physical, chemical, biological, and hybrid methods have been studied. However, these pretreatment methods under specific operating conditions result in the formation of recalcitrant compounds, such as sugars (xylose, Xylo-oligomers), organic acids (acetic, formic, levulinic acids), and lignin derivatives (poly and mono-phenolic compounds), causing significant inhibitory effects on anaerobic digestion. During the scaling up of these techniques from laboratory to industrial level, the focus on managing inhibitory compounds formed during pretreatment is envisaged to increase because of the need to use recalcitrant feedstocks in anaerobic digestion to increase biogas productivity. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the production mechanism of inhibitory compounds during pretreatment and work out the possible detoxification methods to improve anaerobic digestion. This paper critically reviews the earlier works based on the formation of recalcitrant compounds during feedstocks pretreatment under variable conditions, and their detrimental effects on process performance. The technologies to mitigate recalcitrant toxicity are also comprehensively discussed.

Pretreatment of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) biomass feedstock for polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production and characterization.

Kenaf biomass (KB) was employed as feedstock for the synthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) using Ralstonia eutropha to replace conventional petroleum-derived polymers. Various pretreatments followed by enzymatic saccharification were applied to release monomeric sugars from KB for PHB production. The effects of increasing concentration of Na2CO3 + Na2SO3 (NaC + NaS) pretreated KB hydrolysates (20-40 g/L) on PHB production were investigated. NaC + NaS pretreated KB hydrolysates (30 g/L) exhibited maximum 70.0% PHA accumulation, with PHB titers of 10.10 g/L and PHB yields of about 0.488 g/g of reducing sugar produced within 36 h of fermentation. PHA accumulation, PHB yield and R. eutropha growth performance using KB hydrolysates were found to be comparable with those of synthetic sugar mixture. Characterization of the produced PHB in terms of crystalline structure, and thermal properties was done using various analytical techniques and results coincide with standard PHB. Thus, green liquor pretreated KB hydrolysates deliver a promising and economically feasible carbon substrate for PHB production.

A critical review on anaerobic digestion of microalgae and macroalgae and co-digestion of biomass for enhanced methane generation.

Biogas production using algal resources has been widely studied as a green and alternative renewable technology. This review provides an extended overview of recent advances in biomethane production via direct anaerobic digestion (AD) of microalgae, macroalgae and co-digestion mechanism on biomethane production and future challenges and prospects for its scaled-up applications. The effects of pretreatment in the preparation of algal feedstock for methane generation are discussed briefly. The role of different operational and environmental parameters for instance pH, temperature, nutrients, organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on sustainable methane generation are also reviewed. Finally, an outlook on the possible options towards the scale up and enhancement strategies has been provided. This review could encourage further studies in this area, to intend and operate continuous mode by designing stable and reliable bioreactor systems and to analyze the possibilities and potential of co-digestion for the promotion of algal-biomethane technology.

Treatment of spent wash in anaerobic thermophilic suspended growth reactor (ATSGR).

Pollution through spent wash is a major problem in India. There is an urgent need to develop wastewater treatment technologies for safer disposal. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to examine a few aspects of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of spent wash collected from a distillery. The study was carried out in a 4 liter laboratory scale anaerobic thermophilic suspended growth reactor After the successful startup, the organic loading was increased stepwise to assess the performance of the reactor. During the study period, biogas generated was recorded and the maximum gas generated was found to be 11.9 liter at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 29 g COD/l. A 500% increase in the volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration (1850 mg/l) was observed, when the OLR was increased from 29 to 30 g COD/l. During the souring phase the removal of COD, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) were in the order of 52%, 40% and 46% respectively The methane content in the biogas varied from 65% to 75%.

Treatment of spent wash in anaerobic thermophilic suspended growth reactor (ATSGR).

Pollution through spent wash is a major problem in India. There is an urgent need to develop wastewater treatment technologies for safer disposal. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to examine a few aspects of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of spent wash collected from a distillery. The study was carried out in a 4 liter laboratory scale anaerobic thermophilic suspended growth reactor After the successful startup, the organic loading was increased stepwise to assess the performance of the reactor. During the study period, biogas generated was recorded and the maximum gas generated was found to be 11.9 liter at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 29 g COD/l. A 500% increase in the volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration (1850 mg/l) was observed, when the OLR was increased from 29 to 30 g COD/l. During the souring phase the removal of COD, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) were in the order of 52%, 40% and 46% respectively The methane content in the biogas varied from 65% to 75%.